Crossing the street while texting may soon land Boston residents with fines up to $200, as a bill proposing increased fines for jaywalking is discussed in the Massachusetts legislature.

The bill would increase the fines for jaywalking to $25 for the first offense, $50 for the second offense and $100 for a third and any other subsequent offenses, with the fines doubled to $200 for using any electrical devices while doing so.

In comparison, the current fines for jaywalking for the first, second and third offense are only $1, with any subsequent offenses fined at $2.

At a hearing that included the bill Monday afternoon, Rep. Colleen Garry, the presenter of the bill, defended the sharp increase. She said she noticed a large number of jaywalkers in her area and despite efforts to prevent these incidents, accidents still occur.

“It seems that we’ve forgotten the old thing, the old saying, when your parents taught you how to cross the road — look both ways,” Garry said. “People aren’t doing that. I think it’s time to up those penalties to get people to pay attention when they’re crossing the street, crossing at the right location, at the right time.”

Jeff Larason, director of highway safety at the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, said there is no evidence technology has increased the prevalence of jaywalking, but that the main issue is the lack of enforcement.

“One of the issues we have is that jaywalking period, set aside from a distracted jaywalker, is rarely enforced in the state,” Larason said. “I have yet to hear of a police officer giving somebody in Massachusetts a jaywalking ticket because it’s a $1 fine.”

Increasing the fine would increase the possibility of police handing out tickets for jaywalking which would escalate any situation in which it happens, Roxbury resident Oniel Bailey.

“People would get offended because most times when I see people jaywalking in areas where the police are at, it’s a group,” the 23-year-old said. “They’re not going to grab everybody and saw hey we’re going to fine everybody in the group, so I think things might escalate past the actual initiation of the stopping.”

Larason said pedestrians are not solely to blame for traffic incidents and the policies are made to ensure the safety of the driver as well as the pedestrian.

“Pedestrians are the ones being harmed and so, if a pedestrian is crossing the street, they’re not going to hurt the person in the car, it’s the pedestrian that’ll be hurt,” Larason said.

Jonathan Fertig, chair of StreetsPAC Mass, an organization working to protect the streets for pedestrians to use in a way they see fit, said the “jaywalking 2.0” bill is “garbage” and places the blame on the pedestrians rather than the drivers.

The culture of Boston promotes walking, Christine Lindquist, 26, of Fenway, said. She said she sees more people distracted on their phones while on the sidewalks rather than crossing the street.

“[Boston] is such a walkable city,” Lindquist said. “It just becomes secondhand to wipe out your phone and text because you’re able to walk everywhere. I think it is part of the culture in a way because of how the city is designed.”

Fertig said the concept of jaywalking was created as a tactic by the auto industry to isolate pedestrians from the streets to give cars more space, and that distracted driving plays more of a role in injuries and accidents.

“Whether [the drivers] are doing it more or less, I don’t think anybody knows but it is certainly true that when they do, it’s much more dangerous because they’re the ones piloting multi ton vehicles on urban streets,” Fertig said. “So, they’re the ones who have a duty to not injure people.”

Fertig said he is doubtful concerning whether or not officers would actually dedicate resources to implement the new policies.

Bonnie Polin, a chief safety analyst at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, said the solution lies in a collaborative approach, not just blaming one group over the other.

“It has to be looked at through the driver standpoint and the pedestrian standpoint together, it can’t just be looked at in isolation,” Polin said.

Infrastructure could also cause an increase in jaywalking and advocacy groups cite the lack of crosswalks and inadequate crossing time as a few reasons behind jaywalking, she added.

Joselyn Cirino, 27, of Fenway, said she agrees not only do drivers and pedestrians have to work on this, but the various Boston communities as well.

“[The legislation] would only be as effective as people make it,” Cirino said. “As any other bill, I feel like it sounds good on paper, but people have to actually practice what they preach.”