this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2023
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[โ€“] Chrisosaur@startrek.website 4 points 2 years ago (13 children)

Was this a technological change, or did gas stations just not want people loitering on their phones?

[โ€“] spauldo@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago (6 children)

IIRC, the rate of explosions at gas stations started going up around the time that cell phones were becoming popular. The investigation teams would review camera footage and see people on their phones. So the government changed the mandatory warning stickers on the pumps to include a "do not use your phone while pumping" warning.

Turns out it wasn't because people were using their phones near the gas pump, but that they were getting back in their cars to play on their phone while the pump was running. They'd build up a static charge by getting in and out of the car, which would arc to the pump handle when they went to hang it up.

It took a while before they realized what the actual problem was.

[โ€“] Chrisosaur@startrek.website 3 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Interesting. Any sauce? Just curious why this is no longer a problem.

Mythbusters had an episode about it

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