Walking while distracted is killing people, News 14 reports.
Two pedestrians killed in two days in the Charlotte region highlights a growing problem across the country: walking while distracted.
Actually, they got the story partially right. Here’s how the lead sentence should have read:
Two pedestrians killed in two days in the Charlotte region highlights a growing problem across the country: walking
while distracted.
Walking, as in walking along a roadway, like bike riding, has become a politically correct activity, something one should be encouraged at all costs to do over driving, which pollutes and leads to obesity. Everyone should walk says the government, the media and Michelle Obama.
But no one ever talks realistically about how dangerous it really is.
According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, during the first six months of 2010 nearly 1,900 pedestrians died across the country. That’s an increase of seven compared to the first six months of 2009.
Holy crudoli. Do you realize that is 3,800 pedestrians killed a year? A staggering 38,000 killed in a decade?
Don't become a statistic. Stay home or ride in a car.
If they died any other way we’d call it an epidemic. People would wear those breast cancer style ribbons and put magnetic stickers on their cars railing against it. Instead, the government and media encourage people to ditch their cars to become roadside pedestrians without telling them the truth about how darned dangerous it is.
Per kilometer, traveling by foot is 23 times more dangerous than driving, according to a Rutgers University and European Commission study.
I’m not suggesting that people shouldn’t walk along the roadways. What I am suggesting is that the media and the government tell people the truth about how dangerous it really is if they are going to encourage them to do it. With so many other forms of exercise available, going on foot just isn’t worth it unless it is absolutely necessary.
So why is it so politically correct to tell the truth and warn people about the dangers of pedestrianism? My theory is that among many of those with a microphone and a printing press, saving the planet is more important than individual human lives — thousands of them.
18
2011 At 8:24 pm, LNBruno Said:
Really?
Maybe they should just stay in cornfields. Oh, wait: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/couple-lost-in-corn-maze-with-infant-calls-911/1?csp=34news
18
2011 At 9:42 pm, townerb Said:
Are you kidding? 3,800 pedestrian deaths versus over 32,000 drivIng deaths per year? You sidestep this with the “per mile” statistic. Come on, Tara. You are better than that.
18
2011 At 9:59 pm, dj Said:
Tara….you just know I have to suggest that killer trees are even a bigger problem, and that we don’t do near enough to remove these “sacred cows” from near the roadways for the same reason…its more important to save the planet than people, even though its been suggested that trees add to the gases that supposedly cause the greenhouse effect…..nor do we task Duke power enough to get those damn utility poles away from the edge of the roads so they don’t kill either….
19
2011 At 7:01 am, benchmark Said:
Ban walking!!! We should also ban carrying cash because then no one will be able to be robbed.
I’m not a save the planet type of guy, but isn’t it true that if we ‘save the planet’ haven’t we saved ALL of mankind?
19
2011 At 8:10 am, Skyler the Weird Said:
Bench. I think the actual goal is to enslave ALL of mankind. It’s for our own good. The elite know whats best for the rest of us. We can live frugally while they must of course be compensated for ‘Saving the Planet’.