Text Message Jaywalking Fine
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- Category: Opinion
Fort Lee, NJ Showcases What Is Wrong With This Country
The sending and receiving of text messages is an epidemic that is no longer isolated to social butterfly teens wanting to share the latest gossip with classmates and friends. Everybody texts now. In fact, more people are opting to use SMS as the primary form of communication with many friends and family members. Although everybody can agree that texting while driving is a serious issue that can have fatal repercussions, is texting while walking something that law enforcement should really be focusing energy and resources on? Well according to a new law passed in Fort Lee, New Jersey the answer is sadly yes.
Lawmakers in Fort Lee recently decided that they would apply a fine to any persons walking while texting, describing the action as "dangerous walking behavior". The crackdown has already resulted in over 120 citations since the new legislation took effect in the middle of March, with the cost per citation being $85. Although the city states that the legislation was developed with the intention of promoting safety, all the law shows is the growing trend of government trying to micromanage the behavior of people.
"When did texting while walking become such a lethal problem that it actually required the attention of lawmakers to waste time allocating police resources", explained a opinion writer for GPS Tracker Shop. "Last time I checked, murderers, rapists, child molesters, identity thieves, car jackers and other criminals were the ones impacting the community in a negative way. The political forces in the city of Fort Lee who wasted everyone's time with this ludicrous law should be impeached, and the city should get back to focusing on stopping actual criminal activity."
Every year in every city strange accidents will occur that will unfortunately result in the death of citizens; joggers getting struck by vehicles, scaffolding collapsing on construction workers, lightning striking late night strollers. Does that mean legislation should be created that makes it illegal to walk outside during a thunderstorm? There are too many ridiculous laws that are drafted with the goal of raising revenue rather than actually improving public safety. These laws infringe on the freedoms and independence of people, and showcase the ever-growing control government continues to take over our daily lives. Hopefully, the people of Fort Lee can work together to overturn such a ridiculous law forced upon them by idiotic politicians.