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New York To Ban iPods While Crossing Street?
An anonymous reader writes to mention Reuters is reporting that New York State Senator Carl Kruger is looking to institute a $100 fine for using electronic gadgets while crossing the street. Citing three pedestrian deaths in his Brooklyn district as the main driving reason he believe Government has an obligation to protect its citizens. "Tech-consuming New Yorkers trudge to work on sidewalks and subways like an army of drones, appearing to talk to themselves on wireless devices or swaying to seemingly silent tunes. 'I'm not trying to intrude on that,' Kruger said. 'But what's happening is when they're tuning into their iPod or Blackberry or cell phone or video game, they're walking into speeding buses and moving automobiles. It's becoming a nationwide problem.'"
When I am out walking wearing headphones I find myself looking back-and-forth-and-back-and-forth multiple times when crossing a street because I am accustomed to relying upon hearing to augment sight. I almost feel blind when I can't also hear the traffic. Something tells me this law won't help. As a wise man once said, "you can't make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious".
The more you regulate a company, the worse its products become.
In Germany we are told at the driving school that the car is a weapon and essentially, the driving license is a weapon carry permit.
That's why getting one of this is pretty hard, the exam is quite tough. And quite expensive too, ~2000 euros.
A former co-worker at a design firm always lamented that his designs for bike parts which were squeezed to the hilt with a phone book of legal copy was proof that lawyers were removing Darwin from the equation and providing ample evidence that devolution was taking place. I'm all for safety, but so far the last article I read on the NY idea was that 3 people died this year.
3? Goddamn - that's a political hot potato if I ever heard one. Thank god they can trump that up while guns kill a few hundred more in his same city.
Three. Holy flying fuck. I'm sure there's plenty of other great death numbers out there to get busy on - but nooooo. THREE! Call out the fucking national guard!
But yeah if you want kill yourself in other stupid ways go right ahead. Just don't get public transit involved in the equation.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The reasoning behind wearing a helmet is that permanent brain damage can occur at even low speeds in a motorcycle collision, and while other injuries are costly they pale in significane to the medical costs of supporting a person who is mentally disabled for the rest of their life. Wearing a helmet means the rider is hundreds of times less likely to suffer serious/fatal head injuries.
A few years ago I highsided (that's the type of crash you've seen on TV where the rider is ejected straight upwards) my bike at about 60mph. Even after landing head first and getting knocked unconcious, because I was wearing the right gear I suffered nothing other than a mild concussion, some minor bruising and a sprained shoulder, and still completed the remaining 500 miles of the trip. This isn't recommended, because helmets are designed to behave (amongst other things) like crumple zones and should be replaced after even just a minor accident.
The next stop on the trip was Accident & Emergency where I got a few x-rays taken and some [strong] pain-killers. Compare the cost of that to a lifetime of medication and the argument for safety gear really does hold up quite well.