Hi all,

Aahh Yes, of course it is the fault of the rail or rubber wheeled
contrivance......not the bloody i dot who walks in front of them while they
are spaced out on the iphone, ipad, ipods etc.

The RAC (I think here in WA) did some tests with people fiddling with GPS
sets, mobile phones, CD players etc while driving a car (on the test track
--- not the open highway thank God ---) and found that everyone of them
would have killed either themselves or someone else had they been on the
open road. A car travelling at 50 kmh moves about 14 m/sec ( I think that
is the figure quoted ) and for the couple or three seconds that someone
takes their eyes off the road, the car will travel about 28 or 42 metres or
so, and a lot can happen in that distance.

So while someone is spaced out on the electronic gizmos, a car, tram, bus or
what have you travelling at 50 kmh, will travel at about 14 m/sec and it
will be too late to evade when it is almost upon you.

Based on the thinking of some fools on this planet, any excuse to get rid of
trams, trolley buses etc because of the quietness of them and therefore the
inherent danger caused as a result, it is a wonder there are any of them
running anywhere at all.

However, it will not matter how many people write themselves off in a car,
or get written off by a car, nothing will ever get rid of them off the
streets, rather we will isolate the pedestrian from the road, or create
pedestrian malls (a la Bourke St or Swanston Walk) but a whole city can't be
made into a mall - at least not without an argument from the rubber tyre
brigade.

Mind you, these i dots also exist in cars and urban assault vehicles (4
wheel drive things) and it is a wonder how many of them actually manage to
survive a day's driving. As I drive along in my bus, I am amazed at some of
the idiot things that people do around buses and trucks and so on, and I am
sure it is only the attention paid by drivers of large vehicles (and a
healthy account at the nearest tyre shop) that prevents many more accidents
occurring on a daily basis.

Having also seen what some people in cars do to trams in Melbourne and
Bendigo, it is a wonder there aren't more prangs there as well.

Bob in Perth (off the soapbox now).

Mal Rowe wrote:

> I'm more inclined to think that the quirky theme may get more 'air-play'

> than a standard 'WARNING'.

> Time will tell.

I think it's quite good and very well produced. My wife also thinks it's
very effective.

It just depends who sees it. The people it's aimed at are those I call
"zombies" as they shuffle about with their iphones and ipods, not seeing
anything clearly around them.

Interesting it's to do with trams. Over in Wellington, where I spent much of
my recent past, the similar zombies regularly walk in front of buses,
especially along bus-only lanes and streets. Mostly diesel buses, danke
gott, as if trolley buses were knocking down peds everywhere, that would be
even more reason to cease using them.

david