韓國設激光束警示裝置提醒低頭族

A city in South Korea, which has the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate, has installed flickering lights and laser beams at a road crossing to warn “smartphone zombies” to look up and drivers to slow down, in the hope of preventing accidents.

日前，韓國某市在十字路口安裝了閃燈裝置和激光束，提醒“智能手機低頭族”們擡頭看路，並讓駕駛人員減速，避免意外發生。韓國智能手機普及率全球最高。

The designers of the system were prompted by growing worry that more pedestrians glued to their phones will become casualties in a country that already has some of the highest road fatality and injury rates among developed countries.

韓國的交通致死率和傷亡率在發達國家中處於居於高位。人們日益擔心越來越多的行人因爲低頭看手機而在交通事故中受傷。設計人員據此設計了這套提醒裝置。

State-run Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT) believes its system of flickering lights at zebra crossings can warn both pedestrians and drivers.

開發這套裝置的韓國國立土木工程與建築工程技術研究所表示，安裝在斑馬線的閃燈系統可以警告路人與駕駛人員。

In addition to red, yellow and blue LED lights on the pavement, “smombies” - smartphone zombies - will be warned by laser beam projected from power poles and an alert sent to the phones by an app that they are about to step into Traffic.

除了設置在人行道的LED紅黃藍三色路燈，從電線杆投射出來的激光束，以及應用程序傳送到手機的提醒，也可對低頭族發出警告，提醒他們即將過馬路。

“Increasing number of smombie accidents have occurred in pedestrian crossings, so these zombie lights are essential to prevent these pedestrian accidents,” said KICT senior researcher Kim Jong-hoon.

該研究所高級研究員金宗勳說：“越來越多的低頭族車禍在行人穿越道路時發生，所以這些警示燈對避免行人意外至關重要。”

The multi-dimensional warning system is operated by radar sensors and thermal cameras and comes with a price tag of 15 million won per crossing.

這套多重警示系統由雷達傳感器與熱感應相機運作，每個路口的安裝費用爲1500萬韓元（約8.9萬人民幣）。

Drivers are alerted by the flashing lights, which have shown to be effective 83.4 percent of the time in the institute’s tests involving about 1,000 vehicles.

在研究所進行的約1000輛汽車的測試中，83.4%的駕駛員在收到警告後注意到行人，並放慢車速。

In 2017, more than 1,600 pedestrians were killed in auto related accidents, which is about 40 percent of total traffic fatalities, according to data from the Traffic Accident Analysis System.

根據韓國交通意外分析系統的數據，2017年韓國有超過1600名行人在與汽車相關的意外中身亡，這個數字是整體交通傷亡人數的4成。

South Korea has the world’s highest smartphone penetration rate, according to Pew Research Center, with about 94 percent of adults owning the devices in 2017, compared with 77 percent in the United States and 59 percent in Japan.

根據皮尤研究中心的數據，韓國的智能手機普及率全球最高。在2017年，大約94%的韓國成年人擁有手機，美國和日本的同期數據分別爲77%和59%。

For now, the smombie warning system is installed only in Ilsan, a suburban city about 30 km northwest of the capital, Seoul, but is expected to go nationwide, according to the institute.

低頭族警示系統目前僅安裝在首爾西北方30公里的郊區城市一山，之後預計將推廣到韓國各地。

Kim Dan-hee, a 23-year-old resident of Ilsan, welcomed the system, saying she was often too engrossed in her phone to remember to look at traffic.

23歲的一山市民金丹熙對此非常贊同，她說自己經常埋頭看手機，忘記看路。

“This flickering light makes me feel safe as it makes me look around again, and I hope that we can have more of these in town,” she said.

她說：“這套閃光系統讓我感到安全，因爲它能提醒我環顧四周。我希望城市裏能多多安裝。”