A Ban on Talking while

A Ban on Talking while Walking? Real estate agents can be almost inseparable from their mobile phones and other handheld communications devices, though a state senator in New York has plans to introduce legislation to ban the use of devices, including cell phones, handheld video games, Blackberrys and iPods, while crossing the street. New York State Sen. Carl Kruger said three pedestrians in his Brooklyn district have been killed in the past few months after stepping into traffic while distracted by an electronic device, according to a Reuters report. "In one case bystanders screamed 'watch out' to no avail," according to the article. A couple of local Realtors interviewed by television news station WABC said they rely on their cell phones. "I make a living on the phone ... that's what I do. I'm on the phone all the time," according to Realtor Lisa Conway. And Realtor Mary Ferraro told the station, "This is New York. We're constantly on the cell phones. It's part of life, it's part of business." Several states, including New York, have already passed laws targeting the use of handheld cell phones while driving (though the laws typically provide exemptions for hands-free devices), and New York legislators have proposed laws that require police officers to report whether cell phones were a factor in vehicle accidents. New York City enacted a ban in 2003 on cell phones in indoor theaters, libraries, museums, galleries, movie theaters, concert halls and other performance halls while exempting City Council chambers, according to a Reuters report. A Web site at http://www.cellular-news.com/car_bans/ includes a list of all the nations and states with a ban on handheld cell phone use while driving. A 2004 study (updated here) prepared by Robert W. Hahn and James E. Prieger, "The Impact of Driver Cell Phone Use on Accidents," found that the impact of cell phone use on accidents "varies across the population," that some previous estimates of the impact of cell phone use as a contributor to accidents may be overstated, and concludes that "there is no significant effect of hands-free or handheld cell phone use on accidents." A report at Realtor Magazine Online, a publication of the National Association of Realtors trade group, encourages Realtors to act, if there is a proposal for local restrictions on the use of cell phones, to "lobby for a ban that only prohibits the use of handsets, not on all cellular conversations while driving." –Glenn Roberts Jr., Inman News