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Jail For Texting? Walking While Texting Could Soon Be An Imprisonable Crime

By Anya Felix
Published on: 03:14 PST, Mar 27, 2016

A new bill proposal in New Jersey wants to ban pedestrians from walking and texting at the same time. Violators of the hypothetical law will even end up facing 15 days in prison, up to $50 in fines, or both.

The new law, which wants to incriminate texting while walking, was proposed by New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt this past week — it has not yet been posted up for the vote.

It seems that bill is unlikely to be passed — especially with the Twitter backlash, which included everything from bewilderment to ridicule to attacks on the New Jersey Legislature. Assemblywoman Lampitt herself admitted that she will have a hard time getting the bill passed.

Jail for texting? Is incriminating texting and walking really a viable measure? The Twitter response ranged from confusion (first below), to accusation of the encroachment of rights (second), to plain ridicule (third).

However, as absurd as this bill proposal might seem, Assemblywoman Lampitt’s jail for texting and walking law is actually motivated by statistics that show the increase in pedestrians who lose their lives because of texting and walking in recent years.

According to the examiner, “Since 2009, pedestrian fatalities have increased by 15 percent, to 4,735, in 2013,” a 2015 report by the Governors Highway Safety Association states. “Nearly 2 million pedestrian injuries were related to cellphone use while walking.”

So, texting and walking is hurting many people — even killing some. That is why this increase in pedestrian injuries and fatalities because of cellphone use has become a legitimate concern of the government.

In fact, there have been similar bill proposals in New York State, Nevada, Illinois, and Arkansas — while all have failed to be passed, Hawaii still has a pending bill with intentions of incriminating texting and walking at the same time.

So, New Jersey is not the first state to attempt to jail people for texting and walking. Assemblywoman Lampitt defended her bill proposal on saturday, claiming that pedestrians who text while walking endanger all others on the road, and should be penalized (with 15 days in jail).

“Distracted pedestrians, like distracted drivers, present a potential danger to themselves and drivers on the road,” Lampitt told ABC News. “An individual crossing the road distracted by their smartphone presents just as much danger to motorists as someone jaywalking and should be held, at minimum, to the same penalty.”

This bill to jail those who are texting and walking is commonly referred to as one that penalizes “distracted pedestrians,” and is meant to improve road safety.

Distracted pedestrian bills have been cropping up in state legislatures all over the country. Although none have actually passed, the issue has started to gain attention over the years.

New Jersey’s bill proposal is, of course, the latest of these — in a time of increasing road danger for “distracted pedestrians” or pedestrians who are texting and walking.

According to the Manning River Times, “Another study, from Safe Kids Worldwide, a Washington-based nonprofit organisation, found that 40 per cent of teenagers said they had been hit or nearly hit by a car, bike or motorcycle while [texting and] walking.”

These studies and stats only further depict how texting and walking has made the roads of the country less and less safe for all pedestrians, and Assemblywoman Lampitt’s New Jersey bill proposal of jail for texting, is just a response to these stats.

[Photo by Seth Wenig/AP Images]

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