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Beth W. from Muni Diaries writes about this latest ad campaign, and she's none to thrilled.
Beth says, "I’m having trouble totaling up the number of things wrong with it," going on to say that we shouldn't blame the victim for a bus drivers stupidity. Which: true. Though, one might (correctly) argue that anybody sporting earbuds is just asking for trouble. (Really, how do you iPod ilk do it?)
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Why doesn't Muni just be honest with us citizens without the sugarcoating?
Just say: "Wear earphones while walking, and the driver will know to mow you down to the ground."
Is that a license plate melded to his face? I don't get that part. The fact that the bus seems not to have stopped is also awesome.
I still wonder why people wear earbuds when they walk down the street. Why cover one of your most important sensory organs?
How about tapeing over your glasses and installing a light show instead?
That's not the only one of my important sensory organs I cover up when I go out.
I wear headphones everywhere but I look where I'm going and I assume that no car is going to stop for me (even when they have a red light). Simple!
Can I marry you? You seem to exhibit unusual amounts of common sense.
Why is the dog's right paw five times bigger than its left?
I can't imagine a scenario where headphone use would affect the finding of liability in a MUNI vs. ped accident.
In MUNI's defense, they need to make their PSAs noticeable, but this joke is too near the bone.
It's too close to home
And it's too near the bone
It's too close to home
And it's too near the bone
More than you'll ever know, MUNI...
I don't see the harm in reminding people to pay attention and watch where they're going. I recently almost had my head taken off by a bus and it sure as hell woke me up. (Standing on a curb, looking down at iPod, and bus just swooped by, missing my noggin by what seemed like centimeters. YIKES, I still shudder to think about it).
I'm hardly a big MUNI defender, but I see people walk out into traffic almost every day.
Everyday walking to and from work, without headphones on, I encounter MUNI buses making illegal turns and running both stop signs and red lights alike while I'm legally crossing in a crosswalk. It's egregious and no matter how many buses I report to both MUNI and the city, nothing is done about it.
It seems most pedestrians who were injured in the last year by MUNI vehicles were elderly. I bet none of them were wearing headphones at the time.
It also depends on the volume of your ipod (or whatever). I keep mine low enough when I'm walking down the street that I can still hear traffic or if someone talks to me.
I look at it this way, if you believe being entertained is more important than your safety then perhaps it won't really matter if we remind you why it's a bad idea and maybe the money and ad space can be reserved for something more useful like ads for the Lottery or Backham's crotch.
Being entertained IS more important than my safety-- otherwise I'd rarely leave the house.
I don't think it's asking too much to get people to employ some common sense while walking in a busy, congested urban area. If you walk around in a haze, oblivious to cars, bicycles, other people, trains and buses, and God Knows What Else, you're going to get into trouble.
I've seen more people hit by cars because they were jabbering on the phone, clueless that they were crossing against a red than I care to count, and they wonder why they got hit. D'oh!
If you simply try to be a bit more aware of your surroundings, then your chances of getting killed by a (car/bus/train/whatever) are lowered a little bit.
MUNI of course has to do its best to be safe so the number of accidents is minimized, yes. But it is ludicrous to think you can walk around city streets and simply have everyone and everything get out of your way, a la Moses and the Red Sea.
As people's walking habits are the same as their driving habits are the same relationship habits, I see an increasing rise in this mentality--self-centered to the point that if they're walking/driving around oblivious and you just happen to be the person they run into, it's a shit-storm of first-strike rationales and blame game why it's solely your responsibility. And one wonders why people hate Americans.
I guess the hearing impaired as well are S.O.L. in this MUNI fantasyland.
If only this fellow hadn't been using his iPod...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1t8MAQ-HR4&feature=related
icbalaam -- Being elderly is like wearing headphones -- you can't hear! That is why they are more likly to be injured.
it looks like the dog is getting ready to hump him (so opportunistic)
It looks like the dog is getting ready to hump him (how opportunistic). How SF of him.
I think this campaign is AWESOME.
People need to LOOK where they are going in this damn town. If these PSAs keep one moron from walking out in front of a bus without looking and either (a) save said moron's life, (b) prevent an expensive lawsuit, or (c) both, they will be more than worth it.
And yes, of course, they won't address the problem of someone who is completely deaf not hearing the bus. But the deaf people I know are MORE attentive to their surroundings precisely because they have to be. Asking able-bodied, hearing people to also PAY ATTENTION is no insult at all.
What if the PSA gets one more person TO walk in front of a bus because they're bewilderedly staring at this ad wondering how the guy could've possibly gotten a license plate wrapped around his head? How does your moral calculus work out then?
Also, dogs have better hearing.
"we shouldn't blame the victim for a bus drivers stupidity."
Why is it assumed this was bus driver stupidity?
I walk and take Muni and I see enough idiots on both sides to be unable to determine which one was more stupid in this stupid billboard.
It's not the earbuds that make people oblivious to MUNI buses and other dangerous hazards. It's the obliviousness.
Walking around SF these days is like playing human pinball. I cannot begin to count how many people (read: iPod sporting teen asian girls) have bounced directly off my side, shoulder or chest while staring at the ground or their all-consuming iPods. Eventually they will learn.
haha...You just got hit by a bus and have a license plate on your head. ka-CHING!
Ok, so if someone is listening to their iPod, it shouldn't stop there from seeing a 20 ton steel object barreling towards them. Christ, isn't this just have an iota of common sense? Remember when you were a kids and everyone always said 'look both ways' ? Shit, these days even if I see a green light and the white hand walk signal, I still look both ways.
On the other hand, if I was the city attorney who had to cover MUNI, I would for one would probably be on suicide watch, and two, I would be looking for any way possible and spend any money possible to get people to stop walking into buses
hahaha ALSO, dogs hear better than humans...maybe thats why they can hear the trains coming?
ok muni i get the message. i'll leave my license plate face cover at home from now on.
I do wear ear buds while walking. I keep the volume low and I look twice before entering an intersection. I also make very few, if any, adjustments to the controls while walking. Staring at the iPod is when I get into trouble.
It's sort of like using the phone while driving. A headset helps a little, but the conversation is still a big distraction. Hasn't anyone noticed the tendency to turn down the radio volume when trying to find an address? It's because you can't concentrate on the music while also looking at the address/street signs.
Now that WE'VE been warned, who will stand up for all the deaf dogs?
What it says to me is that Muni thinks dog owners are the ones walking out in front of busses.