Accident prevention

Nice, but I think my shoulder like a rock is much more effective. I do not apologize when I knock someone's phone to the cement. I actually smile.

What Yelnats. Liikewise I don't yield an inch to the oblivious 150cm ladies with their parasols.

Nice, but I think my shoulder like a rock is much more effective. I do not apologize when I knock someone's phone to the cement. I actually smile.

Because walking and using a phone is so much more obnoxious than assault, right?

The irony is that people using their mobile device while walking wont see this sign.

They walk into me, not me into them. I never heard the charge of assaulting a phone.

Parasols can take your eyes our. I do a sumo push on those.

I'm fed up with people using their phone while they are walking. They're walking toward me without being careful not to bump into me, so I'm always the one who dodges them! I wonder what they are doing with their phone...

"so I'm always the one who dodges them"

Exactly, why should we have to yield to stupid people. I only do it when I'm with my kid, who'd also be trampled unless she got out of the way of the latest mindless dolt lumbering down the street.

They walk into me, not me into them.

That's not what you implied in your first statement:

I do not apologize when I knock someone's phone to the cement.

You stated that you knock their phone to the cement, not that it falls to the cement when they bump into you.

So to be clear, you see them coming, and stop and wait for them to bump into you? Because if you see them, and purposefully walk into them, then that's assault. They are ignorant for walking into you because they aren't looking, but you are aggressive for purposefully walking into them.

Which brings me back to my original statement.

Ok, obviously some people here do not get it. I am standing on a platform. Some loser that can't resist playing Candy Crush or texting, walks straight into me. I see them coming, but I am standing waiting for a train. I am not about to get off the line I am standing in to accommodate a person with no life. I firm up, they walk into me and 1 out of ten times they will lose the phone. I smile. done. One day I might get lucky and the person walking right behind them doing the same thing will step on the dropped phone and I can hear some pleasant chatter.

I do not apologize when I knock someone's phone to the cement. I actually smile.

Would you dare to do that in your own country?

The authorities have noticed there's an ever-growing social problem with phone use and so, have posted these signs.

Nice start, however as gogogo stated; "The irony is that people using their mobile devices while walking wont see this sign." Very true.

So, perhaps it might be a good idea to reinforce these signs with loudspeaker announcements on train platforms and a nationwide public service message campaign via mass media.

yelnats: "Nice, but I think my shoulder like a rock is much more effective. I do not apologize when I knock someone's phone to the cement. I actually smile."

So, you enjoy physically assaulting people. Don't say they run into you, because clearly you've intoned that you COULD move out of the way, but do not, especially with this: "I do a sumo push on those."

"One day I might get lucky and the person walking right behind them doing the same thing will step on the dropped phone and I can hear some pleasant chatter."

And you even ENJOY the assaults! Shame on you! What these people are doing may be stupid, same as if someone is driving a car and looking at the navigation system, or a person looking at a map while walking down the street and searching for a house, but would you let a car hit yours just out of spite?

It's pretty sad that you get your kicks out of harming others and/or watching them suffer when it could totally be avoided by you simply moving a little bit, regardless of the very slight inconvenience to you.

Glad im not the only one with this petpeeve, but posters wont do much unfortunately. Perhaps some extra station personnel warning these people?

Agree posters won't do much as the people using their electronic devices, books, and what not won't be looking around at the signs all that much. Maybe they should be putting them on the floor and hopefully the people will see them in their periphery. As for station staff warning people, they don't really have any authority. Police should definitely do so if they see people walking around using their phones if they don't seem to be paying attention to their surroundings (and you can do both, same as you can check a map while walking. It's when you're engorged in what's on the screen or in your hands and NOT paying attention to your surroundings that you are in trouble and cause others the same).

I've seen how very effective poster campaigns are here. Thanks to the Subway manner Campaign everyone demonstrates exemplary courtesy at all times.

HaraldBloodaxe: If campaigns were effective, or well thought out, there would be no posters just above the subway tracks shouting "JUMP!" in ads for business schools or whatever.

These people annoy me too - at least when they're in front of me. I wouldn't actively barge into any of them, but I do make a point of not yielding. In pretty much all occasions, they notice and move before we collide.

smithinjapan - the car analogy is a bit overblown I think. Someone staring at their navigation systems rather than the road ahead is a clear and fairly large risk to other road users and pedestrians. Phone walkers are more of 'annoyance' rather than an out and out 'danger', so obviously how one might reasonably react to them would be very different.

For map walkers, that would also be annoying, especially in a crowded area, but I might be more 'forgiving' of that because presumably, as you say, they may be searching for something close by.

I think a big part of the annoyance with phone-walkers is that they're often just playing games, chatting on LINE, watching videos, on an SNS, etc. whilst blindly expecting everyone ahead to make way for them.

I would increase the number of exclamation marks for the man toppling off the platform - I think his reaction would be somewhat bigger than that of the woman who bumps into the walker.

So, I am suppose to jump out of line so they do not blow their points on Candy Crush? I do not think so. If they want to walk into me, fine. They pay the consequences of possibly dropping their phone.

And, if you ever had a parasol coming at your eyes while standing in line, you will find that your arm does wonders. I am not going to move or get out of any line due to stupidity, selfishness and ignorance.

And, in my country of origin, walking into someone while looking at your phone will get your butt kicked...phone thrown on the tracks, and possibly you too.

If you want to jump out of the way, then you are catering to the ignorant and selfish. Perhaps it is time for you to go home.

yelnats: "So, I am suppose to jump out of line so they do not blow their points on Candy Crush?"

You mention Candy Crush so much I think you secretly have a thing for it yourself. And no, no one said you have to JUMP out of the way, but it's easy to move a slight degree instead of knowing their coming and literally shouldering them by not moving. You're committing assault.

"And, in my country of origin, walking into someone while looking at your phone will get your butt kicked"

So will shouldering them when you could have moved, my friend. You're not a brick wall, bud, you have the power to help avoid an accident and loss where the stupid people do not. If someone's about to walk into a wall or onto the tracks because they are staring at a cell phone or reading a time chart or something I don't stand there and chuckle to myself for the day's enjoyment. I warn them or stick my arm out or wave it so they catch the attention of something moving and alter their course.

"If you want to jump out of the way, then you are catering to the ignorant and selfish."

Wrong. It's ignorant and selfish to stand there and create an accident -- because that's what you are doing by not moving (again, it needn't mean you have to JUMP). It's YOU who's being ignorant and selfish, and you have openly admitted to ENJOYING the other person's suffering on top of it all!

"Perhaps it is time for you to go home."

No, perhaps it's time you engaged in some sensitivity training or have your butt kicked for being a jerk and laughing at others' pain when it all could have been avoided by YOU.

As for umbrellas, if there is absolutely no way to avoid them coming at you (ex. narrow sidewalk, large umbrella where many people are walking, also with umbrellas), I WILL stick an arm out to block the umbrella from hitting me, of course, but your suggested 'sumo push' of the person is nothing short of assault, and THAT is something we could chuckle at if a police officer were there to cuff you for doing.

People who do not focus on what they are doing and where they are walking may be stupid and cause trouble, but you are suggesting that it's perfectly okay to instigate even worse things. Shame.

Perhaps it is time for you to go home.

It is not a sumo thrust. It is an arm motion that will protect your eyes.

I have seen too many people standing in lines get walked into and get knocked down, upset, almost pushed on tracks due to these selfish losers playing Candy Crush. Candy Crush is the only game on phones I see pushed on TV so, sorry if I am not up on all the games.

The aged and the handicapped do not deserve this awful treatment by so many face in the phone people.

If you think that is ok, then you have strange morals and should go to finishing school. Time for you to return home and try doing that to someone in your own country. Let us know about your injuries.

Japan used to be so polite. Phones have really downgraded such nice people, both old and young alike.

Harald, I'm still waiting for the campaign I've suggested to Tokyo Metro, which is a few people saying "kusai" and looking appalled at an old fart in a sweaty suit, with the caption, "Shower before Train". They told me it might be next month, but I'm not holding my breath.

Yelnats, if some idiot wants to try really hard to walk into me with his outstretched cell phone and it gets broken, no sleep lost here either. People should look where they're going and it's obvious you're not actually assaulting anyone.

Yelnats: I notice you've toned down your rhetoric. I agree with everything you say in terms of being sick of people knocking others over because they have their faces shoved in something else (and it's not always a phone, and phones are not the only reason why society has become less polite, either), and of COURSE the aged, handicapped, nor does anyone else deserve that kind of rudeness. But that does not take away from the fact that YOU said, flat out, you enjoyed knocking people and them losing their phones as a result when you could simply move out of the way -- in other words, you go out of your way to get a thrill from people suffering and say it's because you're sick of what those people do? How does that make you different? At least they don't INTEND to run into people, nor do they laugh at the results!

Plenty other posters agree that your initial stance on this, and what you do, is nothing short of physical assault.

"Perhaps it's time for you to go home" (what I intended to quote you on at the end but hit submit)

That doesn't even make sense -- "if you don't like people assaulting others for kicks, which is not at all the norm, time to go home". Lame.

There are other means to letting people know they are being obnoxious by being obnoxious yourself and committing physical assault, yelnats.

From the sign with the one guy falling onto the tracks, it looks like the problem will take care of itself with natural selection, or my favorite, The Darwin Awards.

smithy, I think he was joshing with you. Foreigners assaulting Japanese people in busy places on camera tend to get arrested. I doubt he does anything more than stand his ground a bit in certain situations. The behaviour he's on about it a bit obnoxious too, and sometimes quite dangerous to non-idiots.

I've never, literally never had someone walk into me when they were using their phone and I wasn't moving. Not in 20 years.

In regards to the back-and-forth about running into people, it takes two to cause an accident. It's like defensive driving; if someone is driving erratically because they're on their phone, I'm not going to just allow them to run into me because I'm in my lane driving the speed limit. I'm going to avoid an accident by moving if necessary. That doesn't mean I won't blow my horn though.

If someone is coming towards you and they aren't paying attention, why not try to let them know you're there rather than just allowing them to run into you?

I think the point is that the more aware has to take more responsibility, in this case to avoid a collision. But I think there are many who seem to take advantage of this and look away or feign searching in their bags or some other activity when in crowded places. I wonder if others have noticed this.

highspot: Talking about 'accidents' is a little overblown. In any normal street walking situation, even if a collision does occur, the people involved are likely to be no worse for wear. At worst, a phone might be dropped, a screen might get cracked, that's it.

Comparing that to the literally life-ending dangers inherent in car accidents is ridiculous. The situations are not similar enough to suggest that they should be treated the same.

Wish I had eyes in the back of my head, then I could easily step aside before they crash into me and let them fall on the tracks.

Most of these people that walk into you when you are standing waiting in line usually hit you from the side or back side not front. They should be the ones opening their eyes. I should not be bobbing my head like a pidgin waiting for one of these clowns. I am not a car, and I am not doing defensive standing in line driving.

Yelnats: "I should not be bobbing my head like a pidgin waiting for one of these clowns."

No one said you should be. But when you say:

" I see them coming, but I am standing waiting for a train. I am not about to get off the line I am standing in to accommodate a person with no life. I firm up, they walk into me and 1 out of ten times they will lose the phone. I smile. done."

You're hardly 'bobbing your head like a pidgin waiting for one of these clowns', are you? You're WATCHING them walk up and into you and doing nothing -- and SMILING! Sorry, but you can't change your earlier claims of enjoying assault into innocence on your part. Unless you ARE bobbing your head around looking for them, of course.

Yelnats: "It appears that there are a lot more people in agreement with me than you according to the thumbs. Are you one of those people that tries to be Japanese?"

The thumbs up or down mean very little, especially when some -- nudge nudge -- click on profiles and just thumb down every post you make because they disagree with something on one thread. And no, actually, if you look back to your original thread you can see that no one directly agrees with you, but quite a number cite you for assault, saying "You would actually do that in your own country", or "So to be clear, you see them coming, and stop and wait for them to bump into you? Because if you see them, and purposefully walk into them, then that's assault", or, "If someone is coming towards you and they aren't paying attention, why not try to let them know you're there rather than just allowing them to run into you?", etc.

And you're defense to this is to say, "Maybe it's time you went home", which doesn't make sense if I'm against a foreigner committing assault on Japanese, and then, "Are you one of those people that tries to be Japanese?", which you would know if you read my posts I am anything but (and that doesn't make any sense either).

So, sorry, bud, but despite later trying to back track on the rhetoric you are still guilty of being worse than the people you call offenders, especially with: "Wish I had eyes in the back of my head, then I could easily step aside before they crash into me and let them fall on the tracks."

it's quite showing that you would rather watch someone fall onto the tracks and let them get seriously hurt or even die (and this contradicting your "I don't move, I watch them crash into me, their phones fall, and smile") then simply stick an arm out or say something to stop them. They are being stupid for watching their phones or what have you and not paying attention to where they walk. You are being tantamount to criminal.

Miss, your arguments are floored. Please feel free to accommodate all of the rude people around you. You seem to enjoy it for some reason. But to each her own. As a woman, I am surprised you take this abuse.

Yelnats: wow... Your defense of assaulting people is to call those who don't agree with your actions women? Now you hate women to boot?

Yelnats: "Miss, your arguments are floored. Please feel free to accommodate all of the rude people around you. You seem to enjoy it for some reason. But to each her own. As a woman, I am surprised you take this abuse. - See more at: http://www.japantoday.com/category/picture-of-the-day/view/accident-prevention#comment_2004353"

So, now the many that disagree with you are all women? I know you don't like the fact that you've been called out on your pro-assault attitude (more proof of that being in your "since you like to take it..."), but that's a rather sad attempt at defense. When you say you're willing to let people fall on the tracks and smile, that's a crime. When you knowingly let them crashing you and just make your shoulder into "a rock", that's assault and you should be charged. Don't "sumo shove" them, as you suggested with umbrellas, just give them some kind of verbal cue to pay attention. It's really that simple... And not illegal!

Twenty years in Japan, and I've literally never had someone using their phone walk into me when I was standing still. Never once. Seems a little suspicious.

Stranger land: some people evidently get their kicks from actively seeking it out. I've also never had it happen with a person using a phone (some close calls, but I avoided them), but one person crashed into me while tearing at her bank book while exiting the bank.

DiscoJ: Not really the point. I understand the difference between an accident in a vehicle versus an accident of someone walking into someone else. The point isn't to say they are the same, it is to illustrate the point that you should probably just let someone know you're there if you see someone not paying attention. People in this thread have stated their willingness to intentionally allow people to run into them. I think that's ridiculous.