I think we’ve all seen it. We’re driving along in our car, minding our own business, when some fool on a bicycle or some moron jogger–in a state of blissful ignorance–darts out in front of us, lunges across the street, or both. Distracted pedestrians is a growing problem, and laws are springing up around the nation to force joggers to pay attention to their surroundings, rather than their tunes.
“We’re taught from knee-high to look in both directions, wait, listen and then cross. You can perform none of those functions if you are engaged in some kind of wired activity,” says Carl Kruger, a New York state senator from Brooklyn who proposed the ban on use of electronic devices while crossing streets. “This is not government interference. This is more like saying, ‘You’re doing something that could be detrimental to yourself and others around you.'”
Under Kruger’s proposed law, violators would face a $100 fine and a civil summons. While his initial law, first introduced in 2007 banned the use of electronic devices while crossing streets in cities of 1 million or more, he’s in favor of expanding the prohibition. There is similar legislation proposed in various other places across the nation to restrict the use of wired, interactive, or distracting devices while running, walking, jogging, or bicycling.
Tags: distracted pedestrians, distracting joggers, distracted joggers and runners, running and jogging while distracted, not paying attention, attention, situational awareness, laws to ban use of electrical devices while jogging or running, law banning use of interactive devices while crossing the street, banning electronics while jogging, Brooklyn, New York, Carl Kruger, New York state law banning wired activity while walking or jogging
