Nanny Statism Reaches a New Low

It reads like something that might appear in The Onion as a satire on liberalism's desperate desire to make the whole world a soft, gentle place where you can't hurt yourself. But it comes from the March 4, 2008 Daily Mail, thanks to The Smallest Minority bringing it to my attention:

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.

What makes this scary is that the article suggests that large numbers of British sheep want to be protected from their own inattentiveness and compulsive text messaging.