New York To Ban iPods While Crossing Street?

An anonymous reader writes to mention Reuters is reporting that New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens. "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. 'I'm not trying to intrude on that,' Kruger said. 'But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem.'"

Natural Selection At Work

[gbulmash]

But this is natural selection at work. If you're too stupid to pause your music/chat/game while you're crossing through traffic, you should be removed from the gene pool, and a city bus going 30+ mph is a capable tool for that extraction.

It's just like the government to try to make laws to keep stupid people from killing themselves. How else are we going to evolve as a species if the government tries to legislate out of existence those activities that get people into the Darwin Awards?

- Greg

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[HarvardAce]

Instead of unfairly penalizing those of us who can listen to music while crossing the street (and, heaven forbid, chewing gum at the same time), why don't you just make it illegal to get hit by a vehicle while crossing the street and using an electronic gadget?

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[antifoidulus]

Wow, the joke took his head off and removed him from the gene pool! How apropos.

Re:government might want to step back

[Triv]

Why even do that? If the pedestrian has the right of way, he has the right to wear headphones.

Hahaha. Right of way? Right of way in New York is for tourists and pansies. This thing happens in New York where we, as New Yorkers, walk out into the middle of traffic in a tourist-friendly area (like Rockefeller Center) and watch the tourists instinctually follow us because if we're doing it, it must be safe. Hilarity ensues.

Talking about right of way in New York is a waste of time.

--Triv

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[truthsearch]

I think you mean...

Joke ---------> *whoosh*
          O <--- You
        --|--
          |
        / \
 

(from SeenOnSlash [seenonslash.com], which is actually from here [slashdot.org])

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[HarvardAce]

Yes, because making suicide illegal has really cut down on that problem.

That's basically what I was getting at, perhaps my sarcasm was too subtle.

easy solution

[wall0159]

If one pedestrian in fifty had a couple of kilos of nitro-glicerine (sp?) in their backpack, no pedestrian would ever be hit again.

"OMG it's a pedestrian - look out!!!" ;-)

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[Rasit]

Yes, because making suicide illegal has really cut down on that problem.

That's because the punishment is not hard enought, we really need a death penalty on attempted suicide.

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[lewp]

It's arguments like this that make fundamentalist Christians think the theory of evolution is a satanic plot to corrupt our children and turn them into terrorists.

What a coincidence. Fundamentalist Christians and people who don't watch where they're going when they're crossing the street: two groups I would happily sweep into the skimmer of the ol' gene pool.

If they'd both have a problem with the idea, it must be good.

An interesting dilemma...

[azuroff]

What happens when they're both using electronic devices at the time of the accident? A driver yakking on his cell phone mows down a jaywalker jamming out on his iPod.

Who's at fault?

Re:Sounds like...

[kmcrober]

Yes, people who have Corey Hart songs on their iPod should get two tickets.

To paradise?

His legs!

[antdude]

What happened to legs? Did the joke chop his legs off? [grin]

Re:In Germany...

[digitig]

Do you really want Apple to be able to claim that they make a killer media player?

Re:government might want to step back

[TheSuperlative]

In Cairo, they won't stop for anything. It's a giant game of frogger.

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[myowntrueself]

so now if you're on a bike you gotta wear a helmet now. That should save all the public from paying higher insurance rates because of increased safety and survivability right?

Won't someone please think of the emergency service workers who, thanks to helmet laws, don't have to scrape human grey-matter up off of the roads???

I think thats the main reason for those laws, not insurance, not saving lives; its saving the people who have to clean up after you from chucking their lunches quite so often.

Re:Natural Selection At Work

[mcvos]

Also lead to an increase in pedestrian fatalities from being hit by cars, because with people less likely to die in a car crash, they started driving more recklessly, thus more pedestrians getting hit by cars.

Traffic would probably be a lot safer if the airbag in the steering wheel was replaced by a sharp steel spike.