New York City Politician Wants iPod Users To Stop Walking And Rocking

Brian Raftery | February 7, 2007 10:55 am
kruger.jpg

If Brooklyn senator Carl Kruger (pictured here, clearly while doing “the robot”) gets his way, on-the-go New Yorkers will have to stop playing with their iPods, and start talking to one another. From WNBC:

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.

We don’t think Kruger will get too far with this: After all, it’s easy enough to introduce legislation (we do it every few days or so, on a lark), but it’s much harder to get to push it through the famously combative New York State Legislature–especially when residents start whining about how they have the right to jaywalk with their Jayhawks. That said, we’re willing to get behind the ban if it’s extended into movie theaters, clubs, restaurants, libraries, small-scale armories, adults-only aquariums, and petting zoos. Anything to get a few more assholes off the streets.

Ban Proposed On Walking While Talking, Listening To iPod [wnbc.com] Carl Kruger [27th District site]