“First it was cell phones in cars, then trans fats. Now, a new plan is on the table to ban gadget use while crossing city streets [in New York State],” Lou Young reports for WCBS-TV,

“We all seem to have one — an iPod, a BlackBerry, a cell phone — taking up more and more of our time, but can they make us too distracted to walk safely? Some people think so,” Young reports. “If you use them in the crosswalk, your favorite electronic devices could be in the crosshairs.”

Young reports, “Legislation will be introduced in Albany [NY] on Wednesday to lay a $100 fine on pedestrians succumbing to what State Sen. Carl Kruger calls iPod oblivion. ‘We’re talking about people walking sort of tuned in and in the process of being tuned in, tuned out,’ Kruger said. ‘Tuned out to the world around them. They’re walking into speeding cars. They’re walking into buses. They’re walking into one another and it’s creating a number of fatalities that have been documented right here in the city.’”

“Kruger’s bill would only apply to big cities across New York state. We don’t know what kind of support it has in Albany, but he hopes that the New York City Council, which has already banned indoor smoking and trans fats in restaurants, will pick up the cue,” Young reports.

Full article here.
“Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” – Ronald Reagan