The Current Rage in auto entertainment systems is flooding our catastrophic health care system with a new avalanche of casualties as those watching the Gong Show Reruns on their in-dash or on-dash or on-laptop DVDs & while attempting to DRIVE. A generation of sound-and noise induced HOH (Hard of Hearing) and Deaf individuals has also stressed the health care system and produced the pathetic statistic that more US Firefighters die on the way to a fire than in battling the flames themselves. Actually any normal hearing driver (thumping eardrums of the whole neighborhood with the overkill boom boxes that have become the overkill ordinary) is at total risk of not hearing an approaching fire truck. Also "sideshow" type kicker and thumper cars also set off car alarms, the vibration is so deliberately intense by design. And of course there was the push for tailpipe whistles as human rights in Oakland lately and made for some noise at city council meetings, all right. I suspect the operator of a car engaged in this ritual of vibration is unlikely to hear the tick-tick-tick of an approaching bicyclist's sprocket, but then I'm the guy who's devised the Bike Stereo based on Sony's superb palm sized cassette player/recorder with integrated mini stereo speakers playing the kick-butt 20-somethings tunes that keep me pumpin' the pedals and warning cats and dogs and folks I'm around. Maybe as a near deaf individual, this is largely my defense, that others can hear me approaching on my usual hi-performing bicycle, from my mere two AA battery Walkman, better than I can hear them. SKATERS AND SKATEBOARDERS BEWARE; The quiet nylon wheels on new boards and axles put any boarder at far greater risk with collisions to peds, bikers, and cars more likely few can hear the whiz of ya comin' over the din of traffic. THIS GOES TOO FOR THE NEW ELECTRIC SCOOTERS. WILMA CHAN'S CRACKDOWN ON GAS SCOOTERS, also known as a -FINES FOR KIDS PROGRAM, THAT IS. SO NOW THE INDUSTRY IS SUPPLYING QUIET AND THEREFORE WILDLY HAZARDOUS RENDITIONS OF THESE "No Exercise Allowed" toys from hell, kids flying around with NO warning sounds is worse than kids flying around sounding like a leaf blower. DRIVERS PLEASE BE AWARE: IF YOUR CAR DRIVING BY, OPEN WINDOWED WITH YOUR KICKERS AND THUMPERS PUMMELING OUT, WELL IF YOU SEE NEIGHBOR'S WINDOWS SHATTER AND COLLAPSE FROM THE SOUND AS YOU GO BY, WELL THIS IS AN EARLY WARNING SIGNAL THAT YOU ARE MAKING A LITTLE TOO MUCH NEIGHBORHOOD NOISE. TO QUOTE CHRIS ROCK, TURN THAT SHIT OFF. JIMZ WORDS OF WIZDUMB FOR TWO TODAY IN A TUTU, TOO
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By James DMake-it-home-safe MANTRA: When dealing with traffic, it's better to be patient than to become a patient; AND - A Sailboat is to a Polluting Cruise Ship what a bicycle is to a smokin' Hummer. I know bikes are beautiful but I’M not backing off until bikes are bountiful and bikers have greater strength in numbers. CategoriesArchives
February 2016
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