Pedestrians may have to tuck their earbuds in their pockets when crossing New York City’s streets if a bill proposed by State Senator Carl Kruger passes. Kruger, representative for Brooklyn’s 27th District, has issued a gadget-ban bill that would impose a $110 fine on those listening to digital music players, talking on mobile devices, checking emails, or playing videogames on a portable consoles while switching sides of the street. The ban reportedly stems from the deaths of several device-distracted pedestrians while crossing Brooklyn’s streets, and thingamabob-lovers across the web are questioning the merits of Kruger’s proposal.
Here’s what bloggers are saying about the potential gadget ban in NYC:
“Three people have died this year in iPod-related traffic accidents in NYC, one got hit by a bus while grooving on some tunes…In 2005, there were 58 fatalities on school buses, that’s 95-percent more fatalities than the NY iPod-fatalities. So, why not ban buses instead? Buses are big, and many times yellow, and therefore they are much easier to ban than those tiny little iPod things that people surreptitiously carry in their jackets.” — Jack Sharkey, blog.myspace.com
“I just don’t see how the NYPD would find the time to hand out tickets to gadget-distracted pedestrians. Do you ever see them picking up a bum or stopping the cabbie from pissing in the street? No.” — DiamonDKT, diamondktblog.blogspot.com
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“I live in a much less busy city than NYC and I see people get nearly hit by cars everyday when they’re looking at their cell phones or listening to an iPod. Dumb? Yes. True? Yes.” — Anonymous, forlornapple.blogspot.com
“Anytime technology advances it takes a reasonable amount of time for our operating habits to catch up with our daily living. Creating legislation to protect me from my own cell phone or iPod while walking is a knee-jerk reaction. Can you imagine getting stopped by New York’s finest to be handed a $100 fine for using your iPod while crossing the street? The thought of that is ridiculous!” — Mrbesilly mrbesilly.typepad.com
“I think that if you’re stupid enough to be completely distracted by your iPod or whatever electronic device you’re using so that you don’t realize you’re crossing a street, in Brooklyn, you deserve what you get.” — tellingstories.typepad.com
“Whatever happened to look both ways we were all taught as children?” — lelaineh.spaces.live.com
Talk: Would you vote in favor of or against this proposal? COMMENT
On the Web:
nyssenate27.com
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