Proposed iPod ban strikes sour note
NEW YORK – War. Pestilence. Famine. Listening to your iPod in a crosswalk.
A state lawmaker is convinced that “iPod oblivion” – the zoned-out state of the earbud-wearing generation – can be a ticket to the Great Beyond.
So state Sen. Carl Kruger, a Brooklyn Democrat, wants to slap pedestrians with $100 fines for using electronic gadgets – cell phones, iPods, Blackberrys and the like – while crossing the street.
“This is not an intrusion into someone’s lifestyle,” said Kruger, who cites two men killed in his borough while listening to tunes through earphones – one by a bus and one by a car – as reason for the law. “This is government recognizing that there’s a safety issue.”
But the measure seemed a little too Big Brother for many in Manhattan.
“I’m a grown adult. I can take care of myself,” said Peter Kraft, 30, of Brooklyn. “What are we, 3 years old? The government should not be my nanny.”
Kraft, who works in sales and was listening to a book-on-iPod on Wednesday, said he was so disgusted he wrote Kruger a letter.
“It’s not his job to police things like this,” Kraft said. “I asked him to focus on schools, housing and jobs. The rest of it, we’ll take care of. What, do they not have enough work to do up there?”
While admitting the phone or music can be distracting, most said crossing the street safely is a matter of personal responsibility.
“If people aren’t paying attention, that’s on themselves,” said Lisa Carson, 30, a manager from the Bronx, who chatted on her cell phone as she crossed Seventh Avenue. “I think they should be (responsible) for their own life. But I pay attention.”
“I’ve done that a few times, where I’ve walked into the middle of the street, not paying attention,” admitted Staten Islander Diana Recanatini, 28, who did the iPod shuffle across W. 34th Street to the strains of Justin Timberlake. “I can see both sides of it. But if they start banning us walking with iPods and stuff, what else is next?”
If such a law could be enforced, it would be a bonanza for government coffers: Between 4:30 p.m. and 4:45 p.m. Wednesday, a reporter counted more than 144 people crossing West 34th Street and Seventh Avenue while talking on the phone, wearing headphones, texting or BlackBerrying.
“One hundred dollars? You’re kidding me. I would be bankrupt in a week,” said Manhattan store manager Joshua Franks, 34, of the Upper East Side, who was crossing while phoning.
There’s no matching bill in the Assembly, and Kruger’s a Democrat in the Republican-run Senate. Incidentally, Kruger admits to using a cell phone, but he does not own an iPod.