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February 7th, 2007

New York Senator To Propose Crosswalk Ban On iPods, Cell Phones And Other Devices

No, the headline is not a joke. From a local TV station:

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.

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.

Maybe the Senator should just put a big “kick me” sign on his back. While New Yorkers are often seen as liberal with respect to government intrusion in our lives, this seems to go well beyond the pale.

Chance of passage? Someplace around zero.

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