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State Sen. Carl Krueger, a Democrat who represents New York's 27th district in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, claimed that the phenomenon of "iPod oblivion" has led to a number of fatal accidents on urban streets. While he did not cite any statistical studies that have indicated a rise in such incidents, he referred to the January death of a 23-year-old Brooklyn man who, tuned into his iPod headphones, walked into the path of a city bus.
The bill would effectively make it illegal to use any kind of portable electronic device--a music or video player, cell phone, smart phone, gaming device, etc.--while crossing the street in cities such as New York, Albany and Buffalo. Offenders would be slapped with a $100 fine and a criminal court summons. Joggers and bicyclists would have to limit their iPod use to city parks in which no street crossing would be involved.
"You can't be fully aware of your surroundings if you're fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy, or listening to music on an iPod," Krueger said in a statement. He added that while police in other major cities--such as San Diego, Calif.--have warned that tuning in to portable electronic devices may leave pedestrians vulnerable to threats from pickpockets and muggers, he believes the real threat is from road traffic.
The popularity of iPods and BlackBerrys has emerged over only the past five years, but handheld devices are by no means newcomers to city streets. The concept for Sony's Walkman was patented in 1977, a full three decades ago. Nintendo's original Game Boy is only two years away from its 20th birthday. And portable radios have been around for even longer.
Not only will music fans likely complain about an iPod ban, but in New York City, Wall Street's notorious BlackBerry addicts may be loathe to put away their business tools when walking about the streets. But Krueger stands fully behind his new bill. "Tuning in and tuning out can be a fatal combination on the streets of New York," he said.
See more CNET content tagged:
street, RIM BlackBerry, New York, Brooklyn, Nintendo GameBoy
but generally you have to be a complete moron to step into a street without looking.
Usually when the suicidally inclined Crackberry owner does this sort of thing, the driver has absolutely no opportunity to stop.
Still a law seems completely unnecessary, as the punishment already meeted out by the car owner is more than sufficient.
Deliberately making yourself "deaf" by listening to music or playing with a phone is hardly the same thing as actually being deaf or blind.
I have absolutely no sympathy whatsoever for the type of retard that kills themselves in this manner. Rather I think of the poor bast@rd driver, that has to live with what has happened for the rest of their lives, all because some selfish tw@t with a PSP thought that finishing a level was more important than looking where they were going on a busy street.
on runaway spending instead of playing nanny for us? I'm sick and
tired of these nanny laws! If dopes are stupid enough to walk in
front of buses, too lazy to wear seat belts or so stupid that they will
pay $7 for a pack of smokes to help them die sooner, well maybe,
just maybe, we should leave them to it. In any case most folks
don't need the gov't to require specific safety behavior that is
patently obvious.
The party affiliation was mentioned at the very top of the article. Aren't you glad this isn't BillO's show? He may have switch-labeled this guy a Republican just like Mark Foley, D-Florida!
</Tongue-in-Cheek>
using an iPod or a Blackberry you are better off dead, than
protected by a law. What ever happened to natural laws, to
natural selection, to evolution? "Difficulties" and challenges are
part of our life for us to overcome them and stay fit. I would
hardly call an iPod a challenge but evidently it is to someone if
they need a law to save their life while using it and crossing
roads at the same time. Now the fact that such persons exists is
one thing, but that, in the name of their condition, all the others
should be punished, is just plain wrong. Lowering the bar of
living standards to the level of the lowest, worst, most retarded,
less agile, fattest, etc. members of our society would only
produce as a result to flatten, over time or even generations, the
entire society to lower and lower levels. Involution instead of
evolution. Is that what we are up for?
should pay a little more attention?
-- militant pedestrian
That being said, this law sounds like a pretty moronic idea. I would think that an existing code already covers this. I often wonder if lawmakers ever read current laws before proposing more.
It's the responsibility of the individual to keep the volume at a level where they can still hear the traffic around them, or to pay attention to the crosswalk lights. The government has better things to do.
How would this law even be enforced? Are they going to station iPod police on every street corner? Install crosswalk cameras to take pictures of people and compare them to their MySpace and Flickr profiles to send them a ticket by email or SMS?
Enough of the nanny society!
killed, nor the reality that a CITY BUS CANNOT STOP ON A DIME,
we can only conclude that we cannot argue against the bus
driver at all. If the bus driver has the light, and is driving down a
normal street, WHY would they either be driving at 2 mph, or
stopping at every intersection, regardless of the state of the
lights?
I lived in New York for 17 years, and was just out there in
December. Granted, some of those city buses definitely do drive
too fast, but again, we don't know the circumstances.
That said, citing one case of pedestrian negligence does make
make a case for a bill of this type. Can you imagine, getting
directions via phone, live while trying to get somewhere when
lost, and being told to hang up at every intersection, and being
handed a ticket for $100 and a summons? That's patently
preposterous.
Besides the argument that cops have better things to do... doing nothing is better than apprehending someone for "strolling while singing." Or, "displaying exuberant enjoyment" - that could be a crime.
I'm from Phoenix and we have our share of them here. In the city council and in the state legislature. Must be a virus: LBJS (Leaders Become Jerks Syndrome). Once sworn in it takes affect immediately.
<ribbit>
Eventually the type of idiot that walks onto busy roads without looking, while talking on cell phones or playing games will be removed from the gene pool.
On the other hand Crackberries and iPods should be placed on the scheduled drug list. I hold their suicidally inclined owners blameless in this. Clearly some force has taken over their wills and nothing but extended rehab and a clean break will help them rejoin humanity.
With under the influence alcohol and drugs being already being crimes of impairments, it isn't all that far off of being just as impaired with items such as a cell phone or some music box.
We do not need any new laws but lets just add to the older alcohol/drug impairment laws. Convictions then would make it a requireements for all the cell phone and music box abusers to abstain from their behavior.
- This is like a no spitting law...
- by R.Jefferson February 7, 2007 2:08 PM PST
- only black people are going to be cited for jay-poding.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (48 Comments)A city in upstate NY enacted a no spitting in public ordinance. It turns out 5 of the 6 people cited were black. Bummer...