“HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – The kit-built single-engine plane was gliding quietly as it came down for an emergency landing on a beach. Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, listening to his iPod while jogging, likely never saw or heard it before the aircraft hit him from behind Monday evening and killed him.”
Should we ban headphones from public beaches or post a warning jog with headphones at your own risk?
read more here:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100317/ap_on_re_us/us_plane_kills_beachgoer
Ah, a softball…
This question is best answered by another question: Should we ban hearing-impaired folks?
A deaf jogger would not have heard the plane either (and the article suggests no reasonable person would have heard the plane).
What responsibility does the pilot have? Contrary to the Schiavo comment, the pilot has the responsibility to not hit people and that outweighs his responsibility to not ditch in the water. I would rather have seen the pilot and passenger “pay” for their errors, rather than an innocent jogger. Maybe they did not see the jogger and maybe there could have been people in the ocean, but I think they could have done better.
The anti-headphones movement has gotten into bicycling and running, with most sponsoring organizations outlawing musical devices. I asked the groups for explanations, but did not receive any replies. I am not sure if they think it is a safety concern, a purity concern, or a performance concern.
As to the former, I think the HoH argument easily trumps any marginal safety impact.
Shall we ban headphones everywhere? If I’m wearing them at home I might not hear the burglar breaking in, or the tornado approaching! There has to be a limit. Does anyone remember the theme of Demolition Man where the authorities banned all things considered bad for you, including sex and salt?
Everything we do carries a certain amount of risk. Risk cannot be entirely eliminated and what a terribly boring world it would be if that ever did happen.
Notwithstanding this incident, headphones are dangerouse to runners in many cases. I have written numerous articles for my running club, documenting injuries to runners from trees falling, criminals, animals and traffic. Running alone with headphones turned up can reduce your ability to detect noises that would clue you in to a dangerous situation. In races you miss hearing the footsteps of the runner about to pass you just as you step in front of them to pass the runner slowing you down. In traffic or on bikepaths – not hearing the car or quieter bicycle moving quickly. Women running alone with headphones are less lkely to hear an assailant moving from their hiding place into an attack. Are headphones alone the problem? – NO. However, do they reduce the ability to be warned by using your hearing? ABSOLUTELY. Run safely. Read my article Its a Jungle Out There for all kinds of weird attacks on runners.
Here is the “Jungle” article link.
orrrc.org/runners/safety/502-its-a-jungle-out-the…
tim.mcdaniel@navistar.com
Thanks Norm, Bill, and Tim,
When I saw this article the other day, it made me remember the on military based rules that we had to follow to not wear walk-man’s and a recent news article showing a child wrapped up in bubble wrap to protect him from the world. With life comes risk but at what cost to life and enjoyment (that’s for you Bill)?
Now go to a recent civil case where two companies fought each other over the leg amputation of an employee. This case dealt with the risk of not redesigning a crane to make it saver… just in case. At the end of the day a formula was used to calculate risk versus cost to redesign. Which formula do we use for risk in our everyday lives?
Now I do not remove the decision of the pilot above or the area of his flight path… of course maybe he tried to reach the water and could not glide as far as expected.
And yes if the runner was deaf, it would not matter… right? What about peer alert (Crew resource management on the beach)?
Then there is a radio in general.. the number of near misses I have seen with sound proof cars with loud radios who drive right in the path of emergency vehicles!
So going with Tim’s statement as a runner and Bill’s statement of a boring life…. and the risk of getting hit on a beach versus getting hit on the road, when would you not wear headphones?
thanks for this post mate. hope you have a good day. thanks.