Fort Lee, NJ bans texting while walking on sidewalk

ILLEGAL (in Ft. Lee)

The weary residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey should be thankful that law enforcement is finally putting an end to the latest death-defying craze that’s gripping a large number of people in the area. I’m talking, of course, about the decision to ban texting while walking on sidewalks:

Avid texters beware: Fort Lee, N.J. police said they will begin issuing $85 jaywalking tickets to pedestrians who are caught texting while walking.

“It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they are going and they are not aware,” said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department.

Ripoli said the borough, which is home to approximately 35,000 residents, has suffered three fatal pedestrian-involved accidents this year. He hopes his crackdown on people who display dangerous behavior while walking will make his town safer, but not everyone is on board with the idea of issuing $85 tickets.

More than 117 tickets have already been issued, injecting approximately $10,000 into the city coffers already. But then, I’m sure this latest crackdown on citizen inattentiveness isn’t so much a cheap cash-grabbing ploy and rather an expression of genuine concern for the plight of the endangered (and occasionally bothersome) texteratti, right?

(via @radleybalko)

Tags: texting • Fort Lee, NJ