Posted by
Bullfrog on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 8:18:37 PM
CBSTV.com reports on more abuses of the "nanny nation" syndrome in NY government. State senator Carl Kruger wants iPod, cell phone, and Blackberry toting citizens to just sit still and listen to them.
Legislation will be introduced in Albany on Wednesday to lay a $100
fine on pedestrians succumbing to what State Sen. Carl Kruger calls
iPod oblivion.
I would posit that Sen. Kruger is succumbing to the lure of the Nanny Nation. Yes, Senator, we pedestrians are to darn stupid to watch where we're going, and need to be held by your benevolent hand while crossing the street. Please be my grade school crossing guard. Pretty please.
For the record, I don't own an iPod, nor a Blackberry. I will not use a cell phone while walking down the street, nor while driving, bluetooth-enabled or not. It's illegal in NJ and NYC, if not all of NY State, though I see people doing it all the time, and never getting pulled over for it.
"If you want to listen to your iPod, sit down and listen to it," Kruger
declared. "You want to walk in the park, enjoy it. You want to jog
around a jogging path, all the more power to you, but you should not be
crossing streets and endangering yourself and the lives of others."
People get killed in intersections by cars in busy cities all over the nation. Has the good senator ever viewed the statistics on how many were using iPods, cell phones or Blackberries at the time? I think not. They're not even kept by police on any formal basis even for drivers in accidents. His "evidence" for this epidemic of pedestrian carelessness is anecdotal at best. And his remark about endangering the lives of others in this context could be read as implying that the pedestrian is endangering the life of the driver. This is patently absurd.
I don't see him saying a word about enforcing the existing rules against driving while using a cell phone, running red lights, speeding, etc. Yes, pedestrians can be killed, but they don't kill themselves by playing in oncoming traffic.
Kruger's bill would only apply to big cities across New York state. We
don't know what kind of support it has in Albany, but he hopes that the
New York City Council, which has already banned indoor smoking and
trans fats in restaurants, will pick up the cue.
Considering the absurd legislation that NYC has a tradition of passing, the City Council just might pick up Sen. Kruger's deflated ball and run with it.
The ultimate irony is that democrats across the nation decry the citizenry's loss of freedom and liberty at airports and other public places by the Bush administration in the aftermath of 9/11. Yes, folks, these are the same dimwits who want to curtail your ability to cross the street without first stopping to remove your earbuds, or pocket your phone.
Uptown blocks in NYC, in midtown and above, are 20 per mile. I would suggest to the Senator that he join the rush hour crowds outside Penn Station without any electronic devices on his person, and see firsthand how that doubles the time for a 10 block walk in any direction, when half of the pedestrians stop dead in their tracks twice every 0.05 miles to "unplug" and "replug."
Accidents will happen, and people will be nominated for Darwin Awards. It's part of life. There's no need to legislate away our liberties on the basis of anecdotal evidence. If someone's an "obliviot" (term borrowed from
Mike Straka), let him or her be one, and deal with the consequences.