Britain's first 'Safe Text' street with padded lampposts to prevent mobile phone injuries

Britain's first 'Safe Text' street has been created complete with padded lampposts to protect millions of mobile phone users from getting hurt in street accidents while walking and texting.

Around one in ten careless Brits has suffered a "walk 'n text" street injury in the past year through collisions with lampposts, bins and other pedestrians.

The 6.6million accidents have caused injuries ranging from mild knocks and embarrassing cuts and bruises through to broken noses, cheekbones and even a fractured skull.

Almost two thirds - 62 per cent - of Brits concentrate so hard while texting that they lose their peripheral vision, researchers found.

Given the apparent dangers of "unprotected text", over a quarter of Brits - 27 per cent - are in favour of creating a 'mobile motorway' on Britain's pavements.

Texters could follow a brightly coloured line, which which would act like a cycle lane, steering them away from obstacles.

And 44 per cent of those surveyed wanted pads placed on lampposts to protect them while texting. The study found that busy city streets were the worst for "walk 'n text" accidents.

The research showed that Brick Lane in East London was the top spot for texting injuries.

William Ostrom of 118.com said: “The study found Brick Lane was the worst for a combination of reasons. It has a very high concentration of lamp posts, signs and bins in a small area, but perhaps worst of all is its name itself.

"Anything with a reference to 'brick' can understandably cause harm, whether intended or unintended, and our advice to the home office didn't end with padding posts and the like, but to change certain-hard-impact names and titles as well.

"Just last year, for example, we reduced the number of office workplace accidents by half, simply by doing away with the term 'hardcopy' and replacing it with 'real-copy'.

"Also, several of our researchers have suggested changing the name 'lamppost' to 'pillow-post', as this simple remedy might indeed suffice without having to construct actual padding."