'Smartphone zombies' in Japan are causing chaos at road junctions

It may be outrageously funny when a businessman chatting on his mobile phone walks into a street sign, but such a scenario takes a deadly serious tone when that person steps into the path of an oncoming car or bus. In Tokyo, fire and rescue officials have found that in the past four years, 122 pedestrians had to be rushed to hospitals after being involved in such collisions. Japanese researchers also point out that when people focus on their phones, they drastically cut their field of vision to 5 per cent of what they normally see.

It’s dangerous and it’s our job to make sure it doesn’t actually happen.

Hiroshi Suzuki, manager of corporate social responsibility at Japanese mobile giant NTT Docomo

The dangers of texting and grabbing selfies aren’t confined to urban pedestrians. Japanese media reported that around half of the 56 bodies recovered from the peak of Mount Ontake after a September eruption were found clutching mobile phones with photos of the deadly lava and ash on them. Apparently, they had thought it was more important to be able to show their social media friends what was happening than to save themselves.

Asia-Pacific smartphone zombies