Should distracted pedestrians be fined?

As I was busily working away on improving Accidents.com this morning, one of my friends forwarded me an article from the New York Times about possible legislation aimed at distracted pedestrians. If passed, it would ban the use of cell phones and iPods (among other electronic devices) by people who are crossing streets at an intersection. Violators would be subject to a fine.

There were quite a few different opinions quoted in the article. As with any subject like this, everyone has their own view. Mine is this: the government should be there to protect us from dangers, not to babysit us and try to protect us from ourselves. Laws banning distracted driving are warranted because the victims of accidents resulted by it are often not the driver who wasn't paying attention. But, if you're on foot and listening to your cell phone instead of paying attention to traffic, the only one who is going to get hurt is you. Yeah, it's dangerous for people to be using electronics while they cross the street, but it's not within the city's bounds to try to legislate common sense.

An alternative approach? Put together an ad campaign warning people about the dangers of using electronics while walking or running in the streets. Cite the stats. Show a scary picture. Keep us informed about the dangers out there, but let us make our own decisions.

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