Headphones kill pedestrians and cyclists who can’t hear traffic. Israel proposes new legislation to ban the music while cycling.
Israel is rapidly becoming a nation of bikers, from cycle-tourism to the bike-sharing program that earned Tel Aviv municipality a Green Globe Award this year. But it has proven a risky method of transit on crowded streets. Sunday, May 13 the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation proposed a bill to improve the safety of urban bike routes. That will mean no headphones on MP3 players, iPhones or iPods while riding.
The new law would forbid bikers to listen to headphones while on the road, require that cars maintain at least 1.5 meters of distance from bikers, establish protected bike lanes on existing roads, close certain roads to traffic at night and station police officers to safeguard cycle zones which could not feasibly be closed to cars at night.
No other country has yet established a legal ban on listening to headphones while biking.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zuDXzVYZ68[/youtube]
::Haaretz
Image of girl with headphones and bike from Shutterstock
Author: Leigh Cuen
Leigh Cuen is a freelance journalist currently reporting from Israel. She has written for the Earth Island Journal, the San Francisco Public Press, the Palestinian News Network, J. weekly newspaper and the Women News Network. Follow her @La__Cuen.
