More of the Nanny State
Now it seems that the next item in the crosshairs of the Nanny Staters are Ipods. Yep, walking and fiddling with your Ipod could get you a $100 ticket in New York if State Senator Carl Kruger gets his way.
“We’re talking about people walking sort of tuned in and in the process of being tuned in, tuned out,” Kruger said. “Tuned out to the world around them. They’re walking into speeding cars. They’re walking into buses. They’re walking into one another and it’s creating a number of fatalities that have been documented right here in the city.”
Yes I see this all the time. Why on just my way to work today I saw 15 people killed while fiddling with their Ipods. I tell you it is a national pandemic. [Note to the (morbid) humor imparied, I’m joking here.]
While I don’t doubt that there have indeed been cases of people getting hit while wearing an Ipod and not being fully aware of their surroundings, is this really a serious enough problem that we have to have the State deal with it? Exactly how many people walk with their Ipods and other electronic gadgets and how many deaths have been related to these gadgets? Why not go after bathtubs, swimming pools and curbs. How many people have been injured by curbs costing society untold productive work hours? Well? I tell you, we need to get rid of curbs.
Via Debunkers.
Right on, Steve. Why, just last year my wife was attacked by a vicious curb resulting in a broken ankle.
One would think that this genius would go after phones first. Ipods are popular, but I’m pretty sure more people have cells.
Personally I have several trillion cells.
Silly humor aside, I wonder if Kruger has any concept of controls and statistical significance? What am I saying? He’s a politician.
I’m sure pedestrians have been hit and killed while wearing Ipods. But I’m also sure pedestrians have been hit and killed who had no Ipods. It’s the comparison that gives us some notion of risk.
Wasn’t a lot of the current left’s philosophy influenced by the “Drop out, tune in” mantra. Now they want to make it illegal to tune in. I tell you its a vast right wing conspiracy out there.
Maybe if all cars were eliminated there wouldn’t be any speeding cars for iPod wearers to walk into. And this would have the side benefits of eliminating drunk drivers, GEICO commercials, road rage incidents, the need for imported oil, and preventing global warming by eliminating the release of massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Safety first! Or at least the illusion of safety first!
Kreuger decided to take two incidents, one of which involved a friend of mine, and turn it into a proposal for nanny statism.
My friend was killed crossing a busy street that was known for cars speeding well over the posted speed limits. Over the years, the City added traffic lights, but cars will still speed in the area.
The reports from the scene indicate that my friend was thrown more than 100 feet from the point of impact – and he was a heavy guy – 225 pounds.
How about a law banning speeding. Wait – we already have that. How about enforcing the laws on the books instead of putting new laws that make the legislators feel better and think that they’ve accomplished something.
Why, honey, I thought you knew us New Yorkers can’t walk and chew gum at the same time!
You mean there’s an idiot in the New York State Senate? Talk about non-news. . . .
Interesting to think through the effect of such a law. Anyone struck in a crosswalk wearing earbuds or holding a Gameboy would be vulnerable to a claim of contributory negligence, possibly reducing or eliminating their award even if use of the device had nothing to do with the accident.
It’s called Natural selection.