Boards
Silly America
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6343353.stm
rediculous.
1) anyone who walks out into a road without looking...
2) Why would a fine make any difference, is the deterrent of being run over by a big slab of metal not enough?
I do, for my walking project.
Interested in participating?
---
What does it involve?
Ipods, cars, walking
you in?
Am I!
Am I?
what about the poor bus driver
or the bus passengers?
or the people who instinctively swerve their cars into innocent bystanders
New York is a crazy place when you have all your senses on full
It's not such a bad/ridiculous suggestion for a law
well, what can I say...
he who lives by the sword dies by the sword
That makes sense
but i think it is a bit OTT.
Does that mean drunk folk should be fined for crossing the road whilst under the influence?
People should just look where they're going.
jay-walking
doesnt that apply in NYC.
I agree with Junky though, hardly takes a genious to know its better to look where you're going
bf
OH I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ARE DISSING AMERICA! THAT IS SO FUCKING RACIST< UM YEAH! NOT ALL AMERICANS ARE STUPID*
*reference to couple of days old thread of stupidity
Reactionary nonsense.
Will using a walkman be OK? "please officer it's from 1993"
Or perhaps we should ban the deaf from crossing the road.
thats basically what i was wanting to say
if you put a safe guard (or a fine) on everything which could potentially be harmful, it would...ohh i dunno.
IT'S DAFT
what's the chances
that Kruger's been busted for using his mobile while driving and now wants revenge :)
Sorry grockle, what was it again, you made a massive generalisation and had it pointed out that these are usually wrong ?
bf
Saying something like 'massive generalisations' is stupid.
You may as well never make any positive statements about anything, ever, for fear of offending.
As I said many times in that thread- I love so much about America, American culture, I've never met an American who wasn't thoroughly pleasant- yet, I'm not gonna beat around the bush and say that their education system isn't a total miserable failure, and that a huge majority of people living in America are basically unaware of anything aside from that which happens directly under their noses.
That thread was a hideous display of would be political correctness twattery
In answer to that
I'd point out some of the posting on these very boards, Saddam being resposible for 911 etc. The entire world is overun by those who are more to be pitied than scorned, not just America :)
bf
I wholeheartedly agree- but in America- there is an obvious reason for that- institutionalised Xenophobia.
Truly, I was amazed how much offence was taken on that thread. Everyone was fucking off on one.
Americans are an oppressed minority
in a large and dangerously uncaring world. Their country has suffered the tortures of the damned, invaded and abandoned willynilly throughout history. Seriously though, when I was there it was the same as here, people are just people and the majority I met couldn't give a rats bladder about world domination etc as they were busy living their lives. I encountered some assholes but they were hugely outweighed by agreeable sorts
why did I miss this thread
it sounds like it was fun
bf
It was horrific
link?
JAYWALKING IS ALREADY AN OFFENCE
ie - you have to cross the road at a crossing and only when the lights are appropriate
it doesn't really get enforced because people have historically given a fuck about being run down by traffic
a car horn is loud for a reason
HOWEVER
if you've got your iPod on full and you've zoned out you're a danger to yourself and others
It's really not such a stupid law
what about looking at your watch
while crossing the road ?, picking your nose ?, daydreaming ?, whistling ?
do any of these stop you from hearing a car horn?
wouldn't a car horn
coming from a car which was close enough to about to hit you, be louder than music?
perhaps
perhaps not amongst the rest of street level 5th avenue or times square
certainly in the case given in the link it was too loud for the person to hear the warning shouts of passer by who saw it coming
fair point
but do you not think the law is impractical? Do you think people really would follow it?
precisely^
There are so many laws that could be made regarding this or something similar to protect lives, it seems daft to me.
It's all well and good that it would potentially save lives, but seriously, look where the fuck you're going.
goddam
REALLY
If you were in your car and you hit and killed an iPod wearing moron who stepped out in to the street would you not be a little traumatised?
would you rather the potential for this kind of thing were limited? or do you drive over the morons with remorselessness
?
I understand the pros of the law, obviously
but i think i would be traumatised regarless of whether the person was wearing headphones or not.
I would be angry if a headphones-free person walked out infront of me, maybe more so. At least with an ipod you have an 'excuse'.
Hey, i just don't see it working, whatever the pros.
People
need to recognise that in our society there are lots of quite DANGEROUS things, this doesn't mean it's necessary to make laws to protect from every eventuality, in cases like this darwin had the right idea.
I agree with your sentiment entirely
I'd love to be able to buy a packet of spliff at the 7-11 for instance - but road safety involves far more people than the individual and their personal choice
If you're a twat and you've zoned out
if you took to much acid in the 60's and have zoned out, if you didn't sleep much last night and have zoned out...
Beyond jaywalking (which is difficult to enforce, and generally spectacularly victimless), you cannot legislate for people zoning out, not in terms of walking down/across public streets, which everyone's allowed to and likely to do.
Also - enforcing this would be a nightmare. In ear headphones are pretty subtle, might they station police at every corner checking under people's hats?
Also lol @ "a major "public safety crisis"." 2 people dead in Brooklyn in "the last few months" If that's not statistically significant then I don't know what is.
I think it's more aimed
at a public safety awareness campaign and a preventative measure than an enforceable one to raise tax money or whatever
also, don't forget that we're talking about the land of lawsuits here
if there is a bye-law against the improper use of iPods or similar then it's entirely clear to the now wheelchair bound iPod wearer that THEY are responsible for their own injuries and not the driver, the car manufacturer, the city planner, etc etc etc
i think that's a good point^
If jaywalking doesn't cover it
then nothing will.
Public safety campaigns are fine. New laws for new technology related mishaps that barely constitute a trend are not. Politicians piling into minor issues in the hope of getting a few column inches are also not.
so you'd agree with Norm Mailer's statement
"By such heartless means of calculation, the 3000 deaths in the Twin Towers came approximately to one mortality for every 90,000 Americans. Your chances of dying if you drive a car are one in 7,000 each year. We seem perfectly ready to put up with automobile statistics. I fear I am ready to say there is a tolerable level to terror..."