Avid texters beware: Fort Lee, N.J. police said they will begin issuing $85 jaywalking tickets to pedestrians who are caught texting while walking。

　　“It’s a big distraction. Pedestrians aren’t watching where they are going and they are not aware,” said Thomas Ripoli, chief of the Fort Lee Police Department。

　　Ripoli said the borough, which is home to approximately

　　35,000 residents, has suffered three fatal pedestrian-involved accidents this year. He hopes his crackdown on people who display dangerous behavior while walking will make his town safer, but not everyone is on board with the idea of issuing $85 tickets。

　　“When I walk I still look around. I’m not like constantly looking down the whole time,” said resident Sue Choe.Another woman complained about the tickets were “a lot of money。”

　　Officers handed out pamphlets during a short grace period in March before they began aggressively going after “dangerous walkers。”

　　More than 117 tickets have been issued, according to the New Jersey Record。

　　Two professors at Stony Brook University in New York conducted a study on walking and texting. They found texters are 60 percent more likely to veer off line than non-texters。

　　“We want to raise awareness that a real disruption

　　occurs because of texting,” Eric Lamberg, co-author of the study, told Long Island Business News. “Texting disrupts your ability much more than does talking。”

　　那些喜欢走路发短信的人要注意了：美国新泽西的小镇Fort Lee出台了一项法规，禁止行人走路发短信，一经发现罚款85美元。Fort Lee镇的警察局长Thomas Ripoli说：“走路发短信让行人分心，使他们没法注意他们正往哪走。”

　　Ripoli表示这个不到35000人的小镇，今年至今已经发生了三起行人丧生的事故。他希望这项法规可以让小镇更安全，但不是所有居民都同意这项法规。有人表示低头发短信并不是事故频发的主因，也有人抱怨罚款金额太高了。当地警方之前也发放过安全宣传的小册子，但收效甚微。目前已经有超过117人因为走路发短信被罚款。

　　两位来自纽约Stony Brook大学的教授进行了一项研究，称走路发短信的人比不发短信的行人，卷入事故的几率要高60%。研究者之一的Eric Lamberg教授表示：“我们想要让大众意识到走路发短信的危害，它比走路聊天更能分散你的注意力。”