They're the inevitable street encounters in a metropolis tethered to its portable electronic devices: the meandering businessman typing a text message on his BlackBerry, the chatty cell phone user coming to a dead stop on a crowded sidewalk and the iPod listener obliviously crossing a street as the light changes.

Technology has allowed New Yorkers to go mobile with their media, but it has also put their legs on automatic pilot while they tune into games, e-mail and music.

Now one lawmaker wants to put an end to this habit of modern life.

New legislation proposed by state Sen. Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) would fine pedestrians and bicyclists if they use their iPod, cell phone or other PDA while crossing a city streets.

"You can't be fully aware of your surroundings if you're fiddling with a BlackBerry, dialing a phone number, playing 'Super Mario Brothers' on a Game Boy or listening to music on an iPod," Kruger said.

The Brooklyn state senator said the legislation will save lives, noting a recent spate of fatal accidents involving pedestrians wearing headphones.

"This is an avoidable tragedy," Kruger said. "If you're so involved in your electronic device that you can't see or hear a car coming, this is indicative of a larger problem that requires some sort of enforcement beyond the application of common sense."

Under the legislation, anyone crossing the street while using an electronic device would be issued a court summons that carries a $100 penalty.

New Yorkers Wednesday said that electronic devices have become distractions.

"It's a problem usually when people are crossing the street," said Shawn Mullins, 21, of Flushing. "It happened to my friend the other day. He was talking on his cell phone and looking the other way, and some guy came zooming by and almost hit him."

Though he has no statistics to support the trend, Kruger said at least three accidents have occurred in the city in the past six months where a pedestrian was struck while listening to an iPod.

His office said a 23-year-old man wearing headphones was fatally struck by a car in Bergen Beach on Jan. 1. On Sept. 1, a man listening to an iPod was fatally hit by a bus when he stepped off a curb on Flatbush Avenue and Avenue U, one of the city's most dangerous intersections.

Though the city Department of Transportation does not track reasons for fatalities, pedestrian deaths have been on the rise. Citywide, there were 170 pedestrian fatalities in 2006, an increase of nearly 9% from a year earlier. That figure, though, is still down from the 192 deaths in 2001.

Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) also agreed Wednesday with Sen. Kruger that iPods and cell phones have become an unexpected danger of modern life.

"I certainly have yelled to people on the street to watch out only to find out that they can't hear me because they have headphones," said Liu, who chairs the Council's transportation committee. However, he said the legislation would be as difficult to enforce as jaywalking.

City advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, however, called the proposal misguided because it targets the wrong people.

"It's blaming the victim," said Paul Steely White, executive director of the city advocacy group. "iPods and Walkmans don't kill pedestrians, reckless driving kills pedestrians."

White said the senator would do better to focus on enforcing yielding-to-pedestrian laws and extending the time for crossing streets.

"New York is a walking town," White said. "To somehow restrain or prevent pedestrians from engaging in everyday activities is anti-city and anti-pedestrian."

Apple, the maker of iPods, did not return a call before press time.