Maybe this is just another sign that I’m turning into an old fart but this annoys me. London has put big ugly pads around lamp posts on one street to protect people who run into them while texting.

Is there no limit to how far we must go to relieve people of the burden of personal responsibility? Look, I’m all for safe streets and sidewalks but people who aren’t looking where they are going need to run into something and hurt themselves so that they will learn to pay a little attention to the world around them. Most members of my generation did this when we were little when our mothers were there to make sure that it was a lamp post we ran into instead of a moving car.

It is especially disappointing that they’re padding lamp posts in London. It’s such a People’s Republic of California thing to do. Where are the proper, stiff-upper-lipped Brits that I have always admired from afar? Long gone I suppose. Or perhaps they were never anything more than fictional. (sigh~ another cherished myth busted)

I think, if we must protect people from themselves, a more high tech solution would be better for the unfortunate texters and society as a whole. We need a device that will cause any cell phone that comes within, say, three feet of it to flash a message that says, “HEY STUPID, LOOK WHERE YOU’RE GOING” and install it on all lamp posts and other obstacles.