iPod bans will not make sweet music

Stan Beer
Sunday, 11 February 2007 05:43

Opinion and Analysis

While not wishing to sound like a fanatical anti-government libertarian, when politicians think they have the right to give criminal records to decent citizens who choose to listen to music while crossing the street, one has to wonder where the land of the free is heading.

Politicians often introduce sensible legislation - mandatory wearing of seatbelts in cars for instance. That law actually does make sense.

Banning iPods, Blackberries, mobile phones while walking, jogging and cycling, however, is nonsense. Why not ban radios in cars? Why not ban the sale of alcohol? Oh that's right, the last one has aready been tried.

Politicians like New York Senator Carl Kruger, who feel that they have right to enact laws that turn ordinary people into criminals, have forgotten that they are elected public servants in a democracy and not members of the Kremlin of the former Soviet Union. Most people don't want laws that protect them from themselves. They want laws that protect them from others who behave like criminals.

Having been to Manhattan on a number of occasions, I believe it can be a dangerous place to cross the road if you don't pay attention. Drivers are aggressive and often speed through intersections beeping their horns. In fact, an acquaintance from Australia was killed a few years back because she didn't look both ways before stepping off the sidewalk. She just looked to the right, forgetting that in the US cars come from the left.

Previous deaths of people crossing the road while listening to music players, playing games or talking on the phone are tragic. However, laws banning such devices from the streets of a city where most people walk are not the answer. Public education campaigns for both pedestrians and drivers, tougher road rules which curb the behaviour of aggressive drivers and incentives for drivers not to bring their cars into such a busy city are all practical measures that are worth exploring.

We live in different times to two decades ago. Technology allows us to stay in touch with each other and keep ourselves entertained while engaged in the healthy pursuit of walking. Senator Kruger's proposed law insults the intelligence of ordinary people. It assumes that they must all be like worker bees and can't be trusted to do the right thing even while walking down the street.

New York is not my city. However, when politicians succeed in passing stupid laws in one major city, it often gives politicians in other cities similar delusions of grandeur. The simple fact is that people like to listen to music or talk on the phone while they walk. So politicians spend money to warn them to be careful when crossing the road if you like but otherwise pull your heads in.