US Senator thinks iPods can kill you

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 8th February 2007

If iPods were made illegal on the streets of New York, how long would it be before other cities followed suit?

Senator Carl Krueger wants to ban iPods on the streets of New York because he believes that they're the cause of an increasing number of fatal accidents in the city.

The Senator is planning to introduce a law in New York that would prohibit the use of handheld devices, including iPods, BlackBerrys, portable video game consoles and mobile phones, in order to reduce the number of fatalities.

"This electronic gadgetry is reaching the point where it's becoming not only endemic but it's creating an atmosphere where we have a major public safety crisis at hand," claimed Krueger.

If Krueger's proposed bill is passed, every person carrying an active iPod or other handheld device on the city's streets would be a criminal. Offenders would be given a $100 USD (~£50) fine and a criminal court summons.

"You can't be fully aware of your surroundings if you're fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing Super Mario Brothers on a Game Boy, or listening to music on an iPod," said Krueger.

Not only will this cause an uproar among music fans, it will also affect the BlackBerry addicts on Wall Street who use their various handheld devices for business purposes. Any uproar is unlikely to affect Kruger's stance though.

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