We all know someone who’s guilty of this.
To be honest, most of us probably are.
Strolling around town with your phone in your hand, chatting to some lad on Tinder, lurking his Instagram, accidentally liking a pic from 2010 and wanting the ground to swallow you whole.
Yep, happens to the best of us, sure.
It’s probably happened while you’ve been crossing a road too.
Maybe there were no cars passing at the time, or maybe there were, but you didn’t notice because you were too busy on your phone.
Maybe the driver of the vehicle got really pissed off at you for being reckless on the road.
Maybe other pedestrians were annoyed that you were getting in their way while they were trying to cross behind you.
Either way, texting in the street is annoying. We all do it, but it still is.
As it turns out, people in Chicago must find it the most annoying because there’s a chance you could be fined up to $500 there if you’re caught doing it.
Chicago Sun Times has reported that a new law has been put forward in the city suggesting that texting while crossing the road should be punishable by a fine starting at $90 for the first time you’re caught… and going up as far as $500 for repeat offenders.
The idea comes after Honolulu in Hawaii banned looking at any kind of screen while walking across the road unless you are calling emergency services.
However, in Honolulu, ‘distracted walking’ only carries a maximum fine of $99.
While $500 may seem a bit steep, if the fine does stop people from nearly getting knocked down, it’s probably not the worst idea in the world.
