Peak Pointless

If we discover that society has raised a generation of idiots, surely the correct response is not to idiot proof the world, but to change the way we raise idiots?

So that maybe they are not?

The obvious example is the 'contains nuts' warning on a packet of peanuts. Quite frankly, anyone dying of a serious peanut allergy from eating a warningless packet of the very thing with the same very name that causes the allergy, deserves their Darwin Award.

The entire modern Health and Safety industry has grown up around the idea that we should protect idiots from themselves, but this latest 'invention' (term used loosely) takes the prize

The smart zebra crossing, created by tech firm Umbrellium in partnership with insurance company Direct Line, lights up with a warning when someone walks into the road in front of traffic.

Because we should invent expensive things to protect people who are more interested in what's on their mobile phone screen than the traffic they are walking into

Road safety charity Brake worker Jason Wakeford said: “This is a great example of how technology can help to improve road safety.”

And that statement is a great example of why the charity Brake are a bunch of blithering idiots

LEDs in the surface of the road create signals and road markings that can be altered.
Sensors in the road detect when people are at the crossing and even counts how many of them there are.
The crossing also gets wider when there are more people waiting at it allowing space for them to cross.

All very well, for sensible people who are waiting at kerbside to cross, but not much good for the bellend who blunders straight into traffic because someone liked a picture of their breakfast on Farcebook

Mr Haque told The Sun: “The pedestrian crossings we use every day are 50 or 60 years old.
“We’re trying to update it for the 21st Century with a crossing that deals with the fact that people are on mobile phones and might not be looking up.
The road is able to react in a fraction of a second allow drivers and pedestrians time to stop.

If the traffic bearing down on them won't get them to look away from their phone for a few seconds while they cross the road safely, I doubt a few pretty lights will

And all this is assuming everyone is actually going to use these crossings. Many people can't be bothered to walk to a crossing and end up getting injured crossing within view of one. Let's be honest, people who walk down the road with their heads in their phones are more likely to fall into that category

Thick as mince, why bother trying?