Beware, iPod zombie cyclists are on the rise – Times Online
WATCH out for the iPod zombies. Cyclists distracted by music blaring in their ears have become the latest menace on Britain’s roads.The fashion for cyclists to wear earphones on crowded city streets is being held partly responsible for the recent upsurge in cycling injuries and deaths, as well as collisions with pedestrians.
Road safety groups are alarmed at the practice and this weekend Edmund King, the president of the AA, called on the Department for Transport (DfT) to launch a campaign warning cyclists of the risk. The number of urban cyclists has grown so sharply that safety groups say the risky behaviour of a minority can cause serious problems.
The latest DfT figures show that 820 cyclists were killed or seriously injured in the three months to June, a 19% rise on the same period in 2008. It is not known how many of these cases were caused by people listening to music because the DfT and the police do not record the information.
And from http://udn.com/NEWS/WORLD/WOR4/5278838.shtml:
英iPod僵屍單車 亂交通
聯合晚報╱編譯彭淮棟/綜合報導】2009.11.29 03:22 pm
電影裡，僵屍眼睛空洞洞，直勾勾，不看左右，也不後顧，只有人讓他，沒有他讓人的。現實裡，人戴著耳機騎自行車在城市裡呼嘯來去，就是如此，他們被稱作單車「iPod僵屍」（iPod zombie）。倫敦《泰晤士報》報導，英國的iPod單車僵屍已逐漸成為害人害己的交通大患。
人在路上，無論步行、騎車或開車，都需要眼觀四面加耳聽八方。戴著耳機上路，不但失去四周聽覺，視覺也分神而功能大減。iPod單車僵屍自己出事，或者撞汽車、撞行人，死傷案件劇增，引起注意。
驗屍官、道路安全組織對iPod單車僵屍不負責任的行為十分不以為然，英國汽車協會要求運輸部警告單車族。
官方數字顯示，6月為止的三個月裡，英國有820名單車族喪生或重傷，其中不清楚多少是iPod單車僵屍，但單車族說，愈來愈多。網路上，單車族、汽車族痛斥僵屍「行為偏差」、「白癡愚蠢」。有人說，如果規定單車族要考照、投保，單車白癡會少一點。
牛津郡一位驗屍官表示，應該制止iPod單車僵屍蠻不在乎的心態和行為。他們想停就停，想走就走，想轉就轉，完全無視周遭。他們就算自己不要命，也應該想想別人安危。
一名17歲的單車族撞上一部來車送命。屍體口袋裡有MP3，耳機掉在圍巾裡，八成是撞車時從耳中掉落。
行人也不安全。一個六歲女童在人行道上被輾，小腿手術好幾個鐘頭。僵屍揚長而去，根本沒停車。
英國「青年道路安全組織」發起警覺運動，口號是「耳機送命」，領導人表示，「這個嚴重的問題還會惡化，因為單車族愈來愈多，其中很多人對周遭環境完全不聽不看。不管走路還是騎車，上路聽音樂都非常危險」。
騎車聽耳機，目前無法可管，但警方表示，可以視為「危險騎車行為」處理，最高可罰2500鎊(台幣13萬3400元)。
