When I first heard of a new “zombie bylaw” in Toronto, my thoughts were that this was a “fake news” item dredged up for Halloween, which was held yesterday — but no, it’s a thing, apparently.
What the proposed bylaw is to address are people who walk down the street completely immersed in their tablets or cell phones, texting or updating their status or whatever else it is they’re doing on social media.
To illustrate the need for such a bylaw, all a TV news camera crew had to do was stand at an intersection in downtown Toronto, and video people crossing the street with their heads down texting or whatever on their smart phones.
There was also the famous video (I’m sure it’s on YouTube somewhere) of a woman walking along texting and oblivious to an open grate in a sidewalk. Even though there was a steel door up to prevent people from just falling in, the oblivious woman stumbled right into it, and yes, fell right into the opening. It’s funny yet horrifying to watch, because the woman just has no idea of the danger she’s literally walking right into.
This bylaw is basically an extension of the law which has been enacted for drivers all across Canada, namely it’s an offence to be texting or checking emails or doing anything else on your cell while driving. The idea is, it should also be illegal to just walking around a busy city sidewalk and crossing streets while your attention is completely absorbed in your handheld device.
But one woman I heard on a news report had a valid point: is it really necessary to have a law for something that should be common sense?
Unfortunately, the answer is yes.
It also points out the fact that “common sense” is not all that common.
For proof of this, in addition to looking around and seeing just how many people in most any crowd is busy with their devices at any given time, take a look at some of the warnings that shouldn’t be necessary, such the warning on a cup that holds hot coffee: “Warning, coffee is hot”.
No, really? Stop the presses …
The whole reason this warning is there is precisely because someone allegedly didn’t realize that hot coffee would be hot and therefore launched a lawsuit (any bets the person was American?), and so now, on all cups bearing hot coffee is your warning that, hey, this coffee just might be hot.
It is true, it shouldn’t be necessary to have a fine in place for people who walk around with their heads buried in a device, but apparently it is, because someone is going to get hurt or killed doing this, and lawsuits will ensue and then you have to have warnings everywhere for everything. Technology is wonderful, except when it isn’t.
