The Nanny Chronicles: Death by iPod

In a triumph of jiu-jitsu nannification, New York State Senator Carl Kruger of Brooklyn has flipped the distractometer to save not drivers, but pedestrians from their own stupidity. As the Gothamist reports, "Kruger is proposing a ban on talking on your cellphone, using your Blackberry, or listening to your iPod while crossing the street." Kruger's complaint:

"While people are tuning into their iPods and cell phones, they're tuning out the world around them... If you want to listen to your iPod, sit down and listen to it. You want to walk in the park, enjoy it. You want to jog around a jogging path, all the more power to you. But you should not be crossing streets and endangering yourself and the lives of others."

Kruger's proposed penalty for Shuffling across a New York street: a $100 fine.

[Source: The Gothamist]