Death Spurs Headphone Debate

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You just can’t make this stuff up. I mean seriously, what are the odds?

Isaiah Otieno, a 23-year-old student, was killed when he was struck and dragged by a helicopter that crashed to the ground as he was walking to the mailbox. Eyewitnesses reported that Mr. Otieno seemed completely unaware that he was in danger and a friend told reporters that he often listened to music through earbuds with the hood of his sweatshirt pulled up over his head.
 
Why do people look to freak accidents as examples for change? I wonder what he was listening to..
 
Talk about bad luck......

Those headphones must of been pretty loud though, if you cant hear a helicopter falling to the ground.
 
Talk about bad luck......

Those headphones must of been pretty loud though, if you cant hear a helicopter falling to the ground.

With his headphones turned up that loud I doubt he could have heard the helicopter with the music off. He was probably deaf from it.

Anyways it was a freak accident.
 
At least he went out doing something he loved.

roflcopter4co.jpg
 
um. what killed him is probably that he DIDN'T EXPECT A HELICOPTER TO FALL ON HIM!

ffs man. he could have heard it and still got smoked. think about the size of the crash area. if he stepped outside his door at all he was probably going to get owned regardless.
 
There is no mention of how the helicopter crashed. If the helicopter lost its engine or was autorotating then it would have been pretty quiet anyway. In any case, the loudness of headphones should be the least of your worries when a helicopter crashes and kills someone walking to their mailbox. I mean, if he had been mowing the lawn would they be arguing that lawn mowers are too loud. I doubt it.
 
I wonder if I can get a "killed by falling aircraft" payout written into my life insurance policy...
 
An RIAA representative said that a fleet of 400 choppers have been acquired and you should expect similar actions taken against people suspected of violating their rights.

That kid should have known better.

:D:D
 
I don't walk around much with my headphones on but I don't look out for falling craft either. I'm too concerned with objects and people in my more immediate surroundings. What a shitty way to go out and my condolences to his family and the families of the others killed in the crash. Like others said, loud music or not he probably was not going to get out of the way in time.
 
Why do people look to freak accidents as examples for change? I wonder what he was listening to..

exactly, what are the chances of this?? billion to one??

So next, they'll say look up when using headphones and I'll get killed by rabid deer that I didn't see coming because I was looking at the sky for falling helicopters.
 
Here's another news article regarding the crash.

Leave it to politicians to link a helicopter falling out of the sky on some poor innocent guy who was crossing the street (while listening to music) to "headphones are bad! Music is too loud! Ban 'em!".

The same politicians should ban deaf people from crossing the street too because, you know, being able to hear is what allows you to dodge falling helicopters and avoid firey crashes. They should also make it mandatory to teach our children a new street crossing technique: left, right, left, up, cross.

My condolences to the families of the 4 people who died.

It is just mind boggling that the fact that the guy was wearing headphones is more of a concern that the fact a helicopter crashed on him. It's also just kind of dumb that some sort of law concerning headphones has to be considered.

Playing devil's advocate here though, it is a public safety concern and that is something that politicians are partially responsible for. I work at a factory and naturally there is a lot of hi-lo traffic. One of the rules is that you can listen to your MP3 player, but one ear must be open.

Last thing I want to have happen when driving my car is for someone walking/riding their bike assume the road is clear without looking, and not be able to hear me because of their music. Obviously both driver and pedestrian have to take safety in their own hands. If this guy couldn't hear a helicopter coming down on him, what are the chances he would hear a car.
 
on top of that, Ban headhpone, so then we can have a million jackasses carrier around little speakers so everyone can hear their junk..... I'm never going outdoors again if that is the case.
 
You ever feel like the news never gives the important part of the story?

There seems to be a huge hole in the story: Why did the helicopter crash?

Most helicopter noise is a combination of engine noise and the near mach 1 speeds of the rotor tips. If the helicopter had an engine failure and the pilot didn't get the collective down, the noise profile would drop. Still, who goes around thinking "I better watch out, I don't want to catch any aircraft today?"

Except maybe agoraphobics...
 
Just goes to remind you you can die at any moment for any reason without warning.
 
even if you can hear it, i dont think you'd hear a falling chopper
 
how long until the PMRC requires RIAA to issue stickers on CD cases not to use headphones in flyzones :rolleyes:

The mere fact that this congressman made any prior attempt at all towards this cockamamie bill is ludicrous. What we the people REALLY need is a bill that mandates tax refunds for when politicians shit our money away on such petty incompetent things like this. Preferably out of said politician's pocket.
 
We still don't know why it crashed. 4 people died in that accident and the pilot was an expert... The crash site really isn't as big as you'd think and theres virtually nothing left of the chopper itself. Some people on the news reported feeling the clap of the chopper blades in their chest others tried rescuing the victims. The fact that it happened in such a small place makes it pretty hard on the community.

Chalk it up as fate i guess...
 
how long until the PMRC requires RIAA to issue stickers on CD cases not to use headphones in flyzones :rolleyes:


That would pretty much be anywhere other than a few miltary bases and a few other places.

Other than that, there can be something fly over you at some point or another.

Hell, I hear a helicopter going over my house in the middle of the night every few months.
 
even if you can hear it, i dont think you'd hear a falling chopper

The poor bastard probably had the volume turned up to some insane volume.

People who walk around with buds in their ears are too deep in their own little escape world to notice falling helicopters.
 
forgot to mention i live in a rural area where the helicopter isn't a normal thing to have going overhead.
 
If we just banned helicopters (and cars if you want to extend it to that) then headphones aren't an issue.
 
I think that if the universe has decided to drop a helicopter on you, your number is pretty much up regardless of hearing impairment.
 
Reminds me off the kid recently riding his bike and getting hit by a Prius.
 
[=][=]Defiant One;1032501301 said:
This guy's karma must've been a MAJOR bitch...

:rolleyes: News flash - Bad things happen to good people too. Shrugging it off with ungrounded superstitions.masks the reality of the situation.
 
An RIAA representative said that a fleet of 400 choppers have been acquired and you should expect similar actions taken against people suspected of violating their rights.

That kid should have known better.

:D:D

HahAH!!! Was I the only one who finds this funny?
 
um. what killed him is probably that he DIDN'T EXPECT A HELICOPTER TO FALL ON HIM!

ffs man. he could have heard it and still got smoked. think about the size of the crash area. if he stepped outside his door at all he was probably going to get owned regardless.

I see your logic, but nevertheless we are supposed to be aware. See what happens, when you combine some things with stupidity. The part I could not swallow is that he never got scared while crossing the street with his headphones and hood up and getting horned by a Car, and then learned something from it. But well you get what you ask for.
 
It is just mind boggling that the fact that the guy was wearing headphones is more of a concern that the fact a helicopter crashed on him. It's also just kind of dumb that some sort of law concerning headphones has to be considered.

Playing devil's advocate here though, it is a public safety concern and that is something that politicians are partially responsible for. I work at a factory and naturally there is a lot of hi-lo traffic. One of the rules is that you can listen to your MP3 player, but one ear must be open.

Last thing I want to have happen when driving my car is for someone walking/riding their bike assume the road is clear without looking, and not be able to hear me because of their music. Obviously both driver and pedestrian have to take safety in their own hands. If this guy couldn't hear a helicopter coming down on him, what are the chances he would hear a car.

Exactly my point, and It must had happened at least once to him before the "accident"
 
The guys death is on par with the guy driving along the road in the mountains (55 mph limit) - a Deer on a cliff above falls and center punches the car as he's driving along - obviously the driver didn't survive. Or similarly a couple was driving in Mt Rainier National park (35 mph limit) and a tree FELL on the car while they were driving by. The couple had recently been married if I recall correctly.

When it's your time to go, it's your time to go.
 
The guys death is on par with the guy driving along the road in the mountains (55 mph limit) - a Deer on a cliff above falls and center punches the car as he's driving along - obviously the driver didn't survive. Or similarly a couple was driving in Mt Rainier National park (35 mph limit) and a tree FELL on the car while they were driving by. The couple had recently been married if I recall correctly.

When it's your time to go, it's your time to go.

Was the Deer ok? :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S7DzH16Xgo
 
It's true that he shouldn't have been wearing headphones turned up that loud while walking down the street, but I don't think the headphones were really the cause of death here.

So, how many people die each year by falling helicopter? One?
 
“As soon as they got here from school … they'd stay out there for hours selling their Kool-Aid,” Ms. Hall said, adding that now she's much more cautious about letting her daughter play outside.

Yea because now that it has happened once, helicopters are bound to fall out of the sky at any minute...:rolleyes:
 
You all miss the point and get stucked on your point of view, OMG!!!. Of Course taking the headphones woulnd't make him survive but considering he was a kid, and not a Fatso, actually listening could had gave him the chance to flee and at least increase his true Statistical possibilities of surviving. Maybe he would die later from a blade perforation but you bet the thing wouldn't had falled on top of him with that much chance.

Peace!!!
 
Yea because now that it has happened once, helicopters are bound to fall out of the sky at any minute...:rolleyes:

I was thinking the exact same thing when I read it. "Okay kids, stay inside today because you never know when a helicopter will fall on your head when you sell cool-aid while listening to your iPod!".

The whole headphone debate sounds like it was started by people who needed to blame something; they couldn't accept that someone died just because of a freak accident so they went looking for something that could have "caused" his death (regardless of whether it contributed to his death or not).

Headphones can be a public hazard if used by someone with a lack of safety sense. But so can a lot of other things - such as wearing dark clothing while walking along a rural street at night (which I'm more worried about than headphone-wearing joggers). Banning headphones while driving doesn't make sense since who'd actually do that besides the incredibly stupid - virtually every car's got a stereo! With that said, I'd interpret a public headphone ban/restriction as more of a nanny law than a public safety law.
 
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