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Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

japantimes.co.jp

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Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#111

Post by stefan_ »

zrobotics wrote: post #62
acd wrote: post #57

Could we please do it in Sweden too. Sweden are too distracted in traffic for their own good, its like mobile phone zombies sometime, people staring at a piece of glass. This includes myself sometime. Also cell phones should be banned in traffic because it causes distractions. Attention in traffic is very important.

I had to have a very strong discussion with an employee yesterday, as I almost ran him over with a forklift. He was walking back from break, head buried in his phone. I don't care if he spends his break time on his phone, and truth be told I don't even care if he sends the occasional text while working. However, I definitely have a problem with walking around a hazardous warehouse environment and not looking as what…

Thankfully it's now 2020 and we've long since learned that putting "be vigilant" in the employee handbook doesn't do anything, just like "don't crash the plane" stickers on an instrument display don't do anything to stop plane crashes.

Even OSHA, the lowest common denominator, requires you to clearly delineate pedestrian travel paths. Physical separation is highly recommended. What doesn't fucking help, and hasn't since the invention of motors in 1900, is "We need to talk about how I almost negligently ran you over".

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#113

Post by brnt »

ghaff wrote: post #32
apsanz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transparency mode works well on Airpods pro but I never walk around busy streets with both earbuds in. I strongly recommend only using one and listening to audio books or podcasts

I've heard that about the Airpod Pros. I guess part of it is that I don't really feel a need to always be listening to some kind of soundtrack. I actually do listen to podcasts when I drive, especially on the highway. But I don't even routinely have music on in my house and don't really like working with music in the background.

Ugh, I hate that, those people with contonuous soundtracks. They don't seem to realize it's loud, makes them speak louder still and is a huge hit to their ability to pay attention.

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#114

Post by zeeZ »

laurieg wrote: post #85
catalogia wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in Japan, people walk on the left side.

Japanese sidewalls are rather paradoxical: where rules and order are so valued, pedestrians are in chaos. People walk 4 abreast, walk in bicycle lanes, randomly change direction without looking etc. Escalators are even stranger. There are signs everywhere telling people to stand on both sides. These are completely ignoreed. People fill up one side completely and leave the other side empty for the occasional walker.

The escalator one depends on how busy it is. During rush hour or when the line at the "entrance" begins to grow longer the free side gets a lot more traffic, though usually people will still try to walk on that side in order to not block the "fast lane".

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#115

Post by tw04 »

Sephr wrote: post #87
tw04 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>1. Using your phone as an actual phone (i.e., an audio only conversation with the thing held to your ear, or with a headset). There's no indication this bans audio calls, given it specifically calls out smart phones I'd wager that's not their intent. >2. Using it as a navigational aid. If I'm not too sure where I'm going I'll often use either Google or Apple Maps to set up directions before I start walking. I'll the…

Phones can be a real-time navigational aid for the blind[1]. This requires the phone to record your surroundings, which means either holding your phone while walking or making a holster for the phone on the front of your shirt/jacket. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seeing_AI

There are exceptions to pretty much everything. I doubt their intent is to punish the blind and I'm sure if they ever put any teeth behind the law there would be a carve out. No different then the countless "no pets allowed" laws that still allow seeing eye dogs.

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#117

Post by kairumination0 »

laurieg wrote: post #85
catalogia wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in Japan, people walk on the left side.

Japanese sidewalls are rather paradoxical: where rules and order are so valued, pedestrians are in chaos. People walk 4 abreast, walk in bicycle lanes, randomly change direction without looking etc. Escalators are even stranger. There are signs everywhere telling people to stand on both sides. These are completely ignoreed. People fill up one side completely and leave the other side empty for the occasional walker.

^ This guy has really been in Japan! There is no standard of walking on the left or the right. People don't follow vehicle driving protocols because many of them never have or will drive. "Paradoxical" is absolutely the best way to describe Japanese pedestrian behavior.

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#118

Post by kairumination0 »

bamboozled wrote: post #55
catalogia wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe in Japan, people walk on the left side.

Many people in Japan don't drive so they don't really think about "sides" like people who come from car cultures do.

This. As a driver and a long-term resident in Tokyo, I try to stay to the left as a pedestrian, but I estimate the odds of the other party doing the same are 50/50.

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#119

Post by yamakadi »

iso8859-1 wrote: post #108
yamakadi wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few rules and local laws in Japan that don’t carry any punishment or, indeed, aren’t even enforced but are still followed. Making it law in this case is more of a nudge than anything else. Honestly, it’s much more scary here to be stared down by a group old people than the police.

Just curious, what happens when the old people come after you? Is it because they could be yakuza?

It’s just extremely uncomfortable. I try to participate in the neighborhood events as well so it’s better to just fall in line (wherever the line is, not really clear either). Just a recent example, I forgot to wear a mask last week when I went to the supermarket and kept getting stares by other shoppers. That wouldn’t be an issue even a couple of months ago.

I’m guilty of it now, too, though. If anyone is smoking on the road while walking or biking, I lock eyes with them and they usually stop or at least turn away.

Re: Yamato becomes Japan's first city to 'ban' use of phones while walking

#120

Post by mFixman »

jrockway wrote: post #39

My dream is that one day, everyone will see the imaginary lines down the sidewalk that I do. Keep to the right, just like you're driving, and even someone texting while walking won't run into. Sadly, these lines are imaginary and while people tend to keep right, don't take it very seriously. A deeper issue is how much of the space between buildings is dedicated to private vehicles. When the sidewalk is 6 feet wide an…

This whole "in a perfect world everyone would walk just like me" is just an attempt to justify the constant loss of walking space to cars since the 1950s.

My dream is that one day pedestrianised spaces would be large enough to allow everyone to use it without compromises.

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