Crime

Is ‘Text-Walking’ the New Drunk Driving? NJ Town Has Fined More than 100 People in the Past Month for the Offense

Fort Lee, New Jersey is taking early action against what the Daily Mail is terming “text-walking.”  What is the city doing?  Simple– fining the offenders, in an effort to get them to stop.

Earlier this month, a viral video demonstrated just how dangerous “cell phone oblivion” can be:

Fox explains:

Police in Fort Lee., N.J., say people are constantly putting themselves at risk of being hit by cars because they do not pay attention while walking.

Local Sue Choe admitted to WTXF that she texts and walks “all the time,” but added, “When I walk, I still look around. I’m not constantly looking down.”

But cops say it is pedestrians like Choe who are the biggest jaywalking culprits.

“It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren‘t watching where they’re going. They’re not aware,” Fort Lee Police Department (FLPD) Chief Thomas Ripoli said at a news conference.

The FLPD is stepping up patrols looking out for “dangerous” walkers who are not paying attention or obeying the rules of the road but said pamphlets were handed out to warn people about the crackdown.

Offenders can be charged $85 per offense — the fine for jaywalking. In the last month and a half, 117 tickets were issued, according to the report.

The video, below, shows how locals feel about the measure:

Comments (71)

1 2 3
  • Dougral Supports Israel
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 10:06am

    Idiots are the cause of a lot of these policies and laws. Its just plain stupid to walk across a street while texting. Its an invitation to be run down. The same morons who take no care crossing the street will feel entitled to sue the driver who hits them and expect millions in damages. If people exercised more care in what they do, we would not all be subject to nearly as much nannying by the authorities.

    Report Post »  
    • gemologist
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 5:45pm

      People need to rely more on government regulations and laws. Not on common sense and personal responsability, we need the government to make sure we are safe. After-hours all, we do want to allow every city, state an county to be able to tax it’s citizens whenever they do anything that could possibly be considered unsafe. Long live the USSA.

      Report Post »  
  • bikerdogred1
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 10:04am

    This will go the way of the walkmen CD player,this will go to the supreme court and the town will loose.Then you have to pay everyone off.Bad thinking.

    Report Post »  
  • Mess23
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 9:51am

    Absolutely STUPID. Wherea are the parents? What happened to personal responsibility?

    STUPID…

    Report Post »  
    • The-Monk
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 3:25pm

      What’s next? Ticketing homeless people for not paying attention because they are walking and looking at the ground for money.

      Report Post » The-Monk  
    • Wolf
      Posted on May 14, 2012 at 8:47am

      As though the parents aren’t TXTing while walking or driving?
      Legislating gainst stupidity, this is simply a controling nanny state law being used to garner more money for a dieing city budget.

      Report Post »  
  • Silversmith
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 9:51am

    While I have to agree that it is not so smart to text and walk, to criminalize it is way off the reservation. What about every other form of distraction that can lead to injury? What about listening to music? – or reading a sign – or talking with someone you are walking with? When does it become that you can ONLY walk when you are walking or it is an offense because you put yourself and others in danger??!!!

    This is BS law that belongs in the trash with the rest of the Nanny State.

    Silversmith

    Report Post » Silversmith  
    • Lonescrapper
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:38pm

      What if you are blind? What if you have bad eyesight and no glasses? What if you are deaf? What if you are hard of hearing? What if you are trying to catch your recalcitrant toddler? What if your dog gets off the leash! They are turning us into criminals. The minute we walk out the door there is a hundred ways they could fine us.

      Report Post » Lonescrapper  
  • gbfreak
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 9:22am

    Any way to make a buck.

    Report Post » gbfreak  
  • 4xeverything
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 8:42am

    I say they make it illegal to drive and sneeze!!! You can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze. Just imagine how many people are driving with their eyes closed. It’s a national travesty! We are completely incapable of taking care of ourselves, and laws like this just go to show you that we need Big Brother to watch over our every move.

    Perhaps this town ought to adopt an “I Will Not Comply” attitude. Just refuse to adhere to these ridiculous demands.

    Report Post » 4xeverything  
  • qpwillie
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 7:49am

    In the first video, the phone had little to do with what happened. The area looks perfectly safe to walk in until it breaks through.

    However, to me, one of the most idiotic looking things is somebody walking down the street talking on the phone or “texting”. I’d be willing to bet that 99.99% of to has no urgency whatsoever and could very well wait until a more sensible time and situation. People have been surviving without it for hundreds of thousands of years.

    If there were fewer goofy people, they’d have no excuse to pass those laws.

    Report Post » qpwillie  
    • Taquoshi
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 9:29am

      Actually, I‘m in favor of this because I’ve had two people who were too busy texting to pay attention to what was going on around them, literally walk into my vehicle. Both times I was at a full stop – thank you, God – and no one was hurt. Had someone gotten injured, according to the law, it would have been my fault since they were pedestrians. Pedestrians have right of way.

      The first time, a kid was walking on the sidewalk (a full 8 feet away) when I stopped to let a truck pull out of a driveway. My stopped vehicle was blocking a nearby driveway while I waited for the truck to complete the turn. The kid noticed the moving truck blocking his path, turned & walked down the driveway I was in front of & straight into my car. He had ABSOLUTELY no idea my vehicle was there.

      The second time, I had just gotten into my parked vehicle in a store parking lot when a women who was busy texting walked across the row facing me, up over a landscape buffer strip with asphalt curbing & straight into the hood of my car. Store security was there instantly. I pointed out to the guy that I still had my keys in my hand, the hood of the car was cold & I had a store receipt with a time stamp less than two minutes earlier. Another security guard who had seen the incident arrived & vouched for me. Otherwise, the first guy was going to call the cops, even though the woman repeatedly told him she was fine.

      So, yes, I’m good with the law placing some of the responsibility on the pe

      Report Post » Taquoshi  
    • Suzanne D
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 2:50pm

      @ Taquoshi: actually, the pedestrian is not always right … in the incidents you described, you would have been exonerated both times by the police. Pedestrians only have the right of way in cross walks when the crossing signs (if any) state they may proceed. If a pedestrian walks into a roadway without looking and is hit by a car, it is the pedestrian’s fault, not the driver’s.

      Report Post » Suzanne D  
  • THXll38
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 7:30am

    Revenue generating at its finest.

    Report Post » THXll38  
  • Shadow_knight
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 7:03am

    I made a comment on a similar post not to long ago regarding a report about dogs being copilot in your vehicle as a distraction. This is along the same lines. I asked then, I ask again. When does it ever stop? When there is a totalitarian society; complete subordination? Laws are passed and enforced under the guise of your safety. Life is a risk. From the moment you wake up, to the moment you go to bed, and even while you are sleeping. Should you be punished for it? This is so ridiculous. I bet you, in the future, singing with the radio will be a distraction, punishable by a fine, points off your license, etc., etc. Quite frankly, it’ll continue and only get worse off until enough people get pissed off for being punished that they take a stand and elect those that would reduce these petty regulations; throw these over protective bums out. I live in upstate NY. It seems to be at times that folks are not willing to stand up, just grab the ankles and take it. I hear people complaining all the time, but nobody is willing to do or say anything against it. What a shame.

    Report Post » Shadow_knight  
    • Baddoggy
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 9:37am

      It will NEVER stop. The Police Stae needs monay. They will never stop until we are all broke. Soon there will be laws against almost every thing you do in life. Read a book called three felonies a day. It is eye opening. You really cannot go outside your home without committing a crimne now.

      Report Post » Baddoggy  
  • dgktowntx
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 6:33am

    And you still think you have freedom in America…If you text while walking and step in front of a car then I quess you get what you should get…Its control ..Its another reason to steal money from you,,,We should have never let them make us put seatbelts on..They have only gotten more stupid since then…

    Report Post » dgktowntx  
  • Devildog0166
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 2:20am

    Shouldn’t drivers get their insurance premiums lowered if they hit a Text Walker?
    On the other hand I believe that if someone is texting while driving and cause a accident/injury/death, they should be charged the same as drinking and driving since both can be avoided.
    Semper Fi

    Report Post »  
    • muffythetuffy
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 5:07am

      Its just a new way of extorting money from people. The Soviet New Jersey Republic appoints its political hack judges who enforce schemes like this one to raise funds. Set your GPS to bypass Soviet New Jersey you really do not what to drive in the state. Everyone who can is bailing out of New Jersey and some are just leaving their homes vacant and fleeing the State. Christi, you better watch out for Christi.

      Report Post »  
  • FromSeaToSea
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 1:07am

    New law. Over 10,000 pages of federal laws. No one knows all of them. Most laws deny our Consititutional rights. There is no justice in the courts in America. Study the issue. The courts are a business set up to collect monies and allow privileged and favored to win and the rest to suffer.
    Do not consent to the courts. Do not. They have no juridiction over a private citizen. Under the ICC they can only prosecute you if you consent to represent your fictious person on your birth certificate.
    There’s alot of good info. on the internet about this.

    Report Post »  
    • lukerw
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 2:29am

      To Destroy a Nation of Law… simply create Foolish & Evil Laws!

      Report Post » lukerw  
  • Al J Zira
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:57am

    I wonder how many open holes there are in the sidewalks of Fort Lee? Seems to me the city would be liable if someone fell into the hole weather they were texting or not and the city is covering it’s ass. Then they figured out that they can use it to create a new revenue stream. Where’s the ACLU on this? Isn‘t it supposed to stand up for citizen’s rights against runaway government? Or does it only handle cases where a business is involved and a gay person was wronged? Or fight to remove a religious symbol that sets everyone ablaze when they look at it in a town square? This is a farce and until someone has the guts to stand up to the city and sue, it will continue.

    Living in the Socialist State of New Jersey I can tell you the corruption is so bad that the towns and cities will do anything to create revenue. Even the highest property taxes in the U.S. can’t pay for George Norcross and his band of thieves. It will never get fixed, it runs too deep. the best thing one can do is get outta Dodge! Just don’t get caught texting on your way out.

    Report Post » Al J Zira  
    • larryj1978
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 2:23am

      I think that video was taken in China or somewhere else in Asia. She wasn‘t texting either so I don’t know why that video was even posted with this story. Someone was kind of lazy getting this story out.

      Report Post »  
  • lukerw
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:55am

    Is Writing… no longer a Part of Free Speech?

    Report Post » lukerw  
  • SUNTZU
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:47am

    Are these the Zombies the
    CDC warned us about?

    Report Post » SUNTZU  
  • FromSeaToSea
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:20am

    The police today are a criminal thugs used to collect revenue for the gang a “legalized criminal organization. The local gov. creates so called laws for the sake of extorting the working funds of every man, women, and business. Blood suckers. In this case the police use public safety as a cover story for the gangs practice of extortion. It’s all evil the system we have allowed to overtake us by not standing up for our Constitution. What right does a citizen have to be charged. zero. The right to travel is guarenteed by the Supreme Courts in case law. There is no case law for this and no power or jurisdiction given to the courts to try You for this unless You consent. The two big words here are “jurisdiction” of the courts, and there is none, and the second very important word is “consent” , your consent to represent the fictious person on your birth certificate.

    Report Post »  
    • Cuthalu
      Posted on May 13, 2012 at 7:10am

      True but thankfully more and more people not just in the US but around the world are waking up to this fact. Our system of justice is a farce and the people running it are not doing the things we “think” they are suppose to be doing on our behalf. It is all about making money off taxpayers. They are scoundrels and thieves.

      Report Post »  
  • godhatesacoward
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:19am

    OMG girl you would not beli…..Splat……. Thanx texter. You just ruined your life and somebody that was just on their way home from work!

    Report Post » godhatesacoward  
  • godhatesacoward
    Posted on May 13, 2012 at 12:10am

    How did we ever survive without instant knowledge of………………………………?

    Report Post » godhatesacoward  
  • Mountain Dew
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:34pm

    Your protectionist state in action. I wonder how long before they determine how many people can congregate in public;Perhaps claim it’s a potential hazard to have more than three people standing or walking in a group for more than three minutes. After all someone might trip and cause another person to stumble. You could even have someone step on another person’s toes. Distractice colors on clothing is a problem too. We should only wear black pajamas and sandals made of tire tread to help save the environment. Peace in our time with war in Afghanistan since we have always been at war with the Taliban who we have defeated with Dear Leaders glorious defeat of Bin Ladin so that we may have equal marriage for all while the sea levels recede back to their previous levels before the fat cats on Wall Street and the bitter gun God clinging stand your ground innocent angel hoodie shooting facists detroyed paradise for us all.

    Report Post »  
  • hogtrashhd
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:21pm

    this cannot be a surprise to anyone.. for decades the only thing americans could do is go to work and pay taxes.. i mean go to your job and then right to your home.. and still they’ll find a way to criminalize you such as what you eat and how high your gas and elec bill is and how much your car uses gas and and and and and.. we the people been on the shet end of the stick for decades.. it’s time to change it.. and i don‘t mean ows because they’re just stupid kids thinking they’re cool by doing what they did at the tea party a couple hundred years ago.. they’re backwards.. things do have to change and the change is cut the government down to size.. they’re like an octopus with tentacles everywhere and none of those tentacles are doing the people any good.

    Report Post »  
  • Psychosis
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:13pm

    you can not fix stupid

    why the government continues to try to protect the stupid from themselves is beyond me

    oh, wait , no it isnt ………………….the government likes stupid people ………….if they were smart, they wouldnt be able to get away with everything like they do now

    Report Post » Psychosis  
  • neillwd
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:11pm

    I know we can put little structures at the corners of every street and charge a few coins to get into them so people can use them to text…

    Report Post »  
  • Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:07pm

    Governments are seeking any and all kinds of revenue they can get; hence more and more regulations and fines coming down the line for anything.

    Report Post » Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}  
  • Smokey_Bojangles
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 11:03pm

    Fort Lee, New Jersey is in the 15% percentile rank in the state for Violent Crime. Fort Lee, New Jersey has a property crime rate of 874.6 incidents per 100,000 people.

    Report Post » Smokey_Bojangles  
  • Sicboy
    Posted on May 12, 2012 at 10:55pm

    Here’s an idea. Fine the Jaywalkers.

    Report Post » Sicboy  
1 2 3

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love