The Energon Pub

New York may ban iPods while crossing street

NEW YORK (Reuters) - 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."

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."

Linky!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070207/us_nm/newyork_ipod_dc

Where should the line be drawn? Personally, I think that while the bill is good intentioned, it's going too far. It's talking about 3 people being killed since september, while unfortunate, these are hardly huge droves of numbers. There has been far more homicides in Brooklin than people who mindlessly walk into traffic, or even household accidents. Maybe the next bill should be that you can only do one thing at a time at all times, no more multitasking. It think the good senator should spend more time worrying about other things.

If someone is too stupid to get off their phone to actually take in their environment and get hit, I don't see why they should take away the ability from everyone. Granted I'm not one of those people with a phone glued to my ear either.

I don't know about this bill, but I do think Police should be given the ability to shoot on site dumbass idiots talking on thier cell phones while driving.

Ironhidensh wrote:I don't know about this bill, but I do think Police should be given the ability to shoot on site dumbass idiots talking on thier cell phones while driving.

My dad does both at the same time, and he's the head of an industrial chemicals company and gets calls every hour of the day. But he uses a headset for just to keep hands and eyes where they need. Not everyone that chooses to multi-task like that is a moron-- the tech depends on the descresion of the person using it.

Well I've nearly been hit on two occasions because my hearing's been dulled!

Keeps their wits sharp though. I like to think I'm providing a service if nothing else

DesalationReborn wrote:My dad does both at the same time, and he's the head of an industrial chemicals company and gets calls every hour of the day. But he uses a headset for just to keep hands and eyes where they need. Not everyone that chooses to multi-task like that is a moron-- the tech depends on the descresion of the person using it.

Whether he uses a hands-free or not is pretty much irrelevant. The distraction is in that he's engaged in a conversation while driving. It still impacts his driving. It's still not a very good idea.

Kjell wrote:

DesalationReborn wrote:My dad does both at the same time, and he's the head of an industrial chemicals company and gets calls every hour of the day. But he uses a headset for just to keep hands and eyes where they need. Not everyone that chooses to multi-task like that is a moron-- the tech depends on the descresion of the person using it.

Whether he usesa hands-free or not is pretty much irrelevant. The distraction is in that he's engaged in a conversation while driving. It still impacts his driving. It's still not a very good idea.

No it's not. It's been pretty much proven that talking on a cell phone while driving increasing your risk of an accident, regardless if your using a handless set or not.

At Coke, if we catch one of our Drivers on a phone while driving, its instant termination.



Of job, not life.

Loki120 wrote:

Kjell wrote:

DesalationReborn wrote:My dad does both at the same time, and he's the head of an industrial chemicals company and gets calls every hour of the day. But he uses a headset for just to keep hands and eyes where they need. Not everyone that chooses to multi-task like that is a moron-- the tech depends on the descresion of the person using it.

Whether he usesa hands-free or not is pretty much irrelevant. The distraction is in that he's engaged in a conversation while driving. It still impacts his driving. It's still not a very good idea.

No it's not. It's been pretty much proven that talking on a cell phone while driving increasing your risk of an accident, regardless if your using a handless set or not.

I wonder, do you ever engage in a discussion with your driver?

that too, does also decrease concentration on the road though not always to a a degree as a phonecall, as there are 2 pairs of eyes in the car.

Autobotcity wrote:
I wonder, do you ever engage in a discussion with your driver?

With my driver? I don't have a driver. I guess I don't understand the question.

I don't make up the statistics.

double post.

Tammuz wrote:that too, does also decrease concentration on the road though not always to a a degree as a phonecall, as there are 2 pairs of eyes in the car.

Quite. Though other than someone else potentially (!) helping to watch the road (although telling people about dangers 'the driver already noticed' is usualy not appreciated due to the driver's ego anyway :P), the sole difference between speaking with someone in the car and speaking to someone on a phone, is activating the head/hands free set and a phone ringing.

Obviously, one should not dial during driving, but find the nearest spot to get off the road and find a parking space. >____>

Whereas calling with a normal mobile phone, holding it in your hand, would mean you can't use one of your hands for the wheel/gearbox or have your head in an aqward clamping position which would make it harder for you to respond to or even see things.

I don't think handsfree sets really matter compared to speaking to someone else (which everyone does). They equal the pushing of a button on a carradio.



However, I think the problem lies not that people are too preoccupied with the game or phone or music in public, but more that they just don't have their priorities straight: 'safety first' and 'mind the road' should be the number one priority when crossing a street.

I don't actually see how you could even play a game while walking in New York without walking into someone or a lantern post.

but the recent study shows that fiddling with the radio, also produces the same distraction, which is why there has been a recent change to uk law, which prohibits nearly everything that requires a driver to do anything but drive....

Ironhidensh wrote:At Coke, if we catch one of our Drivers on a phone while driving, its instant termination.



Of job, not life.

Here here old bean! lol.

I'm not a fan of satanism, but that is definately natural selection at work.

Listen, Stop Protecting Stupid People. They Will Just Breed More Stupid People.

Tammuz wrote:but the recent study shows that fiddling with the radio, also produces the same distraction, which is why there has been a recent change to uk law, which prohibits nearly everything that requires a driver to do anything but drive....

......I could see that potentially increasing the number of people that fall asleep behind the wheel....

Anyway....yeah I really don't know what to think. I personally don't do any phone stuff when I drive, but that's because my wife always handles that when we go anywhere.....when she's by herself, on the other hand....

I keep telling her to stop calling me every 5 minutes when she's out doing stuff. I just have a feeling that one day I'm going to get a call like: " Hi. Oh, by the way, did you want me to get whole milk or 2 percent...Robbie! Sit down before.......*crashing sound*..........OH MY GOD I JUST WRECKED!! ROBBIE JUST FLEW OUT THE WINDOW!! THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!!!...I.....I...." *phone goes silent*



....but it's like people said, it depends on your priorities. If your first priority is to keep your senses alert & focused so that you can adjust to your surroundings, then odds are you're not going to have problems.

Cell phones/iPods are just meaningless toys, distractions from something I like to call living.

I ride motorcycles every day, and people on their cell phones have nearly had me run off the rode or ran over COUNTLESS times. They seem too occupied with that phone or their designer $5 frappochinolatte, behind the wheel of their land yacht that they do not need.

If someone gets killed pretending to talk to someone on their cell, it is their fault.

I shed no tears for pretentious dolts.

It helps clean our gene pool.

Not to be cold or anything, but I tend to agree.

The idea of banning iPods and phones on the street (is it on the street, or just when crossing roads?) just because three people in six months have been too stupid to look where they were going is frankly preposterous. Odds are, even if they hadn't been otherwise distracted, if they thought that little of their own safety they'd've wound up as roadkill sooner or later anyway.

Stories like this just make me think of poodles and microwaves...

I think people are slowly turning into robots with those funny little devices permanently fixed to their faces.

Just last night, I passed THREE talking into space over those tiny gadgets! Guess it's a good thing I'm hearing impaired.

Hey, Megatron could take it as an advantage to brainwash everyone on cell phone in one sitting! Then they WOULD be robots carrying out his orders over the cell phones! And Autobots wouldn't be able to destroy them because they're still innocent people trapped under influence!

Even worse, cell phones do cause accidents because they're not paying attention, sadly.

Ok, and now about spending too much time on the Internet.

YouFearGalvatron wrote:Cell phones/iPods are just meaningless toys, distractions from something I like to call living.

I ride motorcycles every day, and people on their cell phones have nearly had me run off the rode or ran over COUNTLESS times. They seem too occupied with that phone or their designer $5 frappochinolatte, behind the wheel of their land yacht that they do not need.

If someone gets killed pretending to talk to someone on their cell, it is their fault.

I shed no tears for pretentious dolts.

It helps clean our gene pool.

Agreed. While the law(s) exist to protect, regulate and keep us safe, they should not serve as an alternative to personal responsability. If I get hurt becuase of an iPod distracting me it should not repeal the rights of others to utilize their iPods when they are being attentive. Anyway, I'm with you YFG.

Kjell wrote:Whether he uses a hands-free or not is pretty much irrelevant. The distraction is in that he's engaged in a conversation while driving. It still impacts his driving. It's still not a very good idea.

So they should ban talking while driving? Two people sitting in a car should remain silent at all times?

The distraction is in the hands. It's like eating while driving.

Dark Zarak wrote:

Kjell wrote:Whether he uses a hands-free or not is pretty much irrelevant. The distraction is in that he's engaged in a conversation while driving. It still impacts his driving. It's still not a very good idea.

So they should ban talking while driving? Two people sitting in a car should remain silent at all times?

The distraction is in the hands. It's like eating while driving.

Great ponit Dark Zarak! But I recall a study on CNN showing no difference in the risk of a hands-free (Bluetooth) cell phone setup and a conventional one. They are just as accident-prone with or without the use of their hands.

I think the problem is in the mind, the lack of attention, or the blatant middle finger to all other motorists while on the cell, IMHO.

Every time...it was a person on thier damned mobile phone. Without fail, every time.