GETTING stuck behind — or worse, crashing into — a slow-strolling pedestrian who is engrossed in their cellphone is one of the great frustrations of navigating any metropolis in a hurry.

    With that in mind, National Geographic has introduced separate lanes for cellphone and non-cellphone using pedestrians at a busy block on Washington D.C.’s 18th Street.

    It’s part of a social experiment for the channel’s new Mind Over Masses science series, which “uses what we know about human behavior” to develop “interactive solutions to everyday problems.”

    National Geographic Channel spokesman Chad Sandhas acknowledged the channel was behind the temporary signage and said pedestrians’ reactions were being filmed for Mind Over Masses.

    But he declined to discuss details of the experiment during the filming, which he said would continue.

    According to a notice on the website of Washington’s Office of Motion Picture and Television Development, which issued the film permit, the show planned to create “fast and slow lanes” on the sidewalk, “allowing participants to choose.”

    On Thursday afternoon, many pedestrians seemed to ignore the markings, though there were some who took pictures of the novel signage.

    Another mystery aspect of the experiment involved someone wearing a gorilla suit eating a banana, which also drew attention from passers-by.

    Irene Fadakar, 54, a secretary who was walking past the spectacle, said she noticed the markings at the beginning of the sidewalk. But she acknowledged that less than a block later she was back on her phone, walking in the lane marked “no cellphones.”

    (SD-Agencies)