British Expats - Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

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Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

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Originally Posted by mdyoung (Post 4382298)

I say this is all part of Darwin's Natural Selection. Things like this helps to weed out the idiots to keep them from reproducing. If you don't have enough sense to not walk in from of a car when listening to an MP3 player, you are probably in the shallow end of the gene pool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 4382340)

:eek: I nearly posted the exact same thing.

A Tram is not a bus or a train FFS...Its powered by the much quieter use of electric motors. There were numerous deaths in the 30's and 40's well before that introduction of walkmans and MP3 players due to the (relatively) silent approach of trams.

But then again I suppose you two genius's have never walked into the path of anything that in hindsight you might've actually heard albeit only in your subconscious.

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rushman (Post 4388233)

But then again I suppose you two genius's have never walked into the path of anything that in hindsight you might've actually heard albeit only in your subconscious.

Only my first wife. LOL

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdyoung (Post 4388662)

Only my first wife. LOL

Don't be ridiculous....no man actually hears his wife..we just practice years of well timed nodding.

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

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Originally Posted by Rushman (Post 4388233)

So, you've walked in front of one too! Maybe we should look into banning trams instead of MP3 players. Or, at least make them turn off their cloaking devices.

Do you remember that famous picture of the lone man standing in front of the tank in Tienimenn Square? I wonder if he was just out for a stroll around the square while listing to his walkman, looked up and "Holy Shit!!"

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rushman (Post 4388233)

A Tram is not a bus or a train FFS...Its powered by the much quieter use of electric motors.

Not in my day ..we didn't hear the tram as much as smell the horses...
http://hometown.aol.co.uk/rsjtrams/G...londonpost.jpg

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob (Post 4380056)

"Walk, jog or bicycle across a New York street with an iPod plugged in your ears and you could get slapped with a $100 ticket under a new law proposed by a legislator from Brooklyn.

State Sen. Carl Kruger's bill would also outlaw the use of cell phones, Blackberries, video games or other electronic devices when crossing the street.

He cited the death of a 21-year-old man who was listening to music when he stepped off a curb and was hit by a bus in Brooklyn in September, and the death of a 23-year-old iPod listener last month...."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT

Anyone else think that's a bit ridiculous? Can't hear much over there anyway, and shouldn't these muppets have been looking left and right before crossing anyway?

Stupid to try and legislate common sense I agree. Especailly when the could be argueing for a pull our from Iraq before they kick off the next world war (seems a bit more important to me).

All that said, with regards to ipods: I owned one in the UK and soon discovered it is really dangerous to try and cross a road while listening to one. Unlike older walkmans and so forth, the ipod 'ear buds' that screw into your ear make it impossible to hear any background noise what-so-ever. This is of course one of the selling points and one of the sillier ones. As an ipod is designed to be used, like a walkman, while on the move, it is essential to be able to hear some background noise. Within a week I got rid of the 'ear bud' headphones in favour of older type earpieces that allowed me to hear if a bus or truck had rounded a corner at speed. It is the weirdest feelng to lost one of your precious senses, which is exactly what happens while playing loud music through an ipod.

As I have said, I soon figured out that I would rather be using normal headphones. Anybody who doesn't figure that out in the first five minutes is probably far to dumb for a law to make any difference. Same goes for anyone stupid enought to be reading an e-mail or playing a hand held video game while crossing a road. My point? Not really sure. Just thught I'd mention the ipod thing.

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

The whole thing is bloody stupid. When they start banning blind and/or deaf people from crossing the streets, then maybe I'll reconsider my position. Personally, I have an iPod and a cellphone. I rarely use the cellphone in the street, but when I do, what am I supposed to do? Hang up when I get to a crossing, then call back again when I get to the other side? As for my iPod, I'm am very rarely playing music on my iPod, using it more for listening to Podcasts and talk radio and stuff. Having grown-up in the age of the Walkman, I know you have to pay much more attention to your surroundings while wearing one, and with people talking in my ears anyway instead of music blasting, I can hear a lot more background noise than most music listeners.

In short, this is simply some idiot bringing in a bill for the sake of looking like he's 'getting something done'. Hopefully, it'll get laughed out of the state senate, but the way things are going in the politics of this country, I have heavy doubts about the common sense of anyone in power.

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rushman (Post 4388233)

:blink:

"Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians: US blind group"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070214...t_070214034245

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

Quote:

Originally Posted by another bloody yank (Post 4404737)

:blink:

"Hybrid cars dangerously quiet for pedestrians: US blind group"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070214...t_070214034245

so that's why they haven't taken off over here :lol:

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

"I say this is all part of Darwin's Natural Selection. Things like this helps to weed out the idiots to keep them from reproducing. If you don't have enough sense to not walk in from of a car when listening to an MP3 player, you are probably in the shallow end of the gene pool."

Hey! You! Out of the gene pool!

:lol:

Re: Law Would Ban IPods When Crossing Street

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Originally Posted by anabella (Post 4382474)

I know it was my own fault! :) and I don't agree with having a law about it but I understand what they are saying about the distraction..

And this law thing is probably a way of taking the attention of other matters.. what, I don't know but governments do it all the time.. they'll be talking about f*** on the news for several days or weeks while they raise taxes or change other things that most people wouldn't agree with.. we are just treated like moppets no matter where we are though in this country it seems more obvious.. :curse: .. you only have to watch the news to see this clearly.. they only talk about rubbish, never anything important..

If people who listen to iPods, cell phones and other portable devices while crossing the street are to be outlawed...what about schizophrenics? Will they still be able to cross the street while listening to voices inside their head? And what about psychics- listening to spirits from the netherworld?

I think they could save more people by requiring all automobile drivers to wear helmets while driving...some estimates show over 20,000 people a year would survive current accidents. See if any politician ever would propose that...doubt it!