36 Replies to “Texting While Walking”

  1. Watching people do this, I see it more as culling the herd. I would feel bad for any driver that is traumatized by striking some idiot not watching where they are going.

  3. These types of laws have almost nothing to do with safety. The number of accidents, if stated at all, is ridiculously small. To me it seems that it is about control freaks trying to outlaw things that annoy them. Distracted walking laws are preceded by politicians wanting to outlaw baggy pants, front yard gardens, biking without a helmet, beach fires, throwing frisbees in public parks or beaches, egg salad sandwiches at church potlucks, yoga in public parks, children selling lemonade, tree houses, vaping (with or without nicotine), signs with English too prominent…
    There’s also somewhat of an unexpected paradox: smaller towns have far more freedom but less privacy. Cities have anonymity but far less freedom. In a small town everyone knows your business through gossip but generally no one interferes in your private affairs or private property. In the city, few people really know you (anonimity) but there’s layers and layers of interfering control freaks from traffic cameras to bylaw enforcement to HOAs/condo boards. So many, many rules.

  4. Texting while crossing the street is just another example of our cultural ROT. If the Millennials cannot learn what I did in Kindergarten … to “LOOK both WAYS before crossing” … and then continue to PAY ATTENTION to traffic while in the crosswalk (because the penalty for NOT doing so is … DEATH by manglation) … then let em DIE. Meh. Just don’t BLAME the driver. If the Millennials are SO self-absorbed that they cannot even pay attention to the “outside world” while navigating through traffic … then they DESERVE what they get. Yes, I am a heartless bastard. Meh. to that too.

  6. I knew I would find this common phrase: “If even one death could be prevented by this bill BLA BLA BLA”.
    mmmhmmmm. the universal liberal excuse ‘if just one’.
    does that mean the first time a death/etc/etc is prevented we can SCRAP whatever the fcuk the liberals did?
    besides, this is fudging with the Darwin Awards. yo, liberals, *be careful what you wish for*.
    the millenial self absorbtion goes waaaaaaay beyond crosswalk behaviour.

  7. Yea try arresting a Muslim or BLM while texting and walking in Toronto – I dare ya, I double dare ya!

  8. I’m sure glad there are no more texting or talking on the phone while driving accidents. Those other laws regarding cell phone use while driving have worked wonderfully! /sarc
    Zombies is exactly what I call these people. Wondering around eyes glued to their smart phone making them dumb. Zero situational awareness around them.

  9. Waiting to turn right on a red light, and the light changed to green in my direction and “walk” sign came on. A twenty something guy started across the street from the far side with his “head up his phone”. Really walking slow and not paying attention. I waited until he was right in front of me, rolled down my window, and laid on the horn. I’m quite sure he sh&t his pants!!! I told him to wake up ,get off his Fu%*&$ng phone,and pay attention. In the typical entitled and unoriginal way of the young he gave me the finger.

  10. This is a stupid law. A law against walking with a phone? Ridiculous.
    There should be a bounty instead. Two cases of beer for every phone-distracted a-hole you run over in a crosswalk.
    Oh, and there should be spikes mounted at face level on every light pole and sign post.

  11. There is a logical fallacy in this article. Specifically the assertion “We know that distracted driving has eclipsed drunk driving as the greatest peril on our roadways,” does not mean that distracted driving is growing or growing at a higher rate than drunk driving, or anything that necessarily mean it requires government intervention.
    And its timely that I just saw this today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXWhbUUE4ko&list=PL02D02B9A144182DB&index=3

  13. Can you imagine the army of police required to enforce this. You would have to arrest each perp on the spot, requiring a cop on every intersection. I prefer Phantom’s zombie-pithers at face-level.

  14. Hey, Redmonton, Hongcouver, Toronto, let all the government towns regulate themselves into the corner.

  16. Have you been to Montreal lately? My wife and I went this summer with 3 other couples. One of our group was given a ticket for J-walking because the crosswalk signal changed while he was still crossing with the lights. Oh and a couple of weeks ago 4 cops pulled over a man and charged him for singing too loudly in his car. Stopping tax payers and charging them with nickle-and-dime offenses is easier and more profitable than fighting real crime.

  18. “Yes, drivers wield an imbalance of power and must yield the right of way.”
    Change who must yield first, then see if a new nanny law is needed.

  19. I was in Montreal around 12 years ago and don’t remember even seeing a cop downtown. And yes, low hanging fruit seems to be the M.O. as dealing with real crime is hard work and politically problematic.

  20. The cops were all wearing non-uniform pants and baseball hats as a labor protest in the summer, I don’t know if that is still going on. They seem very keen on parking infractions and generally pushing people around, the ones I saw in “action” as they say. Unlike Toronto they harass the normal citizens and leave the bums alone, presumably a public vote didn’t go their way.
    Contrast to Toronto The Good, where I haven’t seen a cop out of his car since that video of them murdering Sammy Yatim on the streetcar. If the whole force vanished overnight, it would take months before anyone noticed.

  21. And pedestrians should wear safety helmets. I am sure the stats for pedestrians receiving head injuries from cars is the same as cyclists.

  24. I think we should do away with all the “safety” laws period. Wanna ride a motor bike with no helmet…no problem.! – with caveat: you have an accident – you pay the bills sonny.
    Its the same in the oil and gas industry…Saaaaaaaafety has gone stoopid at times. Ex. 1′ high scaffold..maybe over some electrical lines on the ground or something of that order – Company has standing order: Thou Shalt wear a harness when on scaffold. Say what..?? We had a guy put a 7″ zip wheel on a 5″ grinder…started to cut and the zip exploded – pce cut him just above the eyelid. He was wearing safety glasses. Co. response – All employees must war goggles. Excuse me.?? How about chastising buddy for A; using wrong sized wheel andB: not using a Face shield. Nope, all employees must now wear googles.
    Its this kind of assinine and abject stupidity dreamed up by some gomer who has never in his entire life held a tool in his hand yet makes decisions that affect thousands….sorta like Politicians, no.?

  25. What is really needed is a law to stop people from paying with a debit card for small purchases less than $7 or so; the bane of food/grocery lineups always the person buying a snack without cash.

  26. It’s not all safety rules that I resent, just ones that are based mainly on emotion and the “rules are rules” application of them, even when the rules don’t make sense.
    I once got into an long argument with a plant safety officer about safety glasses and water testing. No matter how many times I explained that the water samples I was testing in the lab were ultra pure water, 10-100x fewer contaminants than the water in the eye wash station, he insisted that I was required to wear safety glasses. Why are the dimwitted people attracted to positions of power? Do they actually aspire to become annoying, petty tyrants?

  27. “Why are the dimwitted people attracted to positions of power? Do they actually aspire to become annoying, petty tyrants?”
    And now introducing…Justin (IQ80) Trudeau!

  28. On a related note: maybe it should be mandatory that all political candidates release both their IQ results and the results on a standard personality test. They claim to be intellectually and morally superior so perhaps they should be required to prove it. Releasing their answers on a test about economics, math and basic science probably wouldn’t hurt either. Right now the main qualification to be a politician seems to be how good you are at lying and pretending to understand voter’s concerns. I think we should demand better screening methods.

  29. Try crossing the street in Bangkok, Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur or pretty much any other Asian city with your head up your phone. A phone Zombie would last less than three steps.

  31. and if 10,000 people / day are doing this each day in Toronto, and they ALL go to court and plea “not guilty” …
    or better yet, they all go to court and say directly to the judge, “F-off” …
    and the crown prosecutor, “F-off” … and the sheriff, “F-off”
    and the court system starts booking things like attempted murder for November 2024…
    then what?
    Stupid liberals.

  32. Wait, it’s Toronto.
    99% of them will say, “Yes sir, no sir, and thank you for bringing this to my attention” as the police officer hands them the ticket.

  33. Thank you, I always suspected as much. So, I am going to start a camoaign for pedesrian helmets. Who’s with me?

  34. No it wouldn’t be useful. We would discover that all politicians are dimwits with a Napolean complex.

  35. Perhaps on the other side of this discussion, I’ve noted that in recent years, most pedestrians are now too timid to use crosswalks in “greater” Vancouver because they have come to realize that many drivers just blast through them oblivious (sometimes because they’re on their devices too, but often because they are from someplace else and didn’t get the full driving lesson or maybe they don’t care, imagine that).
    So I’ve noticed that even if I stop for them, they still don’t quite believe their luck, or maybe they’re checking for the a-hole who will predictably go around me legally stopped, and blast through anyway.
    The same applies at left turns, if you ever visit here, keep in mind that what you might expect to be normal car-pedestrian interaction won’t happen here, some just turn left anyway and honk like crazy if you exercise your “right of way” (right to die) and start crossing on the walk sign.
    They should change those to skeletons, methinks.

  36. Verily. My first visit to Shanghai was solo, and I was walking around listening to my music through my phone headphones, but still being aware and paying attention. After crossing a few intersections in the first hour or so, I stopped even listening to my music while walking about. You can’t afford to be shut off from the flow of people, cars, and bikes/scooters. And there may have been some, but I don’t remember a lot of people walking around with faces glued to phones.
    LOL at Captcha: Street Capped

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