I'm driving to work this morning and am stopped at an intersection near the White House waiting for the light to turn green so I can make a right turn.
A pedestrian is standing on the corner waiting to cross. The light turns, he does nothing. I wait a good 10 seconds or more -- I'm a very polite driver. He continues to just stand there staring blankly, not moving, so I start to make my turn at which point he steps into the crosswalk right in front of my car and throws me his best Bette Davis bitch-look which includes a hand gesture as if to say "HOW DARE YOU! I HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY YOU WRETCHED, INCONSIDERATE BASTARD!" -- or something like that.
What just happened? The idiot was listening to his iPod, not paying attention to the sights, sounds and street activity around him.
This i-distraction is maddening. I encounter it all the time now, which is why a just-announced proposed New York law banning pedestrian use of iPods and other gadgets doesn't seem like a bad idea.
I know the bill is too restrictive on individual freedom, and I know it won't pass. I'm just saying that pedestrians who don't look both ways because they're caught up in Gwen Stefani's 'Sweet Escape' A) piss me off, and B) are accidents waiting to happen. Like this:
(Mature Language)
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Yeah, I take it that this is happening more and more... But I don't get it. I mean the Sony Walkman came out in the 1980s. Why was this not considered a problem until now? Are people getting stupider? (This is a distinct possibility)
The proposed ban, however, really seems untenable. Banning earphones in your ears when crossing streets, especially in NYC where people cross a street every minute or so as they walk, is essentially banning the use of ipods at all. There has to be a better solution than that.
Maybe being less stupid?
To Atari re: "Maybe being less stupid?"
YES! Let's legislate that. I'm in favor. :-)
I was just wondering why it's a bigger problem now when we've had walkman's for years! Maybe people ARE gettin stupider, as someone else has said..lol!!
I have my ipod on all the time when I'm out, usually listening to 'Shania Twain' or 'Dixie Chicks' (how stereotypically gay of moi), but I ALWAYS make sure I take my headphones out when crossing a road or even walking through a crowd. I get all confused and flustered if I walk through a large crowd with headphones on..drives me crazy!!
I'm rambling......STOP ME!
Regards,
Ste
I am not so sure it is the use of the IPod that is to blame. Kids in my neighborhood walk thre and four abreast in the street, when you drive up behind them they turn and look at you, with that same challenging look you described.
I think that in so many ways our society has just become more in-your-face.
I am an attorney, and I used to handle personal injury, now I handle civil rights.
I can milk this one forever. Sure, outlaw Ipods.
ipods don't kill people. Do not outlaw them. End the Nanny State and make people responsible for their own lives. I watch kids who have crossing guards on their way to school that don't have a clue on how to cross the street without them. It's all because the Nanny State relieves people of their responsibility. Consequently, you have people who can't survive without the Nanny State.
You can't outlaw stupidity. Besides, jaywalking for example, is illegal already; the one cop in NYC who wrote a summons for a jaywalker a few years ago could write the ticket properly.
Those people who are so afraid to be with their own thoughts and who need the continuous steam of music amuse me to no end. There is an announcement in the subway station that the number 3 train will stop at the opposite platform, due to blahblahblah... . Everybody goes down the stairs, through the tunnel and up the stairs to get to the right platform. Except for the dozen or so head-bobbing, finger snapping idiots.... . I guess they're still waiting.
HOW MANY PPL HAVE DIED ON HIGHWAYS BECAUSE OF PPL TALKING ON CELL PHONES AND DRIVING, LOTS DOWN HERE THAT i KNOW OF. I DON'T WISH TO SEE ANYONE HURT, BUT TELL ME WHOM WOULD BE RESPONCIBLE OF A DRIVER ON A CELL PHONE TALKING AND HITTING A PEDESTRIAN THAT IS NOT PAYING ATTENTION AND LISTENING TO AN IPOD, I SAY GET RID OF THE BOTH OFTHEM, BUT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, SO CONTINUE TO KILL EACH OTHER, BETTER THAN GUNS RT, AHAHAHAHHAHAH
HOW MANY PPL HAVE DIED ON HIGHWAYS BECAUSE OF PPL TALKING ON CELL PHONES AND DRIVING, LOTS DOWN HERE THAT i KNOW OF. I DON'T WISH TO SEE ANYONE HURT, BUT TELL ME WHOM WOULD BE RESPONCIBLE OF A DRIVER ON A CELL PHONE TALKING AND HITTING A PEDESTRIAN THAT IS NOT PAYING ATTENTION AND LISTENING TO AN IPOD, I SAY GET RID OF THE BOTH OFTHEM, BUT THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, SO CONTINUE TO KILL EACH OTHER, BETTER THAN GUNS RT, AHAHAHAHHAHAH
I'm an I-walker, so maybe I'm a little biased, but it's never made me a part of traffic confusion that I wouldn't have been in anyway (i.e. stupid stuff like not being able to see around buses/trucks, tight corners, etc). I've never been almost hit by anything, and generally, if I'm at a corner, I'm ridiculously cautious about dashing across--look both ways, be sure there's not anybody with a chance of hitting me even if they're insane and suddenly accelerate to 60-- Ipod or not.
However, as I'm not the first to mention in this thread, most people are stupider than that. They take their sweet time, not jumping out until the least safe moment, as the article described; there's also the right-of-way champions, who step out the moment they reach the curb and wait for three steps to check in either direction. Sometimes I see that in non-Ipoded people, too. The point is, stupid people will be stupid, arrogant people will be arrogant, and cautious people will be cautious-- if Ipods change even 2% of that, I'm a little shocked.
i think that if the law just says that the volume must be at 40% or lower while walking around like that, it will help a whole lot more. if i wasn't alowed to listen to my iPod for that long, who knows what i would do. no iPods would just make it worse... the music could be a place where it's a lot calmer for the listeners, so no iPods could just make everything that much more insane on the streets.
plus, if the volume is higher than 80% for more than thirty seconds per day, you will start to lose your hearing. (i know, that has nothing to do with anything).
I was just in traffic and a driver in front of me did not go when the light changed. This happens occasionally. This is a part of driving that someone may not go when they should. They still have right of way. Failure to stop to prevent an accident is an offence. Pedestrians have the right of way when going straight at a light. More drivers need to remeber that. I think it would be good to have a limit on how high Ipod volumes went for ear protectiona as well as distractions, though.
This is just ridiculous, having an iPod or any other MP3 player is not the cause of someone not paying attention to traffic. I have been witness to people who have no electronic gadget with them all practicing the very same unsafe behavior. This senator who has called for a ban on mobile phones and MP3 player, really must understand that this ban is truly ridiculous. The fact that someone cannot hear traffic does not mean that he or she is reckless and as for what is distracting them does not always equal an electronic gadget...it is the responsibility of the individual to pay attention, so gadget or no there will always be those who will behave this way.
this rule is really dumb ipods are your own right and u should be able to listen to them whenver u want u bought them u have the freedom to use them!!!!
-ME!!!
I agree with you. I was on the bus the other day, and every time someone got on at a stop the driver said a polite Hello. Well, two guys getting on had their i-pods on and were oblivious to his greeting. They gave him a blank stare like, "I know you just said something to me. But I have no clue what it is." So, after they walked on to the back of the bus, the driver turned around and yelled "HEY!! YOUR FLY IS DOWN!!" ......and once again. blank stare. haha. People really need to keep their i-pods to a reasonable volume so that they can hear things, and so that they don't blast everyone around them out with their music (whether it happens to be a good song or not).
alright thats just screwed up.. i mean how r u going to get pissed off about that??? and wtf?? banning ipods? wow. u must be one pissed off person. ipods rock.
iPods are becoming a bit of an obsession these days, but outlawing them on the streets is not only unthinkable, but also almost impossible to enforce. I agree with the stupidity argument and considering how the few people who have supported iPods on this thread type just reinforces that idea. The best thing for a pedestrian to do when wearing an iPod is to turn them down or only have one ear listening so they can pay attention. But either way, it's just as likely that the guy on the street corner could have had his head up his butt as listening to an iPod. The iPod is simply the new, expensive way for some people to ignore what's going on around them.
Ok so let me start by saying that i dont own an Ipod and that want one. look all of you are being rediculous on this site seriously firstly those of u trying to defend the "pressious " ipoods stop cuz your making people look stupid. Some of you bastards do need to trn the shit doen O its annoying and stupid and yess it does cause accidents when your not paying attention. I wont lie listening to an MP3 player i almost got hurt. t'was my fault but yeah. Those of you who hate Ipods. Firstly i must say how the hell were u born without some type or creativity...restricting people to listening to ipods thats dumb and cannot be enforced 1.) they are to easy to hide and 2.0ther are 2 many on the street. secondly the ipods arrent the onli thing to blame for your carr troubles..firstly sir if u were waitng for yor green and then he decided to cross..surely he had the right awy I mean considering your obvioulsy going in a diffrent direction than him...and he may have thought that u were waitng for your light for going staright...not turing or w/e. Idc bout what happes just justify yourself properly with good clear evidnece....
that is the biggest bs i ever heard
UR FRIGGIN RIGHT
It just proves that alot of people out there can't walk, and chew gum at the same time, but please don't punish the ones of us that can. What's next taking all radios out of cars, because some people just can't drive. There are people who burn themselves by using the stove to cook, what are we going to do next. Make everyone stop cooking at home, and depend on Mcdonald's to feed us, and make us fat. Believe me we have enough laws that take away all the fun in America today, and the ones that messed it up so that we have to have the laws are still going to do it anyway. It's just like banning guns. If you ban them the only people who are going to have them are the people that you need to be afraid of in the first place, and then you will have a real reason to be afraid of them, because they will have free rain, and know they can have their way with you, cause they know you follow laws. Please, we just need to uphold the laws that we already have. When is the last time you saw someone arrested for jay walking. That is a law. Do you see it being enforced? Probably not.
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