Ban Proposed On Walking While Talking, Listening To iPod – News — Curiously I’m all for this.

A state senator from Brooklyn said on Tuesday he plans to introduce legislation that would ban people from using an MP3 player, cell phone, Blackberry or any other electronic device while crossing the street in either New York City or Buffalo.

NewsChannel 4 reported that Sen. Carl Kruger is proposing the ban in response to two recent pedestrian deaths in his district, including a 23-year-old man who was struck and killed last month while listening to his iPod on Avenue T and East 71st Street In Bergen Beach.

“While people are tuning into their iPods and cell phones, they’re tuning out the world around them,” Kruger said. The proposed law would make talking on cell phones while crossing the street a comparable offense to jaywalking.

via the helpwithasmile blog



  1. It won’t be enforced, but when someone gets hit by a car while breaking this law, the driver won’t be 100% at fault anymore.

  2. ethanol says:

    Another stupid, nanny-state law to protect us from ourselves!

  3. xgdfalcon says:

    Portable music devices have been around for decades. I used to be “tuning out the world around” me with my FM Transistor radio over 30 years ago.

  4. ethanol says:

    I forgot to mention, I am for laws when endangering others. But getting oneself killed because of their own stupidity?!? That is their own issue. But I do agree with #1 that at least the driver won’t be at fault anymore. Reminds me of states without a law requiring motorcycle helmets but limits death payout from insurance companies to $10k if you are not wearing one. I am all for that!

  5. Kim Helliwell says:

    Stupid law. I wish lawmakers would get over the idea that they have to legislate against every danger. What ever happened to personal responsibility?

  6. travelsTooMuch says:

    It’s very reassuring to know that the NY legislature is going to take on this important issue. Imagine how many people’s lives will be saved.

    Forget about the drunk drivers, the people with submachine guns under the seats of their SUVs, the meth and crack infested Bronx, and, of course, the twenty-one people who met a death by violence in NYC in just the month of January 2007 alone. This needs attention!!!!

  7. Read says:

    You probably cannot legislate good judgment. But, in certain situations, you really do need all of your faculties. For example bicycle magazines always said that the best way to get killed was to wear headphones while riding (they said this long before the iPod). In crowded urban areas, you need to be able to hear what’s going on around you.

    #2, How far should Government go to protect us from ourselves is the real question. Education about the real hazards would seem to be more productive than another unforceable law.

  8. SN says:

    I have a much better law. If a pedestrian is hit while wearing headphones the driver has absolute immunity from any civil or criminal prosecution. In other words, let’s thin the herd a bit.

  9. Dumb laws like this are created to protect really stupid people.
    People are driving and walking around like zombies addicted to ipods and cellphones…
    State Senator Kruger’s probably trying to justify his paycheck.

  10. Doug McIntosh says:

    Its called thinning the herd. You can’t legislate to prevent stupidity.

  11. C. Flowers says:

    “…a 23-year-old man who was struck and killed last month while listening to his iPod..”

    So, if he wasn’t wearing his iPod he would’ve been able to jump out of the way of a speeding car? Those iPods are the devil’s work, I tell ya!

    The guy who struck him was probably talking on his damn cell phone or blasting the Top 40 on his stereo at the time!

  12. JT says:

    Since when do stupid people follow the law?

  13. french toast says:

    personally, i think microsoft is paying off some NY higher-ups to get this law passed. just you watch, there will be an exception in the law allowing you to operate a ZUNE at all times. in fact, they will even allow “squirting” while walking!

    what a conspiracy!

  14. Robbie says:

    Politics shouldn’t get in the way of Natural Selection

  15. bw says:

    #15 – I agree completely. It’s Nature’s way of removing a certain element from the gene pool.

    Let nature take it’s course.

  16. TK says:

    FIrst of all, this is retarded. People just need to pay attention when they cross the street. Should we ban deaf people from entering all major citites?

    Second, I’ve jaywalked in NYC probably 10,000 times and never get a second glance from a cop. You think the police are going to waste their time looking for people headphones at crosswalks?!?! LOL!

  17. Suntan says:

    Walking around NY it does seem like everyother person has an Ipod. However, you cant make stupid illegal.

  18. Al says:

    Enough of the NANNY STATE! I will make my own decisions, thank you. My nanny already makes me wear a seatbelt, encourages me not to smoke, drink or get fat and on and on…

    Politicians should get on with the job of managing government and leave the job of managing my life to me.

  19. Scott Gant says:

    I want to expand what TK also said: So does this mean that deaf people also will not be allowed to cross the street or operate a vehicle? They too are “tuning out the world” since they can’t hear anything.

  20. Darwin says:

    Yo, I told you all about this stuff. C’mon.

  21. David says:

    What an idiot. Let’s legislate what music you can and can’t listen to while going through the crosswalk, too. I’d say rock music and rap is okay, but new age… you might be too relaxed to see a car coming!

  22. Gig says:

    #1. You have it right. It’s to bad the legislator couldn’t have just proposed a law that required the courts to take into account that a person who wearing an iPod or the like and is struct by a car is not entitled to damages.

  23. punterjoe says:

    They may as well just outlaw Darwinism outright, Maybe they should simply make it a misdemeanor for a driver to ‘thin the herd’.

  24. Paul says:

    Dvorak, Liberterian eh?

  25. MG says:

    Why must we create rules that prevent stupidity being removed from the gene pool!

  26. #25 LOL!!!

    Got me with that one.

    I’ll be back.

  27. maxx says:

    #8 is spot on. I love the cartoon at the top. Just me or is anybody else sick of everything I-Pod?

  28. doug says:

    #23. There is already something called comparative fault. If you blunder out into the street while inattentive, your injuries are not going to be found to be entirely the driver’s fault. If, on the other hand, you are distracted by your iPod so you don’t seen the driver running a red light, it is not entirely your fault, now is it? Or if he is doing 90mph in a 25mph zone so does not stop in time.

    legislating by anecdote (like the guy in the article wants to) is ALWAYS a bad idea.

  29. Andrea says:

    Yeah right! They cannot even manage to enforce the “no cell phone use while driving” law. I see people on their phones while behind the wheel constantly. What they should do is pass legislation that sends these empty minded morons that have nothing better to do than make very small talk on cell phones all day to an island somewhere. Treat them like lepers, because these jerks are useless to society and endanger and annoy other people.

  30. ChuckyChin says:

    oh my god what is that guy is doin’??? that looks so damn wrong….


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