Tonight:
5°c
Some Londoners have a death wish. Every day I slam on the bike brakes to avoid ploughing into people blissfully unaware of traffic thanks to their iPods. The cycle lanes in Hyde Park, Camden's busy main streets and the peaceful back roads of Bloomsbury are particular blackspots.
Podestrians, as they've been labelled, wander blindly into moving traffic, smiling happily to Neil Diamond. Perhaps they think the Kings of Leon can save them from the impact of a speeding vehicle.
For years they've been the bane of my life; now I hear they're causing one in 10 minor road accidents. But ironically it's the drivers who end up injured, as they screech to a halt and are rammed by the car behind. If my own experience is anything to go by, the podestrian just keeps on going, oblivious to the chaos he's caused.
I'm hardly some killjoy opposed to music, or indeed pedestrians I always stop to let them cross. But the combination of technology and the footbound Londoner is rarely a happy one. Admittedly they serve the valuable purpose of distracting commuters from their miserable journeys, but iPods are little more than a menace when wired to the ears of a pedestrian.
Exasperated following some hairy near-misses, I called a road safety group to ask if people with MP3s were causing more accidents. The nice people I spoke to were vaguely baffled, and seemed to assume pedestrians were always the innocent parties. They did think listeners using phones and iPods had only 50 per cent awareness of the world around them. But I reckon 10 per cent is more realistic.
Because the real problem is, you just can't get through to a podestrian. I've tried screaming and swearing and used bells with earsplitting decibels, all to no avail. They really can't hear you and, thanks to Mika, Franz Ferdinand and possibly Beethoven, they're happy that way.
Of course it's not just music-lovers who step rashly off the curb. Teenagers with text addictions can't tear their eyes from the tiny screen they're typing into. And of course, the tell-tale white wire connecting ear to pocket signals double trouble in a texter. Be most aware in Soho, where trendies veer between bars, texting manically, changing their plans and direction with every step. If they're holding a BlackBerry they could be filing a magazine article, for all you know.
In New York they're trying to ban plugged-in pedestrians, threatening a $100 fine. I think direct action might be more effective. How about cowcatchers?
Reader views (7)
Yes, we have those nit-wits here, too. One day, as i drove along a local road, a bike rider rode out of a side street, without stopping (He had the stop sign!) And got incensed when i blew my horn at him! So, i followed him for a time, and watched as he drove thru every stop sign, red light, and any other place where he should have used better judgement!
Our only hope to get rid of these nuts, is to have them get squashed a time or two! Might do wonders for their brains, and maybe their bodies, too!
- Rusty Jones, Pittsburgh, Pa., USA, 13/10/2008 02:49
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Totally agree Shelly - a large number of cyclists seem to believe that the highway code doesn't apply to them. Well nothing annoys me more than seeing cyclists listening to their ipods, running red lights and having no lane discipline arrgh!
- Sarah, London, 10/10/2008 13:12
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If I were to estimate using the completely unscientific medium of guestimation the percentile risk to me caused by other human beings during my commute to work on a vespa pedestrians would be significantly lower in the chart than cyclists. Perhaps this is because I actually stop at lights, obey traffic laws, do not cycle on the pavement or weave randomly through traffic without so much as looking. Yes you do get the odd muppet with an iPod meandering across the road looking the wrong way but in significantly lower numbers than the spandex warriors who use the roads as their personal Tour de Londres on a daily basis. It happens so often that it rarely suprises me any more however yesterday I was simply amazed to see a lady on a bike and on a phone swerving through traffic, straight through a red light without looking or stopping and straight under a car. I felt sorry for the car driver.
- Bruce, London, 10/10/2008 13:11
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its always someone elses fault!!!!! why can't we all give a bit more consideration for others. na, surely not - just add it to the list of woes this societ is about.
- Jc, se1, 10/10/2008 12:58
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Using a zebra crossing on the Fulham Road this morning I happened to be speaking on the phone, I waited until the cars stopped then stepped out, 3 cyclists, one carrying a child, blithely carried on, I got a volly of abuse from a fixed wheel "warrior" even though I had the right of way, he seemed to think that the fact that I was on the phone somehow put me in the wrong. I'm sure there are plenty of pedestrians who jay walk, and who don't look where they're going, but by and large, it's cyclists who are the biggest menace on the roads at the moment.
And their self rightous attitude doesn't help either, as for George, London's remarks about Darwinism, how about the cyclists who post missives about bad drivers killing innocent cyclists, who never mention the vast amount of riders who jump red lights and creep up the inside of big Lorries and then scream blue murder when the Lorry turns left...
Stupidity isn't the preserve of cars and pedestrians mate.
- Shelly, London, 10/10/2008 11:50
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Interesting article and viewpoint, I too have seen on a number of occassions pedesatrians with iPods, phones or blackberry's oblivious to their surrounding walking into oncoming traffic, it can also be somewhat annoying continually having to slalom around these persons on the pavements as well. You have however forgotten to mention the increasing number of cyclists who are using iPods and phones whilst cycling in busy traffic. Shouldn't something also be done about this danger they present to themselves and other road users including pedestrians?
- Alan, London, 10/10/2008 10:23
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I reckon I have to swerve to avoid three or four iPod users a day.
My suspicions are that these are the very same people who post aggressive missives on these news items saying how they've been knocked over by cyclists three times this week, and six times last week.
Still, don't you love to see Darwinism in action?
- George, London, 10/10/2008 08:58
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