lrd (12/14/82)
I thought I might start something when I posted the news article about new legislation, and it seems that I have -- particularly with respect to the headphone situation. There have been a few remarks saying, in effect, "Don't make laws to protect me from myself." The point is that this law may very well protect me from Oscar Grope (Stuart Munro's generic name for auto drivers who kill or injure motorcyclists through stupidity). FACT: Over half of the accidents that result in serious injury or death to a motorcyclist occur at urban or suburban intersections, where the motorcyclist is traveling straight through and an oncoming car turns left, into the motorcycle's path. Oscar Grope, driving the auto, invariably says, "But officer, I didn't see him." Oscar is legally at fault, but this doesn't help the dead or injured biker. OPINION: Any laws that prohibit factors that decrease a driver's primary task -- observing the environment and reacting to it -- increase my (as a biker) chances of having an uneventful trip, and are welcome. This includes prohibition of drivers wearing headphones. I agree that high sound levels from radios and cassette players detract from the task at hand, but in the interest of practical law enforcement, headphones are a clear-cut case; high levels from speakers are practically impossible to enforce. Careless pedestrians are a hazard, not only to themselves, but to vehicular traffic. I certainly don't want to hit someone who steps into the road in front of me, but swerving into another vehicle's path is NOT a great alternative. I recently returned from an eighteen month assignment in Spain, during which I did a lot of driving (motorcycles and cars) in western Europe. I observed that although traffic moved considerably faster than in the U. S., drivers seemed to be much more aware of what they were doing. I attribute much of this to the fact that european drivers, in general, are much less distracted because they typically have fewer of distractions than American drivers. Far fewer cars on european roads are equipped with automatic transmissions, radios, cassette players, etc. I invariably felt safer driving in Europe than I do here, particularly when using a motorcycle instead of a car. L. R. DuBroff BTL -- Naperville, Illinois