Look left, look right…take your eyes off your smartphone. Okay. Now, you can cross the street in Honolulu.

In a 7-2 vote, the city council just passed a law that makes it illegal to stare at a phone screen while crossing “a street or highway.” The “distracted pedestrians law,” which is the first of its kind in the country, also encompasses video games, cameras, tablets, pagers, and other small handheld devices.

“Sometimes I wish there were laws we did not have to pass, that perhaps common sense would prevail,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell said during a bill signing ceremony near one of the city’s busiest intersections. “But sometimes we lack common sense.”

Local law enforcement will have three months to educate people about the new law, but after October 25, so-called “smartphone zombies” will risk incurring fines between $15 and $99, depending on how many times they have gotten caught glancing downwards before.

Pedestrians can still look at their phones on the curb and won’t be penalized if they are listening to music or talking on the phone as they cross the street, as long as their eyes can stay on the road. Dialing 911 is also permitted mid-crossing.

Though many believe this law, much like jaywalking, will be enforced in an arbitrary manner, lawmakers assure they are trying to tackle a serious road fatality problem.

“We hold the unfortunate distinction of being a major city with more pedestrians being hit in crosswalks, particularly our seniors, than almost any other city in the county,” Caldwell told Reuters.

The Governors Highway Safety Association reported that pedestrian fatalities increased 11 percent from the first six months of 2015 to the same period in 2016 and that one possible reason may be the rise in smartphone use.

However critics are saying that this law ought to further regulate drivers instead of punishing pedestrians.

Hawaii already forbids drivers from using their phones or texting while driving, allowing them only to use a hands-free device. However, no law exists preventing them from glancing at their screen. Last year, local police issued over 20,000 distracted driving citations statewide.

“If it’s signed into law,” writes Steven Miller in an opinion piece, “a pedestrian could have the right of way, be struck by a driver, and still receive a ticket for using a cell phone in the crosswalk, even though it’s the driver who should have yielded.”

Others are complaining that this new policy is an overreach of the local government’s authority.

“I don’t know if it should be a law that you can’t use your phone, because it is your phone,” said Sandra Hirooka. “I like the freedom of using my phone whenever I want to.”

“Scrap this intrusive bill, provide more education to citizens about responsible electronics usage, and allow law enforcement to focus on larger issues,” resident Ben Robinson told the city council in written testimony.

Celia Heudebourg

Celia Heudebourg is an editorial intern for Law Street Media. She is from Paris, France and is entering her senior year at Macalester College in Minnesota where she studies international relations and political science. When she’s not reading or watching the news, she can be found planning a trip abroad or binge-watching a good Netflix show. Contact Celia at Staff@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post New Law: No “Crossing and Texting” in Honolulu appeared first on Law Street.

“There’s an app for that.” We all hear this dozens of time a day. Half the time I look up a website on my smartphone, it asks me if I want to download the app. There are apps for things you wouldn’t believe — for example, there’s one called Taxi Hold ’em that helps you hail taxis by writing “Taxi” in large letters on your screen. It’s free and really stupid — do you really think that a cab stops to read what you’re holding up on your iPhone? They probably just think you’re trying to get better service. Or what about the game Hold the Button? To play you just…Hold the Button. You literally press down a button on your screen. That is all. It is a game testing, I have no idea…how little you have to do that day?

A San Francisco based startup has a new app called Fixed that’s making both tech and legal headlines. It’s based on the principle that about 50 percent of parking tickets are dismissed  when taken to court, especially in cities like San Francisco where many tickets are issued erroneously. If you receive a parking ticket, you take a picture of it with the Fixed app, which then tells you the probability that it will be dismissed and gives you the option to contest it or not. The app will tell you what to do next, such as take a picture to show that you weren’t in violation of a law. The app will do all the research portions for you and then creates a letter for you to sign contesting the ticket. If you win, it will charge you 25 percent of your ticket. If you don’t win, you pay the ticket but Fixed doesn’t charge you anything. It’s really a win-win situation, either you pay way less, or you know that you couldn’t have possibly gotten it overturned.

There are both pros and cons to an app like this. One pro is that it does technically make life easier, and that’s the purpose of an app like this. That being said, people have pointed out that it will make it a lot easier for people to fight parking tickets, which can have negative results, such as traffic courts inundated with unnecessary letters for tickets that only have a small chance of being overturned.

Right now the app is only available in San Francisco, but that city is an excellent target, given that last year they issued more than $100 million in parking tickets, and that the US in total raises $3 billion annually through parking tickets alone.

I do think there’s something to be said for the fact that this is a bit problematic. I’m one of those people who does love technology — between work, school, and entertainment, I spend hours upon hours on my computer each day. That being said, I don’t trust technology. I’ve had so many computer crashes, emails fail to send, and lost data that I compulsively screen shot everything I do, I backup all my files regularly, and I double check emails after I’ve sent them. I honestly don’t know that I would trust an iPhone app to deal with a fee I owe to the government.

Fixed will probably work however, because the idea is massively seductive. It’s like having advice in your pocket, a quite convenient fix for a mildly annoying inconvenience. But to me, this is somewhat like the Taxi Hold ’em app: it’s more flash than substance, and in the end, I think you’re better off dealing with it yourself.

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Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Charleston’s TheDigitel via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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