Cell Phone Offers Pedestrian Protection

By JR Raphael
Contributing Writer, [GAS]

Your cell phone could soon protect you from getting hit by a car.

Oki is showing off its new “Safety Mobile Phone” at a wireless expo in Japan this week. The phone will sound an alarm when it gets too close to a car that’s also equipped with a short-range wireless device (such as the vehicle-based system used to electronically pay tolls and parking fees in parts of Asia). The car’s device will send a warning bell, too, notifying the driver and hopefully preventing you from getting smashed to smithereens. The phone is being marketed for use by pedestrians — particularly, we assume, those with extraordinarily fast reaction times.

Oki doesn’t plan to charge any extra for the service, since it uses communications systems that are already in place. The new phone also has GPS capabilities and could eventually be used for other advanced tracking purposes.