More Lunacy To Walk Away From
The protectors are out to keep us safe again. Why is it the more they try to protect us, the more I feel violated?
State Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn wants to make it illegal to cross a street in the state of New York while listening to an iPod (or similar mp3 device), talking on a cellphone or using a Blackberry. It seems he believes iPod distractions are dangerous and responsible for pedestrian accidents in his district. So, his solution to individual personal stupidity is a stupid statewide law.
I don't see any rush to ban the practice of putting on eyeliner with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other and still driving down the Thruway at 70 miles per hour. Nor is anybody cracking down on bike riders in the city who endanger themselves, pedestrians and drivers by weaving in and out of traffic, ignoring stop lights, and riding against traffic on boulevards or one way streets.
The idea that police officers are going to start ticketing walkers who don't take earpieces out at cross-streets is only slightly less moronic than the idea that people would actually pay attention to such a ridiculous ordinance. If people are so stupid they can't walk and listen to music at the same time, odds are they don't know how to program an iPod in the first place.
Yes, some people can get distracted and lose focus. But they don't need an iPod to do that. People daydream behind the wheel, lose their balance on subway platforms or lose focus on a stairway. We've already got new laws on the books telling us what we can and can't eat in restaurants. Now they want laws telling us how we have to conduct ourselves on the way there? Are we not to be permitted the luxury of actually being responsible for our own well being?
The last time I needed somebody to watch me cross the street, I was 7 years old. I don't need Senator Kruger or the police of any New York municipality to start holding my hand again. If I can't think clearly enough to listen to my XM and look both ways before crossing 48th Street, or to at least wait for the walk signal, then I probably deserve to get hit by a Gray Line bus or a Honda from New Jersey.
Maybe the good Senator would consider a ban on incense sales on street corners instead. Talk about something that will drive you into the street!
State Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn wants to make it illegal to cross a street in the state of New York while listening to an iPod (or similar mp3 device), talking on a cellphone or using a Blackberry. It seems he believes iPod distractions are dangerous and responsible for pedestrian accidents in his district. So, his solution to individual personal stupidity is a stupid statewide law.
I don't see any rush to ban the practice of putting on eyeliner with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other and still driving down the Thruway at 70 miles per hour. Nor is anybody cracking down on bike riders in the city who endanger themselves, pedestrians and drivers by weaving in and out of traffic, ignoring stop lights, and riding against traffic on boulevards or one way streets.
The idea that police officers are going to start ticketing walkers who don't take earpieces out at cross-streets is only slightly less moronic than the idea that people would actually pay attention to such a ridiculous ordinance. If people are so stupid they can't walk and listen to music at the same time, odds are they don't know how to program an iPod in the first place.
Yes, some people can get distracted and lose focus. But they don't need an iPod to do that. People daydream behind the wheel, lose their balance on subway platforms or lose focus on a stairway. We've already got new laws on the books telling us what we can and can't eat in restaurants. Now they want laws telling us how we have to conduct ourselves on the way there? Are we not to be permitted the luxury of actually being responsible for our own well being?
The last time I needed somebody to watch me cross the street, I was 7 years old. I don't need Senator Kruger or the police of any New York municipality to start holding my hand again. If I can't think clearly enough to listen to my XM and look both ways before crossing 48th Street, or to at least wait for the walk signal, then I probably deserve to get hit by a Gray Line bus or a Honda from New Jersey.
Maybe the good Senator would consider a ban on incense sales on street corners instead. Talk about something that will drive you into the street!
posted by Bill at
8:46 PM
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