Crossing the street while wearing headphones could cost New Yorkers the price of a new iPod Shuffle if a Brooklyn lawmaker has his way.
New York State Sen. Carl Kruger is attracting the ire of first amendment activists, law experts and music lovers in the region with his proposal to fine pedestrians $100 for using mp3 players, Game Boys, cell phones and other electronic devices in crosswalks.
"The use of electronic devices while crossing the street poses a threat to the public safety of pedestrians and motorists," Kruger said in a letter to the New York Legislature, as reported by the New York Times. "It is impossible to be fully aware of one's own surroundings when occupied in using an electronic device."
Kruger said several local incidents of people getting hit by cars while listening to music players prompted him to propose the bill.
BU Law School professor Pnina Lahav said the bill could pass legal muster, although she doubted whether two deaths was enough to justify sweeping legislation.
"There is no question that the state can regulate traffic," she said. "If you collect enough evidence that it causes a menace to society, if there is a real problem, then [the law can pass]."
Although Cambridge Running Club coach Fred Treseler said 20 to 25 percent of his 120 members run with music players, he said he has never seen an accident related to the devices, adding he would prefer the government spend its time and energy on educating the public on safety.
"I think it's probably not something to be legislated," he said. "It falls more in the common sense category. You don't legislate looking both ways before you cross the street."
Treseler, who has led the club for 23 years, said he still advises runners to only wear headphones over one ear to help prevent the possibility of an accident. More often, mp3 players pose the risk of being stolen, he added.
The proposed law would only affect New York, although the state has set precedents followed by other communities in the past. The Boston Public Health Commission is currently considering banning foods carrying trans fats after New York City adopted a similar ban last year.
College of Engineering sophomore Jason Maloney said he doubts the New York public would support the measure.
"I use my iPod all the time," he said. "If they banned them, it would cause a serious annoyance. A lot of people would get upset about it."
If the ban came to Boston, there would also "probably be some fairly demonstrative or vocal opponents of it," Maloney added.
Columnist Peter Suderman, a technology and free speech blogger for the National Review, told The Daily Free Press the bill is "just silly."
"It's indicative of the incredible inanity of government regulators and legislators, their willingness to play hall monitor to responsible adults who're perfectly capable of making their own decisions and judging risks for themselves," he said in an email.
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