He should have been carrying one of those little umbrellas like Wiley does.
Posted on 05/19/2008 11:22:59 AM PDT by buccaneer81
Concerns of wearing headphones raised after helicopter death of B.C. student
TORONTO - The death of a 23-year-old student who was killed when a helicopter crash-landed on him in the middle of the street is raising questions about how aware people are of their surroundings when outside listening to portable audio devices - such as Ipods and MP3 players.
Isaiah Otieno, from Kenya, was crossing a street in a quiet Cranbrook, B.C. neighbourhood last week when a helicopter struggling to stay airborne suddenly dropped on top of him.
At the time, there were reports that Otiena was wearing ear or headphones and may not have heard the downward spiralling chopper.
While there is no evidence to back up that theory, the speculation is hard to avoid considering the millions of people each day who walk, run, cycle and in-line skate with the ubiquitous ear buds.
When Kevin Guest, a staff sergeant with the Toronto Police, gives streetproofing tips to students, he reminds them to stay alert while wearing earphones.
"If you are going to wear an IPod or headphones or something like that, you keep the level low enough so you can still hear ambient noise," Guest said.
It's a warning Stephne FitzGerald heeds. The 38-year-old works in the music industry and, two years ago, traded in his daily newspaper to listen to tunes on his IPod during his half-hour commute to work in Toronto.
But he says his surroundings are always on his radar.
"If I am walking outside, I don't have it that loud -- you know traffic," he said. "I'm not that comfortable not hearing any outside noises."
The helicopter accident in British Columbia is the latest tragedy to illustrate how people wearing ear or headphones outdoors can put themselves at increased risk.
In 2007, a student in Grimsby, Ont. was killed while walking along train tracks. He failed to respond to the train's repeated whistles and was wearing his MP3 player earphones.
Also last year, a student in-line skating while wearing headphones in Windsor, Ont. slid under a tractor-trailer he failed to notice until the last minute.
In Australia, police have placed ads that show a teen lying on the ground - MP3 player splayed beside him - with a chalk outline around his body. The ads followed a campaign by a woman whose 16-year-old daughter was struck by a tram in 2004. The teen was wearing headphones.
Last year, New York Senator Carl Kruger's bill to ban the use of IPods, cellphones or other electronic devices while crossing the street was defeated. It was motivated by the death of a 21-year-old Brooklyn man who was listening to an IPod when he stepped in front of a bus.
While there are no laws in Canada dealing with the use of headphones while walking, it's illegal to wear them while riding a bicycle in both British Columbia and Quebec.
If you are wearing those headphones, how are you going to listen to Officer Friend's instructions?
Electric cars and hybrids will play “La Macarana” as they roll by now...
HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO </Seinfeld >
Romano forgot his Ipod!
Transistor radios normally came with one earphone.
So don't. Look both ways. Crossing the street is not rocket science!
She was walk-in' to school (strum)
List'nin' to music (strum)
Yipee-ki-yay-kayopter (strum)
When all of a sudden (strum)
Right out of the sky (strum)
She was hit by a heli-copter! (strum)
[chorus]
Heli-copter!
Heli-copter!
My girlfriend was
dropped by chopper.
-PJ
Often this goes beyond just the headphones and loud music. It’s also this mindset that the world is revolving around them and everything and everybody needs to get out of their way. Sometimes they are just, I don’t know, like fry-brains or daydreaming. Many times in my neighborhood I drive by kids that are actually defiant about having to get out of the road. They are either ticked off that I am disturbing their fun or they look at you with these blank expressions. Just the other day I drove around three kids standing in the road to one side, with their bikes and skateboards and they didn’t make not one move to get out of my way. Another time I was driving behind a kid (really too old to be called a kid) who was riding his skateboard down the street, weaving back and forth, taking up the whole road. He had absolutely no idea I was behind him (and he wasn’t listening to anything), and when I finally honked it startled him.
He should have been carrying one of those little umbrellas like Wiley does.
Media selling fear.
If you told him he was going to die that day, and gave him 1000 guesses as to how, he wouldn’t have gotten it right.
true... true...
Correct.
As note in an earlier post.
Mia Culpa.
Was the death attributed to severe morsalization?
The Victim is in Pieces.
However, I bet the iPod Survived.
He might have guessed that he would fall into a giant Cuisinart.
And you would have to give the kid Half credit.
But the word on the street was that he had potential.
Who knew!?!
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