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Honolulu Now Fines People Up To $99 For Texting While Crossing Road (theguardian.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: The Hawaiian city of Honolulu has resorted to fining people up to $99 for staring at the devices, to try and force people to look up from their phones while crossing the road. The new law gives police the power to fine people up to $35 for their first offence, $75 for their second and $99 thereafter, perhaps expecting it to take quite some effort to get people to take notice. The bill, which comes into force today after being rubber stamped by the Hawaiian city's mayor in July, states that "no pedestrian shall cross a street or highway while viewing a mobile electronic device." Mobile phones are included as well as any "text messaging device, paging device, personal digital assistant, laptop computer, video game, or digital photographic device" but audio equipment is excluded. Holding a conversation on a phone while walking is still permitted, as is using a device in an emergency, but crossing the road while texting, reading or Facebooking -- as millions around the world do every day -- is not.
Will they deliver these fines to people in their hospital beds if they are struck while crossing? Or are their immediate relatives on the hook to pay if the person is fatally injured?
In other news, Amazon reports that shipments of paperback books to Hawaii have increased by 80%.
road? what road?
How about letting idiots disappear?
>I think it's kind of interesting that Millennials and other constant users of smart phones, especially singles, who walk around all day looking at a screen, complain that they can't meet any decent people
Oh come on, that problem pre-dated smart phones... we just outright ignored everybody instead of being entranced by our electronics.
Being 'dating age' sucks, because only welcomed approaches are socially acceptable and you don't know if your approach will be welcomed until after you make it. We don't really have great social customs for young people to meet; it's "be in the same class" or "get drunk at the local meet/meat market".
I'm well and truly happy to be past all that shit and I don't envy young people who - like me - aren't naturally gregarious but still would like to have a partner. ( I still have no idea how I ended up married with children).
I lived in Kailua (Oahu) from 2000-2001 and worked in Honolulu. More than once I grabbed somebody by the arm to keep them from obliviously walking out in front of The Bus. I didn't understand it then, but it seems like it's probably much more common in the age of texting.
...simply legislate that any such action makes it impossible to sue.
Take away peoples' right to sue the crap out of whatever driver hits them if they're texting while crossing the street, and they'll stop. Americans don't go where they don't have lawyer-armor.
-Styopa
As someone who dabbles in urban photography as a hobby... *FUCK*THEM*
Running into the middle of the cross walk when the little person on the sign turns white, something that is perfectly legal, becomes ILLEGAL all of a sudden if you stop, take a pic, and continue on while still during the safe crossing time!?
nobody is able to catch anyone's eye anymore, so potential connections are missed. What a shame.
Because anything so much as "hi" to some stranger is considered sexual harrassment
Hi.
Why $99? Are they trying to sell as many as possible?
I get why stores would want to price products at $99.95, but since when did Law Enforcement need incentive for fines? Are they trying to reach a quota by having a sale? Is it this week only and then back to $129.95 a pop?
I am soooo glad I found my soulmate and married her before the PC Police went full retard.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Honolulu has had a problem with inattentive drivers hitting and killing people in the crosswalks.
Many of these fatalities are people legitimately in crosswalks, a few not, but in most cases the driver claims to have never seen the pedestrian.
Rather than deal with distracted driving, and as a driver and a pedestrian in Honolulu I can tell you it's rampant, they've taken to punishing the victims. As with most political moves in Hawaii, this appeases the mass of drivers who can't be bothered to look up from their cellphones (Hawaii has more cars than licensed drivers). I can't think of a pedestrian fatality that was caused by a pedestrian lost in their cellphone. Yeah, they're annoying, but not the root cause of Honolulu's problem.
Yeah its ridiculous for someone to cross the street without looking. Thats why blind people aren't allowed to walk around in Honolulu.
Look, if you have the light it shouldn't matter if you are looking at your phone or the news paper or a book or the back the the head of the guy in front of you.
"In America, first you get the sugar, then you get the power, then you get the women..." -H. Simpson