Slashdot Mirror

If you read the article carefully you will find they http://www.walk.com.au/wtw/page.asp?PageID=207 only comment upon the lack of research, into the reason why there is an increase in pedestrian fatalities and are postulating a theory for further research. A for penalising pedestrians for being distracted, I trust you have heard of jaywalking http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaywalking. Perhaps you do not take every possible evasive measure in order to avoid striking a pedestrian who has gone astray but a lot of other people do and, those evasive measure can often lead to very bad accidents.

I would think the mobile phone is the most likely culprit, I have seen people in a near total daze oblivious to the rest of the world with their attention totally devoted to mindless texting, hmm, texting whilst mobile music player at full volume, for quite a few air heads, a sure recipe for disaster.

Keep in mind that any potential legislation ain't as much to protect the distracted ambler but to protect those innocent parties attempting to avoid running them down.

Technological solution would be to require that mobile music players be able to respond to horns and sirens and cut sound output when detected.

A google search led me to their website, which suggests otherwise. http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/page.asp?PageID=105

The fact that Australia has politicians who are even willing to test the waters by floating such ideas says a lot by itself.

Far be it for me to defend politicians, but this little bit of "policy" as you'd like to call it has come from a not-for-profit group that pretty much amounts to a "Club for Pedestrians".

To wit:

The Pedestrian Council of Australia is a non-profit organisation whose objectives are: the continuing improvement of the safety, amenity, access, health and environment of all pedestrians throughout Australia.

Sounds a lot like the Women's Christian Temperence Union. So perhaps I jumped the gun a bit; the politicians are the ones who follow shortly after.

The fact that Australia has politicians who are even willing to test the waters by floating such ideas says a lot by itself.

Far be it for me to defend politicians, but this little bit of "policy" as you'd like to call it has come from a not-for-profit group that pretty much amounts to a "Club for Pedestrians".

To wit:

The Pedestrian Council of Australia is a non-profit organisation whose objectives are: the continuing improvement of the safety, amenity, access, health and environment of all pedestrians throughout Australia.

And for what it's worth, it's not incredibly difficult to talk on the phone while driving -- or to ignore it. I'm sure drunk driving is a much bigger problem.

Nope. Common misconception and just plain wrong

The reactions of drivers on phone calls are worse than the reactions of drunk drivers. Check those links, or use google, you'll find a mass of studies supporting this.

So if you are someone who thinks it's okay to drive while on the phone, please turn in you license and refrain from driving at all.

Did you even read the links you linked to?

From your first link:

"In the US in 2002, alcohol was a factor in 41 per cent of all fatal traffic accidents and in 6 per cent of all accidents. Data collected by 20 state highway authorities showed mobile phones were a factor in an estimated one-half of 1 per cent of all crashes and these crashes were more likely to be minor, rear-end collisions."

AND

"Mobiles are also not the most common or significant distraction for drivers. Only last month, Monash University's accident research centre found "interacting" with a car stereo is more distracting than using a hands-free mobile phone. An American study that analysed more than 32,000 traffic accidents caused by various driver distractions found mobile phones contributed to less than 2 per cent of accidents, while an outside object, person or event contributed to more than 29 per cent. Adjusting the radio or CD player contributed to more than 11 per cent of accidents."

I think the above says it all.

And for what it's worth, it's not incredibly difficult to talk on the phone while driving -- or to ignore it. I'm sure drunk driving is a much bigger problem.

Nope. Common misconception and just plain wrong

The reactions of drivers on phone calls are worse than the reactions of drunk drivers. Check those links, or use google, you'll find a mass of studies supporting this.

So if you are someone who thinks it's okay to drive while on the phone, please turn in you license and refrain from driving at all.

unfortunately the best i can do relates to a foreign city http://www.walk.com.au/pedestriancouncil/Page.asp?PageID=186

i heard this 'anecdote' from my case manager, and as such was struggling to try to find information about how bad pollution is for the lungs. http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_11_1_Pollution_Versus_Tobacco.asp suggests that cancer risk is higher with tobacco than with pollution, but that "Dirty air does contribute to lung cancer risk, but has a greater impact on heart disease, asthma, and chronic bronchitis"

so you could suffer a heart attack just from jogging in smog, or develop asthma just from living in NYC.

That's largely the point - it's illegal to show a car doing any of these things, closed course or not , in an Australian advert. There was a Toyota ad where a family car drove through a city that morphed into a number of safety cones - it was banned along with others for "promoting the wrong behavior". This is part of a larger cultural move in Australia against "young hoons" and includes vehicle confiscation and license bans for minor infractions.

Ellen Vanderslice, president of America WALKs, a pedestrian advocacy group based in Portland, Ore.

A PEDESTRIAN LOBBY! Oh, for the love of god! Representing the interests of people.... who.... walk.... around.

Even Australia has an equivalent organisation! Australia has a population of only 20 million people and they have a fucking pedestrian lobby! With fiery rhetoric about being "second class citizens!" People who walk! Are oppressed!

There's only one option left; we have to kill all the lobbyists and start over. That fascist bastard Howard (PM of Australia, recall the earlier slashdot article) wants to throw somebody in a gulag in the worst way - let him have the fucking pedestrian advocacy council or whatever they're called. Maybe it will start a fad.

Loudly ringing mobile phones in cinemas/theatres deserve to be pelted with jaffas. You can recycle the jaffas already on the floor.

According to a British Insurance company, using cell phones or mobile phones handsfree or not, makes the driver more dangerous than a drunk driver. Now imagine a drunk driver on the phone and you have a killing machine. Terrorism at home.

Other things that are bad for driving are

• conversation with passenger when driver insists on eye contact. At least the passenger can watch the road and scream.
• trying to change a tape or cd while driving,
• having sex while driving
• smoking while driving
• eating or drinking. Nothing like dropping a milkshake in the driver's lap to cause a prang.
• having a large hairy spider crawl out of the air vent (fortunately managed to pull over safely before jumping out of the vehicle and screaming).
• getting a flat tyre while travelling at speed on a bad road
• tailgating a truck when it has a blowout.
• mosquitos in the car. trying to kill the mosquito or blow fly while driving
• small children fighting in the back. For gods sake, mum and dad, pull over.
• driving while really angry. like after getting a speeding ticket.
• driving with a dog in your lap (and its head out the window)
• getting changed for basketball game in driver's seat while passenger steers and changes gears
• swerving around an (imaginary) animal on a narrow winding hill road.
• using a street directory or map while driving.
• thinking that a truck can pull up quick enough to avoid you when you cut infront in your tiny 4 cylinder car
• thinking that a truck coming at you on a narrow country road will pull off the road to let you and your caravan drive down the centre of the road.
• roadside advertising, specifically designed to attract driver's attention to the sign and away from the road.

wireless news article on study of mobile phone users driving reaction times

car accident story

another car accident story

links to more info