London's Brick Lane Site for Bizarre Urban Experiment

According to reports (see above) that sound more like the Onion than a real news source, London's Brick Lane may be the center of an unprecedented urban experiment. It seems a study from the directory-assistance company 118118 found that "one in ten of us has got ourselves a bruise a fracture, or some injury because of walking and texting in the last year." And London's curry mecca, a.k.a. Brick Lane, is one of the most common places to do so. Rather than let people's obsessive tech affairs teach them a lesson about texting in inappropriate places (and that includes when sitting across from someone while sharing a meal), the British charity Living Streets is working to pad any potentially dangerous lamp posts, mailboxes, etc. Whether or not the war for padded walkways will make its way to other urban environments remains to be seen. [via]