Taiwan Proposes Fining 'Distracted Walking' Due To 'Smart Phone Addiction'
from the this-will-surely-'work' dept
Back during the fervor over distracted driving discussions that generally looked to paint smart phones as a mythical human-murdering device that required new legislation in the realm of automobiles, one common refrain centered around the question of whether we'd take the next illogical step and ban walking while talking on phones or texting. Even Mike, our most esteemed leader, made such a quip: "will we now see legislation proposed to ban walking while yakking on your mobile phone as well?" Pssh, of course we will.
Or will soon, I should say, assuming "we" includes Taiwan, where a group of politicians are looking to levy fines against distracted walkers.
Looking to make crossing the street a little safer, Taiwanese legislators have proposed fining pedestrians who cross the street while "distracted" by mobile phones. The proposed law will fine any pedestrian deemed "distracted" about $10 for each infraction! According to Taiwanese media, there are over 14,000,000 mobile internet users in Taiwan, many of whom are supposedly "addicted" to their smartphones. This smartphone addiction has supposedly led to various traffic accidents on the island, so much so that 17 legislators have put forth a new law to fine distracted walkers.There's that addiction word, which has already gone such a long way towards removing any responsibility people have for their own actions in the past. Time for the government to step in and do a little social engineering through...$10 fines? That doesn't seem like it will serve all that well as a deterrent. Hell, here in the States, we have people facing jail time and license revocation for drunken driving leave the courtroom and immediately get in their cars. What's $10 going to do? And what examples do we have that such a fine is necessary to begin with?
Taiwan's Apple Daily gave an example of a young woman in Kaoshuing, Taiwan. In late March, this young woman was crossing the street and, while she was distracted by her phone, she was hit by an oncoming taxi cab. She later passed away in the hospital.I don't know, it seems to me that tossing a $10 fine into the woman's grave with her isn't so much passing effective legislation as it is pissing on someone's casket. Add to that the reports that these politicians are supposedly looking to emulate several failed traffic laws here in the States and I wonder whether everyone might just need a good solid midday nap so we can all get back to being sane.
Oddly, the report's own survey found that something like 80% of people responding to the poll are in favor of the fine. The report did not clarify whether respondents did so on smart phones while they were walking alongside a busy highway, but I like to think they were. Any chance we could just go with a little common sense education of the walking
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Filed Under: addiction, distracted walking, dumb laws, smart phones, taiwan
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There are two good examples that worked fine here: the cigarette boxes and ads started displaying warnings with quite strong pictures of the effects of tobacco in your health (ie: gangrened parts due to smoking, men that can't maintain erections and more). Totaled cars from bad accidents were put on display on some major roads and streets with objective warning signs.
From time to time revisit the campaign to remind people how bad it is. Sure there will be those that will simply ignore. But those would ignore the fines too.
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Can we add to that making it legal to slap the phone out of their hands if they are taking on it at the cash register in a store? Those people really annoy the heck out of me.
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It gives tham an excuse to take your phone and search it, search you, probably knock you down and handcuff you, detain you for several hours, and when you complain, or bleed on them, or something they can also charge you with disturbing the peace.
Oh, wait, this is not in New York.
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I don't know about Taiwan, but almost everywhere in the US that's already illegal. What would be the point of making a new law? To make it double-plus ungood?
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Taiwan Proposes Fining 'Distracted Walking'
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Do the math
Me, I'd let Darwin sort it out. Every person who gets run over is an example, and the average intelligence of humanity goes up a tiny fraction.
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But outright fining people for looking at their phones seems ridiculous. What if I just happen to take out my phone to glance at the time and the officer looks at me only in that instant?
Things like that happen all the time.
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I've had people walk into me while staring at their phones, then giving me a really irritated look as if having to look up was all my fault. I'm not a little old lady but someone unsteady on their feet could have been pushed over. I say fine 'em.
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If they are run over, they are not the only ones to suffer, the driver of the vehicle can suffer mental torment over an accident, even when it is not their fault, and the driver has no physical injuries.
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Taiwan is a very crowded place, in particular the big cities like Taipei. Walking along the streets or in busy metro and train stations is a pain because these smartphone addicted twats don't pay attention to their surroundings and bump in to you, suddenly stop walking or change direction which results in crowded places becoming more crowded and difficult to navigate. Their attention focus on the phones also results in them walking at a snail's pace.
So yes please. Bring on smartphone bans.
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You will be hard pressed not to find a single individual anywhere in the world that does not think something should be a law because they don't like it.
Liberty for me, not for ye! It's one of my cornerstones for trying to convince people that people are default EVIL not Good!
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Possibly, if there is some reason to think it would be effective.
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Distracted walking in Salt Lake City
Harmon's grocery store just built a park in downtown SLC. They posted a sign that says "We built this for your enjoyment. No loitering."
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Seriously?!
You should move to my area. It's legal to walk around completely naked if you want to.
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That $10 fine
And what's the typical income over there? Is the $10 US actually 2 months' pay? Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, but would it be like $100 to us: affordable to most people with a smartphone, but still annoying.
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Re: That $10 fine
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I don't know, I think I'd need to go to the pub first. To wind down from the whole courtroom experience, so I can drive home without shaky nerves!
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Hitting stop signs
Funny thing though when I am talking on my phone with family and/or friends I have never hit a single sign because I pay more attention to my surrounding since I am not with a group of people. So by the insane logic of the story in this article my phone makes me more attentive instead of distracting me.
Also before anyone asks to the best of my recollection I have never hit my face on the same stop sign twice. Hitting those fuckers once is more than enough to make me remember where each sign is in a certain street, so unless I am in a place I have never been to I don't hit stop signs with my face anymore. And yes for some reason it has always been the stop signs I walk into.
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yoga accessories
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$10 fine
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