Like something out of a Warner Bros. RoadRunner cartoon.
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.
Like it was the students fault. What was the pilot doing snorting cocaine?
Guess he didn’t see this growing helicopter-shaped shadow all around him...
Seriously, though, it’s a point worth making to stay aware of your surroundings. But man, how loud do you have to have your bloody headphones to not hear a train whistle right behind you?
}:-)4
I know the last time a helicopter almost crash landed on me I was darn glad that I wasn’t wearing any headphones.
And another thing, this can all be traced back to rock and roll music. This kind of thing never happens to country western listeners.
Darwin Award for this idiot.
I always look both ways when I cross the street, just like Mrs. Magillicutti taught me back in Kindergarten. But it is Left and Right. Looking straight up is not part of the program.
I’ve got BU students that are oblivious to the fact that there’s even a traffic light, let alone that it turned green 5 seconds ago and they’re NOW walking into the intersection with cars coming at ‘em.
Every day I go through that intersection.....every day some student walks into traffic without looking.
If a friggin helicopter falls on you, somebody’s pulled your number - period.
Headphones or not.
Really???
This was an issue 40 years ago with transistor radios and headphones.
I see it all the time too, people totally oblivious to their surroundings. I call it “plugged in and tuned out.”
“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.”
That doesn’t make much sense. It seems one would be able to get out of the way of a falling helicopter much quicker if he was on a bicycle than walking.
If Canada considered the increased risk of falling satellites, earthquakes, tsunamis, and starving polar bears, I think prohibiting IPods would be much easier.
Ridiculous. Even a deaf person would be fully aware something was wrong if helicopter dropping out of the sky on them, just from the wind and vibration. And imagine how loud the music would have to be to block out the sound. You can hear helicopters for miles. Let’s just pass a law that you can’t wear headphones under helicopters.
This all pre-supposes that the falling helicopter was making enough noise to be heard in time enough to get out of the way, anyway.
That’s not necessarily the case. Or, even being heard, that it would be a sound that would generate enough alarm to look around and then, probably too late... up.
Oh great, get ready for another new law
The person just expected us to stop for him, and we did (both directions). No one wanted to kill Death in a traffic accident. I watched as he walked away, and "the seas were parting for him," if you know what I mean.
It took some balls, but man, it was hilarious.
What is the reaction time to dive out from under a falling helicopter?
...a student in-line skating while wearing headphones in Windsor, Ont. slid under a tractor-trailer he failed to notice until the last minute.
...16-year-old daughter was struck by a tram in 2004. The teen was wearing headphones.
...the death of a 21-year-old Brooklyn man who was listening to an IPod when he stepped in front of a bus.
Natural selection's a b!tch. The nanny state wants to swoop in and perpetuate the polluting of the gene pool.
My father in law flies helicopters. They are louder than hell. To be even near a helicopter you need to have ear plugs the size of corks. There isn’t an Ipod in the world that is louder than a helicopter.
Otherwise I'm sure this is all Bush's fault. And Global Warming is making helicopters fall out of the sky. And wearing head phones will be linked to brain cancer. And more government will solve this crisis, that's killing our young people.