It’ll only be a misdemeanor to stare at your feet

A New York lawmaker wants to save the lives of his tech-zombie neighbors:

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."

Next up on the Distractions Are A Major Public Safety Crisis At Hand List: shiny objects, beautiful sunsets, breasts.

New York has also banned cell phone use in the car, which, while annoying, at least makes some sense. If you crash your car, chances are you're hurting more than just yourself. But if some earplug-pumpin' White Stripes music is enough to make you aimlessly wander into oncoming traffic, well, I think that's your own problem.

Posted by Jason Feifer at February 9, 2007 01:01 AM