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Should jogging w/ear buds be banned?

Should jogging with ear-buds be banned?

  • No, most joggers aren't hit by airplanes.

    Votes: 18 62.1%

  • Yes, the risk of getting hit by a plane is too great.

    Votes: 5 17.2%

  • Maybe, depending on the kind of music and how fat the jogger is.

    Votes: 6 20.7%
  • Total voters
    29
G

gturner

Admiral
Jogger Killed by Plane Likely Never Heard It

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- The kit-built single-engine plane had turned into a glider, almost silently trying to make an emergency landing along a stretch of beach. Pharmaceutical salesman Robert Gary Jones, ear buds in, listening to his iPod while jogging neither saw nor heard it and was struck from behind Monday evening and killed instantly.

<snip>

The pilot, Edward I. Smith of Chesapeake, Virginia, and his lone passenger walked away from the crash landing near the Hilton Head Marriott Resort and Spa. Smith was on the beach Tuesday, when the four-seater aircraft was hoisted onto a trailer hitched to a pickup truck and towed away. Authorities did not identify the passenger.

"I've got a lot of issues going on right now," Smith said. "I've got a plane that's all torn up. And I've got a young man that I killed."

The Lancair IV-P aircraft had lost its propeller, with oil smeared all over its windshield, making visibility difficult, authorities said. It was "basically gliding" when it instantly killed Jones, said Ed Allen, the coroner for Beaufort County on the South Carolina coast.
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Fox News link

Any stretch of open ground can become an emergency runway without warning, which isn't a problem unless there is somebody jogging along with their ear-buds in, listening to an iPod - which ends in "Bam!" - an unfortunate collision.

Would you still consider jogging with an iPod, even knowing the risks? What about the risks you pose to people trying to land? Should jogging with ear-buds be banned?
 
Ordinarily I'd say no, earbuds shouldn't be banned, but in Obama's America anything nannystate-esque is possible.
 
You suggest the jogger was listening to the audio book versions of "Dreams of My Father" or "Audacity of Hope"?
 
Hot Footy said:
Ordinarily I'd say no, earbuds shouldn't be banned, but in Obama's America anything nannystate-esque is possible.
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:rolleyes:

Back on topic: In a word, no.

To expound: This is all the confluence of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A tragedy, yes. But I don't think it warrants banning using earbuds or ear phones while jogging.

Likewise, I'm pretty sure the pilot of the plane was not intending to kill the jogger when faced with the emergency landing.

Also likewise, I doubt the jogger was expecting a PLANE to come falling out of the sky on top of him.

"There's no noise," said aviation expert Mary Schiavo, a former inspector general for the National Transportation Safety Board. "So the jogger, with his ear buds in, and the plane without an engine, you're basically a stealth aircraft. Who would expect to look up?"
Click to expand...

Certainly, it falls upon all of us to be aware of our surroundings, especially in high-traffic areas, but I think banning the use of earbuds is a bit too much.

A far more reasonable expectation would be that we keep the volume down while in active use.

But none of this even addresses the point that by the article's own admission, the plane was running silently, gliding. How was the jogger supposed to even know the plane was there either way? Was no one else around? Did the pilot not stick his head out the window and shout? Why don't planes have traffic horns? Should they?
 
Further, I fail to see why a jogger being fat has anything to do with the point of this thread, the question of the poll included, or any other logical reason beyond being flat-out insulting.
 
Earbuds should be banned full stop because their sound is shitty at best :lol:

But, no they shouldn't be banned. Nanny states are bad.
 
I have already banned earbuds from my life because the cords get in my way.

I'm all about Bluetooth these days. :techman:
 
Personally, I think the danger is much greater for an airplane to hit a house so building houses should be outlawed in order to leave open space for planes to land.

Jan
 
The reasoning in this thread is ridiculous, but joggers do need to be aware of their surroundings if they're going to be listening to something while jogging. Accidents can happen easily with traffic or other pedestrians.
 
That's why the jogger probably felt safe. He wasn't jogging through Central Park, Cabrini Green, Watts, or across a street in San Francisco or Brooklyn. He was on the beach. Birds were singing. The ocean waves were lapping at the beach. All was well

THEN BAM!!!! He's mowed down by a turbine-engined Lancair-IV.

Oh, and the reason weight is an issue is because planes like the Lancair-IV are composite. Even this light, fit jogger undoubtedly did a lot of airframe damage. A badly overweight jogger could've cracked one of the wing spars.
 
What happened to this jogger qualifies as a tragic freak accident, and nothing more. The suggestion to ban a commonly used product because of this one wildly improbable situation, which would have accomplished nothing in this incident based on its mitigating circumstances, is beyond absurd.
 
doubleohfive said:
But none of this even addresses the point that by the article's own admission, the plane was running silently, gliding. How was the jogger supposed to even know the plane was there either way? Was no one else around? Did the pilot not stick his head out the window and shout? Why don't planes have traffic horns? Should they?
Click to expand...

Now this is a much better suggestion - light aircraft need to be fitted with horns in case of emergency landings.
 
The recent news isn't cause to consider a ban. The engine was out on the plane and it was essentially gliding. The jogger still might not have heard it.

People should be responsible enough to listen at "a reasonable volume" so they can be aware of ambient sounds. No government intervention is necessary.
 
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