New York, iPods & Clueless in for a Street Fight

New York State Senator Carl Kruger is set to propose legislation that would ban the use of iPods, mobile phones, and similar devices while crossing streets in New York.

I took a look for the proposed legislation here, but it's not up yet.

But I have three fundamental questions:

1) Tactically. . .what if you're wearing the headphones or the Bluetooth, but the volume is down? Should we also police hats pulled down over the ears?

2) Is the point here to protect the talker/listener, or those who might run into them? I imagine that the politically-correct answer is "everyone," but there's probably more concern here (and rightly so) for the lives of citizens than a traffic delay or a cracked windshield.

3) But at the risk of sounding like a jerk, do we really need another attempt to legislate against stupidity? Seriously, if you cannot figure out that you should be paying extreme attention while crossing a street in Manhattan (or elsewhere), you'll probably find yourself a different, early off-ramp anyway. How many other things are we not paying attention to, while we concern ourselves with preserving the clueless?

What Would Darwin Say?