Oh, great, now the whole f’ing state’s going SuperNanny.
(CBS) NEW YORK First it was cell phones in cars, then trans fats. Now, a new plan is on the table to ban gadget use while crossing city streets.
We all seem to have one — an iPod, a BlackBerry, a cell phone — taking up more and more of our time, but can they make us too distracted to walk safely? Some people think so.
If you use them in the crosswalk, your favorite electronic devices could be in the crosshairs.
Legislation will be introduced in Albany on Wednesday to lay a $100 fine on pedestrians succumbing to what State Sen. Carl Kruger calls iPod oblivion.
“We’re talking about people walking sort of tuned in and in the process of being tuned in, tuned out,” Kruger said. “Tuned out to the world around them. They’re walking into speeding cars. They’re walking into buses. They’re walking into one another and it’s creating a number of fatalities that have been documented right here in the city.”
Pedestrians have been hurt and killed in the manner Kruger describes. Not surprisingly, though, iPod users are less than thrilled with the senator’s proposal.
“That’s not a distraction,” said one woman, iPod securely implanted in her ears. “You have your iPod in your ears and you’re crossing the street, you are looking with your eyes. You don’t have to hear anything, really … I guess.”
Added another New Yorker: “It’s a terrible idea. It’s outrageous.”
Kruger said not so fast.
“If you want to listen to your iPod, sit down and listen to it,” Kruger declared. “You want to walk in the park, enjoy it. You want to jog around a jogging path, all the more power to you, but you should not be crossing streets and endangering yourself and the lives of others.”
Kruger’s bill would only apply to big cities across New York state. We don’t know what kind of support it has in Albany, but he hopes that the New York City Council, which has already banned indoor smoking and trans fats in restaurants, will pick up the cue.
Would someone please clue in Mr. Kruger… people are sometimes retarded, and you can’t fix stupid.
Council should focus on making streets safer to cross while listening to music and using a cell phone!
Adopt PPS’s pedestrian proposals, add traffic calming zones, get cars off the road, make drivers more alert, and encourage cycling.
He effectively just commited a political suicide
I didn’t know iPods got that loud. Mine at max volume still doesn’t drown out Kruger’s bitching.
This just burns me up. When does legislation need to take precedence over education? Public awareness is the key to crosswalk safety, and people just need to remember to look both ways. I am starting a petition against this legislation to prevent this lunacy from spreading. http://www.myspace.com/batterygeeks
I think he should go about it a different way.
Make it so that the driver can not be at fault for running over the nitwith that crosses a street while not paying attention. I mean really. Why dont we just trade places with the people. They can walk on the street and we can drive on the walks. ITS A FREEKING ROAD!!!!! THERE ARE CARS ON IT. AND THEY JUST MIGHT BE GOING FAST, OR WORSE YET…. THEY MIGHT JUST BE MAKING A PHONE CALL OR CHANGING THE TUNE ON THERE IPOD AND NOT SEE YOU WALK IN FRONT OF THEM.
Yes I am yelling. I think if you are stupid enough to walk onto a street and not look because of whet ever reason you want. Ipod, phone, e-mail or you just leaft what little brain you have left on the kitchen table, and you get run over… You have just earned your sign, and deserve to be run over.
Kruger told Reuters. “This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it’s becoming not only endemic, but it’s creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand.”
If Kruger and his kind are so worried about “public safety”, then the best thing they can do is work to bring our military home from Iraq as soon as possible. What’s next, no blowing your nose or scratching your ass while crossing the street.
ed: Iraq? how the hell did you manage to work in Iraq into that comment?