Should pedestrians be ticketed for texting while walking?
May 14, 2012, 9:59 AM | Updated: Oct 11, 2024, 1:40 pm
 Do you think people should be ticketed for texting while walking? (AP Photo/Ben Margot) |
Police in Fort Lee, New Jersey have been handing out $85
tickets to pedestrians spotted texting while walking.
“The idea of ticketing somebody for a text, I can get it
texting while driving, because you’re in command of a
powerful machine, but texting while walking, come on?”
said Dave Ross, in a discussion on 97.3 KIRO FM’s Ross and Burbank Show.
ABC News reports there have been three
fatal pedestrian-involved accidents in the New Jersey town
this year. ABC cites a study that shows people texting
while walking are 60 percent more likely to veer off
course.
Co-host Luke Burbank said he’s definitely seen this in
action.
“I was just in New York a couple weeks ago and I was
walking down these crowded streets and I have to tell you
it was infuriating,” said Burbank. “I had two different
girls […] walk physically into me because they were
texting.”
If the citations can stop this kind of annoyance, Burbank
said he’s all for it. “If these tickets help prevent that
from happening, I’m fine with it.”
But Ross wonders what good cell phones are if you can’t
use them on the go.
“I don’t text while I drive, but I do sometimes
occasionally text, and even talk, on a cell phone while I
walk, because that is what a cell phone [is for].”
He wonders if talking while walking will be the next
crime.
“I don’t think anyone is saying you can’t talk on a cell
phone while walking,” said Burbank, adding the trouble
with texting is the need to stare at the little screen.
Burbank recommends approaching texting while walking as
you would texting while driving.
“If you’re going to send a text, just step over to the
side of the sidewalk, send off your text and then keep
moving,” said Burbank.
“Why don’t we have pedestrian licenses? So you have to
wear a little license plate on your butt to certify that
you’re qualified [to walk],” said Ross.
Listen to the full discussion on Ross and Burbank:
The Ross and Burbank Show can be heard
weekdays 9 a.m. to noon on 97.3 KIRO FM. Available anytime
ON DEMAND at MyNorthwest.com.
By JAMIE GRISWOLD, MyNorthwest.com Editor
