Trains will soon be able to Turn your Phone off

We’ve all been there haven’t we? Sat on the train during rush hour, trying to lose ourselves in our phones or a book. Trying to forget the sweaty, suffocating aroma of too many people being packed into the same space. Sat knee to knee with another passenger, feeling claustrophobic, noticing that you are using recycled oxygen, that everyone else has breathed it in and out before it enters your own mouth.

If that wasn’t bad enough, there is some inconsiderate a**hole shouting through his phone.

You’re sat in the quiet carriage, you’re tired, you’re irritable and you are wishing sudden internal combustion for the inconsiderate fool deciding to ignore the rules.

This is common and passengers often get annoyed with one another on these journeys. It makes everyone uncomfortable, and instantly puts people in a bad mood.

Perhaps, as I’ve gotten older, these things have begun to irk me more. Perhaps those that have no consideration for others have always annoyed me. Either way, it makes me mad. Are good manners too much to ask?

If, like me, you can’t stand people having to shout conversations down their phones or other people’s loud music gets on your nerves, there may be some good news.

Cubic Corporation, the same firm that developed London’s Oyster Cards, have patented technology that will restrict noise levels from passenger’s devices.

Sensors will be placed around carriages and these will lock certain settings on the phones of passengers. Restricting the ability to make calls and forcing the phone into “quiet mode”. These sensors could also be used to turn phones off completely.

On long train journeys this could be a blessing to those who prefer to take the opportunity to rest, to read or to work. It could make the journey more comfortable for almost everyone on the train.

The only people that would really be affected by the technology are those ignorant A**holes who like to irritate other people.

This technology is a way off yet. The company claiming that they have no plans to introduce it to the market yet and have not set out any routes or areas where this may initially be implemented.

The technology would have to be developed in a certain way for it to be legal, it is currently a criminal offense to use any technology or jammers that interfere with wireless technology. The maximum penalty for this is two years in prison or an unlimited fine.