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，韩国某市在十字路口安装了闪灯装置和激光束，提醒“智能手机低头族”们抬头看路，并让驾驶人员减速，避免意外发生。韩国智能手机普及率全球最高。
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.
韩国的交通致死率和伤亡率在发达国家中处于居于高位。人们日益担心越来越多的行人因为低头看手机而在交通事故中受伤。设计人员据此设计了这套提醒装置。
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.
开发这套装置的韩国国立土木工程与建筑工程技术研究所表示，安装在斑马线的闪灯系统可以警告路人与驾驶人员。
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.
除了设置在人行道的LED红黄蓝三色路灯，从电线杆投射出来的激光束，以及应用程序传送到手机的提醒，也可对低头族发出警告，提醒他们即将过马路。
“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.
该研究所高级研究员金宗勋说：“越来越多的低头族车祸在行人穿越道路时发生，所以这些警示灯对避免行人意外至关重要。”
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.
这套多重警示系统由雷达传感器与热感应相机运作，每个路口的安装费用为1500万韩元（约8.9万人民币）。
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.
在研究所进行的约1000辆汽车的测试中，83.4%的驾驶员在收到警告后注意到行人，并放慢车速。
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.
根据韩国交通意外分析系统的数据，2017年韩国有超过1600名行人在与汽车相关的意外中身亡，这个数字是整体交通伤亡人数的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.
根据皮尤研究中心的数据，韩国的智能手机普及率全球最高。在2017年，大约94%的韩国成年人拥有手机，美国和日本的同期数据分别为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.
低头族警示系统目前仅安装在首尔西北方30公里的郊区城市一山，之后预计将推广到韩国各地。
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岁的一山市民金丹熙对此非常赞同，她说自己经常埋头看手机，忘记看路。
“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.
她说：“这套闪光系统让我感到安全，因为它能提醒我环顾四周。我希望城市里能多多安装。”
本文来源：中国日报网
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