http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/0...eut/index.html

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Finally, logic in legislation. I may faint.

Personally, I'd say let'em get splattered for their ignorance, but the world ain't my kinda place. These devices are the worst thing for situational awareness since that idjit guru started his nonsense about tuning out with LSD back in the dark ages of psychedelia.

What really scares me are the idiots I see driving with iPod spuds in their ears. I hate'em personally, but they are convenient. When I bought mine the first thing I did was buy a car dock so I could listen to it over an unused FM frequency, then chucked the spuds in the garbage.

Sorry, people, but your right to tune the world out ends when you're path of travel meets asphalt.

I really have to wonder how effective this legislation will be. It's one thing to be written into law, while quite another to actually enforce. When is the last time that you've been ticketed for jaywalking? I'm sure there are those who have, though I've been rather fortunate.

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Victory is life
That is the order of things

Why don't you mind your own friggin bizzness, Daddy? If some dolt wants to walk around with an ipod in there ears and they walk out in front of traffic, that will be the end of the problem. Don't you understand the more times you mess with Darwin, the DUMMER the population will be?

And personally, I'm getting a little tired of someone 'Looking out for me'. I can take care of my self very well, thank you.

Mind your own business, and if you are in the legislature somewhere. Why don't you try spending a little less of MY money? That's something that might actually make life better for us all. The idea of a government official that doesn't think all revenue is theirs to spend. Golly!

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TIME Man of the Year

so, what is someone to do when it comes time to cross the road?
do they turn off their ipod, then pull the earplugs off? because there is no way to know if someone if listening to something or not unless the earplugs are pulled out although they are quite safe when the volume is turned down.

I'm inclined to agree with Mr. Clean. I'm all for people paying attention, but government intervention is not required.

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"4th Law of Modern Thermodynamics: Where Mihoshi is, Chaos Reigns." ~W. Hakubi
"Gun control is hitting your target; Recycling is reloading your brass." ~ Lex of Dirty Work.

And, uh, what the HECK is the difference between headphones and car speakers? Why am I less able to drive when something is touching my ear?

I do agree with this - it echoes the mantra I was raised on: "Your civil rights end at the tip of my nose."

However, I also agree with the others that it's not something that can (or should) be legislated. While I know that we can't fall back on naivete and wish the world to a state where people considered the consequences of their actions on others, I don't think that this is the answer. Haven't a clue what is, though, unfortunately....

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Not all who wander are lost.

Headphones are more likely to block out other sounds--such as, oh, sirens--than speakers, unless you're playing the speakers loud enough to damage your hearing anyway.

Actually, cell phones are one thing, but iPods, I'm not okay with being banned. I used to listen to headphones every day in high school when I was taking my morning walk. I still paid plenty of attention to traffic, though there wasn't much on the roads I walked at the time I was there. It's possible to have headphones as a quiet background while still focussing on what's around you; it's not like they're demanding your interaction, after all.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

There's a major difference between the average car stereo and small plastic devices you shove into your head that completely override the ability for any other sound to be heard.

More likely, but not by much. I've been a delivery driver for a year and a half and have grown tired of everything on the radio. My ipod delivers excellent podcasts that keep me awake while I'm driving and excellent music (my opinion, of course). There has never once been a convoy of ambulances, firetrucks and police officers that caught me by surprise. Those who are more inclined to blast their ipods will also blast their radios, thus blocking out the sound. I seriously doubt the danger in driving with an ipod.

Cell phones require much more focus and attention that Ipods, or any similar device, which is where the danger comes in to play. I agree with everything you've said, in case I've come off a bit agressive, it was not intended.

The average car stereo is just as capable at blocking out exterior noise as an ipod. In fact, I have Ipod headphones in my ears right now and I am unable to block out the sound of the television without increasing the volume to painfully loud decibels. Whether or not a person can not hear "emergency" sounds around them is completely reliant on the volumes at which they prefer to hear their music, and the level of attention they are diverting to the listening experience. Your assessment on the muting capabilities of simple headphones is extreme, to say the least.

Keep in mind the mentality in the US that pedestrians are assumed to have unrestricted right of way. I've seen pedestrians, in crosswalks, pull some of the most suicidal crossings I could ever imagine, most of the time without ever bothering to look.

That assumption overriding vision with earspuds overriding hearing puts people two senses down when they cross traffic, and it gets them killed entirely too easy.

Well I don't know of ipod that can make hotel reseverations like some people do over their cell phones. I am all in favour in banning driving or crossing a street while using a cell phone, but ipods not really in favor of banning them they are nat as much as a distraction. What next banning talking to a friend and crossing the road.

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With this I can definitely agree. Sure, some may feel that pedestrians deserve the right of way, but it is a dangerous habit that puts lives at risk. That is a bit of legislation that should be changed, or at least tweaked a bit. Place stop signs at crosswalks, flashing lights in the road reflectors and such like I've seen around here. Banning ipods will do absolutely nothing, it won't be enforced, and is an overly intrusive bit of legislation.

Jaywalking is where the issue lies here. Ya see, while a pedestrian in a crosswalk quite honestly DOES have the right of way, the issue at hand is people who blithely take that pedestrian right of way as universal regardless of what particular patch of pavement they happen to be crossing.

The sad thing is, a driver who kills a jaywalker is still technically at fault.

Personally, I'd give'em a medal, but that's just me.

Im in COMPLETE agreement with Mr Clean.

That legislation is ABSURD and BIG BROTHER.

a guy walking around listening to an IPOD isnt a freaking Threat- if he's a Threat to himself then so what? That is a Personal Choice with Personal Responsibility.
Sounds like a REVENUE ploy to me. The article stated that 3 people with IPODS were hit and killed- How many people have been hit and killed WITHOUT IPODS?

Pedestrian crossing rights vary from region to region. I discovered that, in Washington, you actually have the legal right to cross in the middle of the road, provided neither intersection has a stoplight. Of course, this doesn't mean you should always take advantage of it.

It's that whole rights vs. responsibilities thing. You have the right, here, to cross in the middle of the road; you have the responsibility to make sure you aren't going to be hit by a bus.

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Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I've got to say that banning iPod use while crossing a street is a little extreme. I'm betting that those people who were hurt were not distracted by the iPod alone. It's common sense to check both ways before crossing a street, and if they didn't check while listening to an iPod, were they going to check without it?

As for driving while listening to an iPod with the earbuds in, I think that's a BIG no-no. They don't drown out all sound, but I still think it blocks more that a car radio (played at a reasonable volume). What would happen if a person were driving and one of the earbuds fell out, or what if both fell out? That would be a big distraction. I have a hard enough time trying to sort that mess out while riding a bicycle. I can't imagine doing that in a car! It's not so bad when the iPod is hooked up to the car stereo, but I think it's still a bit of a distraction. It reminds me of people who text message while driving. Bad idea.

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I will always remember your kindness to me.

The concern here is that iPod's remove hearing from the equation and make it ubreasonably dangerous to walk/drive, corerct? Well, what about the deaf? Should they not be able to walk/drive because they do not have access to that sense?

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Carl Matherly

Offical Battlestar Galactica Apologist

Named Time Magazine's 2006 "Person of the Year"