Watch | German city installs traffic lights on pavements to alert distracted phone users

Authorities in the German city of Augsburg have installed additional flashing lights in the pavement at a busy tram crossing mostly used by students, in a bid to improve road safety.

The lights are meant to attract the attention of young road users, nowadays often distracted by their smartphones.

Tobias Harms, of the city's public works department, said research had shown that “the regular traffic light does not catch the attention of pedestrians fully any more”.

Smartphone users who walk along streets staring at their small screens have been dubbed “smombies”, a combination of the words smartphone and zombie.