Nanny City: New York May Ban iPods while Crossing Street

by Jordan Yerman | February 7, 2007 at 09:48 am

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This proposal raises some strikingly obvious enforcement difficulties.

Those difficulties aside, surely people have, at some point in New York's rich history, crossed the street whilst using personal CD players, tape players, and so forth, and yet the city has not been depopulated. If this is only about the ability to aurally perceive danger, would this $100 fine also apply to the deaf? Or those engrossed in a conversation with a friend whilst crossing the street?

New Yorkers who blithely cross the street listening to an iPod or talking on a cell phone could soon face a $100 fine.

New York State Sen. Carl 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.

Kruger says he will introduce legislation on Wednesday to ban the use of gadgets such as Blackberry devices and video games while crossing the street.

"Government has an obligation to protect its citizenry," Kruger said in a telephone interview from Albany, the state capital. "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."