<p>This afternoon as I was riding a bus down in around Columbia U, I saw a female biker sans helmet who was recklessly weaving at the front of my bus. This prompted the bus driver to honk the horn to warn her to get out of the left lane where bikes shouldn’t have been. </p>
<p>As he was doing so, it was apparent she had a bluetooth headset on and was preoccupied with some conversation. At an intersection, I saw the biker make a sudden sharp left turn right into oncoming northbound Broadway traffic without looking and stopping. Within a second, her bike’s front wheel was hit by a car which didn’t have enough time to stop and she was thrown to the ground. Although she was able to get up and seemed relatively ok, she could have been killed by her own recklessness and lack of attention to the traffic around her. </p>
<p>I am not surprised one bit. There are a lot of people that still drink and drive, text and drive, and use cell phones and drive. Some people simply have no common sense.</p>
<p>Further evidence that the problem with talking on the phone isn’t that it occupies the hands or the eyes. The problem is that it occupies the brain.</p>
<p>It depends what you’re talking about. Years ago I learned to crochet a scarf at my job while talking to customers on the phone! now that’s multi-tasking!</p>
<p>For some things, yes. If one is operating a bike or motor vehicle and needs to be mindful of surrounding traffic…definitely not. </p>
<p>It’s one reason why prudent drivers I’ve known would never answer their cell phones…even on bluetooth while driving. Either they wait until they’ve turned off the road and come to a stop or they have whoever is riding shotgun to act as the recipient of the call.</p>
<p>Some people also need to understand that it is unreasonable to expect someone to be reachable 24/7…especially when in situations where reception is bad or when using cell phones may violate traffic laws of some jurisdictions.</p>
<p>At the risk of sounding like a crotchety, old, get off my lawn, old man, I live in a college town, and I’ve learned to treat the students as of they are all two-year-olds in terms of their safety awareness when they are walking, bicycling, or driving.</p>
<p>I saw a guy take a hit riding on Fifth Ave near the Met while not wearing a helmet. This was not a delivery guy (and I wonder how many of them get hit every year) but someone who obviously was a regular cyclist and had been peddling hard down Fifth. There is a ton of bus traffic and it would be very easy to miss someone weaving in and out. I saw it from some distance but as I walked closer it was obvious that he was badly injured. Who knows if a helmet would have helped but why, oh why didn’t he have one on. I carried that one around with me for a long time.</p>
<p>“I’ve learned to treat the students as of they are all two-year-olds in terms of their safety awareness when they are walking, bicycling, or driving.”</p>
<p>Oh, come on, latichever, these are college students. Why do you feel the need to insult the two-year-olds!!!</p>