From dangerous driving to distracted walking

Car drivers are used to being the target of ever-tightening regulations. The UK law regarding driving while holding a hand-held mobile is the perfect example; motorists caught doing so now face points on their licence that will prevent them from getting cheap car insurance for quite some time.

However, for once, car drivers aren't the group of road users being criticised for dangerous behaviour. Neither is it motorcyclists, despite their reputation for filtering through traffic queues too fast and, well, riding too fast in general. Even cyclists, who are occasionally accused of running down unsuspecting people on the pavements, are being let off the hook.

No, this time it is pedestrians who are getting into trouble with the authorities and could be fined for dangerous behaviour under proposed new laws in America. So what is this highly-risky potential crime that needs to be cracked down on? Crossing the road whilst listening to music.

A New York senator has put forward a proposal intended to stop people getting run over because they were so caught up in their own world that they forgot to look before crossing the road. He believes that a $100 (£51) fine should be issued to anyone who fails to take their earphones out while walking across a street.

This has come about due to a condition termed "iPod oblivion", in which sufferers enter a kind of fugue state and fail to notice what is going on in the vicinity. These people then walk straight out into the road without checking whether it is safe to do so. According to the senator, his proposal has arisen out of the fact that three people in his district have died this way in recent months.

As is to be expected, New York pedestrians are not happy about the idea. Some argue that it would just be plain silly and impractical to have to take out the earphones every time they approach a road crossing, whilst others believe that it is simply not necessary because most people would be able to hear a horn tooting over their music. However, what most people agree on is that future accidents could be prevented with a good dose of common sense, not legislation.

Car drivers in the city, on the other hand, are quite positive about the idea. Pedestrians stepping out in front of their cars undoubtedly cause a fair number of crashes each year, both when cars collide with someone and as drivers swerve to avoid the person and hit another vehicle in the process. Many of these motorists have to turn to their motor insurance company following an accident such as this, losing their cheap car insurance premiums in the process.

It isn't just music lovers who will be affected by these regulations. People talking on their mobile phones will also be liable for the fine if they fail to halt their conversation while crossing the road, which will not go down well with those in the business community whose commitments force them to talk on the move.

This proposal seems to be saying that pedestrians cannot be trusted to talk on the phone while crossing the road safely. However, this must surely have implications for motorists who use hands-free kits - something which is legal in nearly every country. The statistics do back this up and studies showing that drivers are nearly as slow to react if they are talking on a hands-free mobile as on a hand-held phone.

Although the senator's idea sounds somewhat unnecessary to many, it does highlight the level of distraction that talking on a mobile phone can potentially cause. If his proposal goes through and is widely adopted, there could be a new push to hang up phones altogether while driving, just as motorists are getting used to using their hands-free kits when behind the wheel.

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