http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: the pedestrian wasnt wearing a helmet.... en Sun, 31 May 2026 18:59:34 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53847 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:03:53 +0000 crowriver 53847@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Yeah, so "Slacker dude wandering zombie like while checking cellphone gets leg crushed by Humvee, survives." didn't come up in the search results, huh? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53845 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:01:45 +0000 Uberuce 53845@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks Min. Between you, Ruggtomcat and Anth, I think my opinion is pretty much covered; poor reporting of a poorly conducted study that seeks to absolve people of responsibility. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53825 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 21:08:59 +0000 Min 53825@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Okay, I'll try do a quick rundown of it Uberuce.</p> <p>Crowriver "There's a statistical flaw right away!"</p> <p>Well not really as the study is only looking at headphone use. If your mobile phone does not have headphones in it then it is not headphone use.</p> <p><em>"Eighty-six of the 116 cases (74%) had an ‘A’ evidence grade, meaning that the police and/or eyewitnesses reported the victim was wearing headphones at the time of the crash."<br /> </em></p> <p>Solved this mystery. Cats B and C mean that according to the Police the victim MAY have been wearing headphones or the article did not make clear who said they were or that headphones were found near the victims body.</p> <p>However this is the main problem with this particular piece of research:-</p> <p>From the report:<em>"This report has several major limitations. First it relies on media reporting which likely over-publishes tragic events but vastly under-publishes non-fatal cases"</em></p> <p>Yes. And it also over-reports on things it has a moral outrage over, such as headphone use.</p> <p>Really. They got their info from googling a few media sites. That is where the statistics ultimately come from. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53808 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:54:32 +0000 Uberuce 53808@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@Min <code>So um, 30 of the 116 victims were not wearing headphones after all??</code></p> <p>It's asking for a password to access it, so I can't see what evidence grades B and C mean, but I'd downgrade their A to a B. Surely category A should be a witness who heard music from the victim's headphones? When I used to walk into work I'd hit Pause when crossing roads, but I'd not bother taking them out. I didn't use inner-ear phones so there wasn't anything like as much of a plugging effect. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53803 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:48:26 +0000 crowriver 53803@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>The trawl of US accident statistics covered iPods, MP3 players and other musical devices. It did not include mobile phones.</em></p> <p>There's a statistical flaw right away!</p> <p>This morning, waiting for the Aberdeen train I observed the passengers disembark. Trailing at the rear of the rushing commuters were a gaggle of half a dozen (presumably unrelated) young men (all under 30), ambling/stumbling along, peering at their mobiles (held out in front of them in mid-air!) and not looking where they were going AT ALL.</p> <p>It was so comical I shook my head in disbelief. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53802 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:18:13 +0000 PS 53802@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Shut your mouth! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53801 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:15:05 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53801@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Can you dig it? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53800 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:13:55 +0000 steveo 53800@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Damm right.... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53799 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:13:07 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53799@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Aha, you're strutting along to the Theme from Shaft and the like? That explains it... ;) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53798 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:11:42 +0000 PS 53798@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>That's pretty much it. I'm guessing the headphones give a certain detachment from surroundings. Or just a cool soundtrack that makes you feel invincible. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53795 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:06:31 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53795@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Maybe it was 'suggested' they were wearing headphones, or it was assumed because they didn't react to the horn?</p> <p>PS, that's an interesting observation - kinda like missing the unicycling/juggling bear, but more seeing it and thinking 'mmm, yeah' and carrying on... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53793 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:04:40 +0000 Min 53793@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Here is the article, I don't know if you will be able to read it but I will look at it tonight.</p> <p><a href="http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/03/injuryprev-2011-040161.long" rel="nofollow">http://injuryprevention.bmj.com/content/early/2012/01/03/injuryprev-2011-040161.long</a></p> <p>But at a quick glance, this is extremely odd:-</p> <p><em>"Eighty-six of the 116 cases (74%) had an ‘A’ evidence grade, meaning that the police and/or eyewitnesses reported the victim was wearing headphones at the time of the crash. Thirty-four of the 116 (29%) reports specifically mention horns or sirens being sounded prior to the victim being hit."</em></p> <p>So um, 30 of the 116 victims were not wearing headphones after all?? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53790 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:51:48 +0000 ruggtomcat 53790@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Bad Journalism warning label required I think. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53789 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:50:46 +0000 PS 53789@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>It may not necessarily be a case of the ped not noticing the car that hit them - maybe they saw it and misjudged its approach?</p> <p>Entirely anecdotal of course, but I take WAY more risks in crossing roads when I'm listening to stuff on headphones than when I'm not wearing them. </p> <p>For whatever reason, I will cross the road in front of cars that in a un-headphoned state I would allow to pass before crossing. And, weirdly, my conscious mind notices it once I'm a few steps into the road "You wouldn't normally do this..." </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53788 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:46:59 +0000 Min 53788@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Indeed. ;-)</p> <p>It would appear that by far the biggest danger is from;</p> <p>Drunk peds-35%<br /> Drunk drivers 40%<br /> Speeding drivers 31%</p> <p>(Maybe any percentage non-adding up is from drunk AND speeding drivers or speeding drivers plus drunk peds.)</p> <p><a href="http://www.walkinginfo.org/pedsafe/crashstats.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.walkinginfo.org/pedsafe/crashstats.cfm</a></p> <p>Bit of a moral panic over not very much? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53786 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:44:33 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53786@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Yes, but need to blame ANYONE but the drivers! We could save 47 lives if we only stop people listening to music while walking!</p> <p>What's that? The other 4,623? Erm... We'll get back to you. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53785 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:41:43 +0000 Min 53785@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Haha, yes I have just being trying to look it up and came up with the same story!</p> <p>From the stories that have been going around I was kind of expecting some sort of zombie pedestrian holocaust. In actually it seems to be pretty rare at 1%? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53783 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:39:34 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53783@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Apparently between 2000 and 2009 47,700 poedestrians were killed in the US. For th sake of convenience let's say that's 4,770 a year. 47 conveniently being... 1%</p> <p>Mind oyu, it's actually all <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1349188/Michelle-Obama-blamed-rise-pedestrian-deaths-U-S.html">Michelle Obama's</a> fault. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53780 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:35:00 +0000 Min 53780@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I have been hearing about this over the past couple of days but haven't seen any number.</p> <p><em>"The annual tally rose from 16 in 2004 to 47 in 2011, bringing the total of cases to 116 over this period, say the authors."</em></p> <p>And wow, that is a very small number. The total pedestrian death toll in the US must be enormous surely? So 47 must be a teeny percentage of it, even if it is three times more than 16. Is it really significant? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53779 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:34:29 +0000 steveo 53779@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>More than half of the incidents involved pedestrians who were run down by trains.</em></p> <p>Perhaps if they were not on the train tracks half the accidents could have been avoided! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53777 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:33:37 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 53777@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I wonder if, in the same period, the wearing of headphones has tripled? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5069#post-53773 Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:31:05 +0000 custard 53773@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>but was wearing earphones</p> <p><a href="http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8404263/toll-from-headphone-clad-pedestrians-triples" rel="nofollow">http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8404263/toll-from-headphone-clad-pedestrians-triples</a> </p>