State Senator: No More Walking and Talking (and listening) in New York

A state senator in New York is proposing a ban on talking on a cell phone or listening to an ipod in Buffalo or New York City if you are walking on the street. I used to live in Manhattan and I have to tell you, the streets are not a social place. If you stop and say hello to someone you do not know, odds are you will get maced before you will get a reply. With the advent of cell phones and ipods, New Yorkers could add another insulating layer from those around them.

Now a Brooklyn state senator is asking to treat listening to an ipod or talking on a cell phone as a crime? Fo Getta Bout It. You would have a better chance of getting these people to smile at a stranger. The intelligencia will rise up as if you were asking to raise the price of a latte at Starbucks.

The ipod is popular in New York because these very same people who desperately want to live in the Big Apple also want to tone it out. This Brooklyn state senator will learn that quickly.

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.

Some pedestrians said they were not worried about their safety while using their electronic devices while walking. via WNBC News.