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---
description: Imagine if 1,500 people all started crossing the street at Tokyo&#x27;s Shibuya Crossing while they were looking down at their phones.
title: Simulation of 1,500 People Walking and Texting at a Busy Intersection
image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26928e5dcd9bb70b/69868829169ab0802527885e/docomo.jpg?branch=production&amp;width=1080&amp;quality=75&amp;auto=webp&amp;crop=16:9
---

![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26928e5dcd9bb70b/69868829169ab0802527885e/docomo.jpg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)

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# Danger! Computer Simulates 1,500 People Walking and Texting at a Busy Intersection


by 

[Doug Aamoth](/author/doug-aamoth/)


## Doug Aamoth


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Mar 31, 2014 3:06 PM CUT

![docomo](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt26928e5dcd9bb70b/69868829169ab0802527885e/docomo.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

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by 

[Doug Aamoth](/author/doug-aamoth/)


## Doug Aamoth


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Mar 31, 2014 3:06 PM CUT

So here’s what would apparently happen if 1,500 people all started crossing the street at Tokyo’s Shibuya Crossing while they were looking down at their phones.

You’ll notice a handful of things:

* A total disregard for crosswalks! These mouth-breathers are just walking right out into the middle of everything.
* Two of them just walk in place when they run into each other. The last time I did that, mall security Segwayed me out by my shirt collar.
* One of the guys gets run into and then bows as though it’s his fault! Sack up, man!
* Only one guy drops his phone, which seems really low for 15,000 hoopleheads all running into each other.
* Two fall down and get right back up, all while still looking at their phones (probably accurate).
* It takes an eternity for the street to clear when it’s the cars’ turn to go again (probably accurate), yet only a couple horns honk (maybe accurate in Japan; absolutely not accurate just about anywhere else).
* The guy at the very end appears to fall down at the top of a subway entrance and, instead of getting back up, he’s does the Worm for a bit. I’d grab a simulated beer with that guy any day.

[According to Kotaku](http://kotaku.com/computer-simulation-of-1-500-people-looking-at-smartpho-1555156397 "undefined"), the video is a joint effort between one of Japan’s major wireless companies – NTT Docomo – and Aichi University of Technology, which cobbled the simulation together. The message? I can’t read Japanese, but I’ll bet it’s three-fold: Don’t text and walk, watch where you’re going, and remember that the Worm will never, ever, ever go out of style.

[Computer Simulation of 1,500 People Looking at Smartphones and Walking](http://kotaku.com/computer-simulation-of-1-500-people-looking-at-smartpho-1555156397 "undefined") \[Kotaku\]

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