N.Y. solon: let’s ban phones, audio in crosswalks

“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 New York City and Buffalo.” (“Ban Proposed On Cell Phones, iPods In Crosswalk”, WNBC, Feb. 7). Comment: TechDirt, Global Nerdy, […]

“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 New York City and Buffalo.” (“Ban Proposed On Cell Phones, iPods In Crosswalk”, WNBC, Feb. 7). Comment: TechDirt, Global Nerdy, Bainbridge, Wired blog. A Blog for All rounds up links. Commenter Mike Knowland at Dvorak.org writes, “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 Comments

  • Even without the ridiculous law, it’s not clear to me that the driver should be 100% at fault if a pedestrian doesn’t get out of the way of a legally-moving car because he or she can’t hear the car horn because of electronic gadgetry he or she is wearing. (The analysis changes if the pedestrian has the right of way.)

    Is it that in Albany people don’t wear iPods or that people don’t cross the street that the law would apply only to NYC and Buffalo?

  • Kruger’s proposal makes little sense when you note that he wants to limit the law to Buffalo and NYC. What about people wearing iPods crossing streets elsewhere in the state? Are they not engaging in the same supposedly dangerous act as someone in Brooklyn?

    Thanks for the link BTW!