--- title: Crossing Roads While Texting Will Get You Fined in Honolulu description: A new law, which comes into effect today, will let police fine pedestrians up to $35 for crossing the road while using their phone. canonical: https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-25T06:15:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:48:15.921Z og:title: You Could Get a $35 Fine for Texting While Walking in This Major City Now og:description: It's the first city to pass legislation targeting "distracted walking" og:url: https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23272e9f3564d4ec/6988e34897cdff0ecb6b2fee/gettyimages-866022496.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-TELECOM-PHONES-CELLULAR-LAWS og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Could Get a $35 Fine for Texting While Walking in This Major City Now twitter:description: It's the first city to pass legislation targeting "distracted walking" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23272e9f3564d4ec/6988e34897cdff0ecb6b2fee/gettyimages-866022496.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Could Get a $35 Fine for Texting While Walking in This Major City Now by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Oct 25, 2017 6:15 AM UTC  A visitor texts before crossing the street in Waikiki Tuesday, October 24, 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Honolulu Police Department will start enforcing The City and County of Honolulu's newest law against looking or texting on your cell phone while using a crosswalk. A visitor texts before crossing the street in Waikiki Tuesday, October 24, 2017 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Honolulu Police Department will start enforcing The City and County of Honolulu's newest law against looking or texting on your cell phone while using a crosswalk.EUGENE TANNER—AFP/Getty Images by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Oct 25, 2017 6:15 AM UTC Crossing the street while texting, tweeting, or CandyCrush-ing [could cost you](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html), under a new law in Hawaii’s largest city. Honolulu’s ‘smartphone zombie’ [law](http://www4.honolulu.gov/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-189688/BILL006%2817%29.htm), which goes into effect today, authorizes police to stop and fine pedestrians up to $35 for walking with their eyes glued to their phone screen, the New York _Times_ [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html). The ban makes Honolulu the [first major American city](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jul/28/hawaii-law-targets-smartphone-zombies-with-crosswalk-ban) to pass legislation targeting “distracted walking” in a bid to increase road safety. “This is really milestone legislation that sets the bar high for safety,” [said](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html) Brandon Elefante, the City Council member behind the bill. Pedestrian deaths in the U.S. [rose 11% in 2016](http://www.npr.org/2017/03/30/522085503/2016-saw-a-record-increase-in-pedestrian-deaths) to nearly 6,000, according to a [report](http://www.ghsa.org/resources/spotlight-peds17) from the Governors Highway Safety Association, which cited “an increase in walking as a primary mode of transportation, and distraction due to growing use of smartphone technology” as potential factors for the jump. Though a direct link between increasing deaths and smartphone use is difficult to prove, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [advises](https://www.cdc.gov/features/pedestriansafety/index.html) safety-minded pedestrians to “avoid distractions such as electronic devices that take your attention off the road”. The rising risk of injury and death has prompted local governments around the world to address public smartphone use. The town of Bodegraven in the Netherlands [embedded LED lighting strips](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/15/dutch-led-scheme-smartphone-traffic-lights-whatsapp) at crosswalks— near smartphone users’ toes — to let them know when traffic lights change. Similar efforts have been introduced in [Moscow](http://tass.ru/obschestvo/2104977) and the [German town of Augsburg](http://time.com/money/4308378/texting-walking-augsburg-germany/), after a teenager was injured by a tram. The Chinese city of Chongqing introduced [“cellphone lanes”](https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2014/sep/15/china-mobile-phone-lane-distracted-walking-pedestrians) in 2014 that separated smartphone-using pedestrians from their [faster-moving peers](http://time.com/3376782/chongqing-smartphone-sidewalk-meixin-group/). India has even introduced [“no selfie zones”](http://time.com/4019654/kumbh-mela-selfie-ban-crowds-india-stampede/) in an effort to curb stampedes and prevent accidental deaths, which are a big problem: of 127 selfie related deaths reported between March 2014 and September 2016, 76 occurred in India alone according to a [recent study](http://precog.iiitd.edu.in/blog/2016/11/13/selfie-killfie-deaths/). Honolulu likely won’t be the only major American city criminalizing smartphone street-crossing for long. [Similar ordinances](http://nyassembly.gov/leg/?default%5Ffld=&leg%5Fvideo=&bn=S00478&term=2017&Summary=Y&Actions=Y) [are being considered](http://abc7ny.com/traffic/stamford-considers-ban-on-texting-while-walking-across-street/2314814/) in at [least ten states](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/23/business/honolulu-walking-and-texting-fine.html), according to the _Times,_ including in New Jersey, where a bill proposed last year included [$50 fines and possible jail time](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/03/28/tickets-for-texting-while-walking-a-new-jersey-lawmaker-wants-to-make-it-so/) for violators, according to the Washington _Post_. Maybe best to wait on that tweet until you reach the other side. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/"},"headline":"You Could Get a $35 Fine for Texting While Walking in This Major City Now","datePublished":"2017-10-25T06:15:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:15.921Z","description":"Honolulu becomes the first major American city to pass legislation targeting \"distracted walking\"","url":"https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Tech","Technology","hawaii","smartphone","onetime","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23272e9f3564d4ec/6988e34897cdff0ecb6b2fee/gettyimages-866022496.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt23272e9f3564d4ec/6988e34897cdff0ecb6b2fee/gettyimages-866022496.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-TELECOM-PHONES-CELLULAR-LAWS","caption":"US-TELECOM-PHONES-CELLULAR-LAWS","creditText":"EUGENE TANNER—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4996379/honolulu-phone-street-texting-zombie-law-fines/","name":"You Could Get a $35 Fine for Texting While Walking in This Major City Now"}}]}] ```