We should treat this behavior just like any other addiction...throw em in jail.

I think if people would rather wander blindly into traffic than wait a few extra seconds to send that super important poop emoji, it should be legal to run them over.

I was looking at similarly (darwinianly), but more from an incentive POV. It is in this society's best interest to keep the unobservant alive.

And if you're gonna regulate it, take it to an absurd extreme: implant something in the eye muscles to force people to look where you want them to.

Love how the mayor cited "seniors" as an example of pedestrian accidents. How many elderly are taking selfies while crossing the street?

Something like this could work.

Agreed. And making it illegal to text while you cross the road means that your insurance doesn't have to pay out if you hit someone. This is the first step.

We control when and where people drive for safety. We control the speed limits for safety.

JWWago, would it be 'Big Brother controlling where you look" if it was illegal to walk in the road with a blindfold on, or a VR headset?

Blind people use crosswalks every day.

I was hesitant to use the category, that one and dystopian violence seem silly to me, but I didn't know what fit better.

Oh, and now looking I missed the crime and punishment category at the bottom of the list. Can I blame that one on posting from a crappy phone?

True enough - but a blind person is going to be paying more attention to the situation than a sighted person staring at their phone.

Don't get me wrong, I dislike this law too. Not from a 'how dare the government tell me where to look perspective." There's all sorts of rules and restrictions for conduct on public roads, because the goal is to protect you (and others) from yourself. I don't get up in arms about the government "telling me what I can eat and drink!" when they ban bitter almonds or forbid drunk driving, for example. Someone staring at their phone could walk out in front of a car and end up killing multiple people because they HAD to send that "lol good one" to a friend that moment and not a second later.

I dislike this law as its going to be bloody impossible to enforce realistically and unlikely to actually change the behavior they are interested in.

I can see negligent drivers taking advantage of this, too, pinning the fault on the pedestrian.

Agreed.

This seems dumb. Better to just shift tort law against pedestrians in these cases.

honestly, this seems almost as dumb as the required hands freecell phone while driving thing. I totally feel that was a conspiracy/ lobbying by blue tooth makers to sell devices.

if talking on a cellphone distracts people while driving, how the fuck does using a blue tooth prevent this?

I thought it was less the talking itself that was a distraction (otherwise you wouldn't be allowed to have passengers either) and more the fact that you are taking your hands off the wheel and eyes off the road to use the phone.