Not being much of a music lover myself (although I was saddened by this news), I don't own a Sony Walkman MP3 music player, and my car's satellite radio is generally tuned to a comedy channel. But my better half and daughters are avid audiophiles, so I'm pretty familiar with the little (annoying) earbuds.
What I was not familiar with, however, is this:
"The number of serious and fatal injuries involving pedestrians wearing headphones has tripled since 2004"
Sounds pretty scary, right?
As so much with the media these days, the hype seems - what's the word? oh, yeah - hyped:
"According to Lichenstein’s study, 116 people have been injured while walking with their headphones on since 2004, with most of them being injured in the last few years. According to his study, 16 people were injured while walking and wearing headphones in 2004. By last year, that number increased to 81."
Okay, lessee now, 116 injuries over 7 years (it's only January, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt) comes to, um, about 17 injuries per year.
But each year, 40 people are killed by lightning (what, they didn't hear the flash over their Gaga?), 823 folks drown in their tubs, and over 320 people die in bus crashes every year (although there's no word on whether or not the drivers were listening to tunes at the time).
So tell me, why is this even news?
What I was not familiar with, however, is this:
"The number of serious and fatal injuries involving pedestrians wearing headphones has tripled since 2004"
Sounds pretty scary, right?
As so much with the media these days, the hype seems - what's the word? oh, yeah - hyped:
"According to Lichenstein’s study, 116 people have been injured while walking with their headphones on since 2004, with most of them being injured in the last few years. According to his study, 16 people were injured while walking and wearing headphones in 2004. By last year, that number increased to 81."
Okay, lessee now, 116 injuries over 7 years (it's only January, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt) comes to, um, about 17 injuries per year.
But each year, 40 people are killed by lightning (what, they didn't hear the flash over their Gaga?), 823 folks drown in their tubs, and over 320 people die in bus crashes every year (although there's no word on whether or not the drivers were listening to tunes at the time).
So tell me, why is this even news?
Posts
