South Korea’s street lights up as road safety for pedestrians that stare at their phones while crossing

An intersection's curb in Seoul lights up with green and red lights, indicating when it's safe to cross the road when you're looking down at your phone screen.

“Smombies” also known as “smartphone-obsessed zombies” can safely cross the road without looking up.

The in-ground LED traffic signal lights were first installed in the city in 2019 as a trial after an "increasing number of smombie accidents occurred at pedestrian crossings".

During the same year, the South Korean government also implemented an alert system that sends a notification to phones if walkers are about to step into traffic.

Sign up to our newsletter here.