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Distracted Tokyo cell-users racking up injuries

In four years, 122 people had to be rushed to hospital after accidents caused by pedestrians using cellphones

Yahoo! News

TOKYO — When the lights change at the Shibuya crossing in Japan’s capital, one of the world’s busiest pedestrian thoroughfares, hundreds of people with their eyes glued to smartphones pick their way over the road.

Despite being engrossed in the latest instalment of Candy Crush or busy chatting with their friends on messaging app Line, most manage to weave around cyclists, skateboarders and fellow Tokyoites.

But the growing ranks of these cellphone addicts are turning cities like Tokyo, London, New York and Hong Kong into increasingly hazardous hotspots, where zombified shoppers appear to be part of vast games of human pinball.

Read full story: Japan’s smartphone ‘zombies’ wreak havoc on the streets

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