February 07, 2007
Because New York pedestrians are already so good at obeying traffic laws
New York state senator Carl Kruger suggests that crossing the street while talking on a cell phone or wearing an iPod be subject to a $100 fine.
Kruger says three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed since September upon stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device. In one case bystanders screamed "watch out" to no avail.
Or maybe people should just learn to look where the hell they're going when they step into the middle of the street, I don't know.
Actually, the article is unclear about just what it is Kruger aims to ban. The lede dangles the threat of an iPod ban in front of you, but then the article goes on to say Kruger "will introduce legislation on Wednesday to ban the use of gadgets such as Blackberry devices and video games while crossing the street," which is a little different. Anyway, the best part of the article is when the anonymous author veers far far away from a neutral viewpoint:
Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes.
It's nice that they still let cranky old people write news articles. I'm sure it makes a nice change from waving their canes at the kids on the lawn.
(Thanks to Alan for the link.)
Posted by Francis at 04:25 PMWhat about the cranky old people swaying to seemingly silent tunes or (in my case) talking back to podcasts as they walk down the street??
Posted by: Janice in GA at February 7, 2007 06:02 PM