Major Van Harl [via Ammoland.com] writes:
The Hi and Lois cartoon in the Monday paper caught my attention because I did not think it was funny. In the first panel Hi while driving his car is beeping the horn. In the next panel you see a pretty young woman jogging with ear buds in her ears. The caption in the second panel has Hi saying “she must be wearing honk-canceling headphones.” We are suppose to laugh but the truth is the young woman is a future victim of an accident she could have avoided or worse yet the dead or injured subject of a criminal attack. All because she has music blaring in her ears via tiny little speakers she pushed deep into her head that block out the sound of the real world she is traveling in . . .
We are talking about sensory deprivation.
You are moving so fast while running that the need for our hearing in order to interpret and react to an emergency is almost as important as eye sight. You can see what is in front of you but you have to hear what is coming up to you from behind or off to your side. Wearing anything that cuts down on your ability to hear danger and then adding loud music to mask most surrounding sounds is a recipe for disaster.
The noise canceling headphones are even worse. They are designed to block out sound. In advertisements you see happy airline travelers enjoying their flight as the headphones they wear block out the noise of the plane and afford a quiet and serene journey. This is great because no one is going to jump out of the bushes on an airplane and attack you since you cannot hear the bad guys coming at 30,000 feet.
The socialists ran Milwaukee County for almost 100 years. One of the few good things to come out of that era is the fact they took control of most of the Lake Michigan lake front property. Instead of expensive high rise condos sitting at water’s edge like in Chicago (80 miles to the south) you have this great system of county parks and miles and miles of paved jogging / biking trails, many going through thick wooded areas.
One of my duties with the Cudahy Police Departments it to patrol the county park jogging trails that pass through our city. In the past year we have had a number of attempted assaults on female joggers in our city and even more throughout the county park system.
Our part of the jogging trail sits right on the lake and is just beautiful. The athletes love it and so do the perpetrators.
In every case the victim of the attempt assault was wearing ear buds and did not hear the assailant coming.
I drive the trails in a marked police jeep. I constantly come up from behind on joggers who do not know I am there, even with the vehicle engine running. I dare not honk my horn because they startle and then we have falling accidents. A little sex-education 101 needs to be understood here. Women bounce when they run. This combined with the minimalist types of athletic apparel they wear is a major attraction to males who have no intention of attacking anyone.
Now add all these factors to the equation, interject the person who is out there on the “hunt” and then disrupt the ability for the jogger to hear danger coming and the woman is going to lose.
When you go to Yellowstone National Park with plans to hike in the “back country” you have to register with the Rangers. What you need to understand is this is so the Rangers have an idea where to start looking for your body when you don’t come out on time. The Rangers are not guaranteeing your safety simple because you told them of your unsafe plans to sleep amongst the bears and other predators.
If you are going to go jogging tell someone and tell them where you are headed. Sadly it is easier even in the big city park system to find your body if we know where to start to look. The world does not owe you safety. Take your cell phone and some pepper spray.
Men get attacked while wearing ear buds also. Take the ear buds out and never ever wear headphones while outside jogging or even walking.
The rate of people hit by trains has almost tripled in the past ten years where electronic head devices were involved. In most cases the dead person had on headphones and did not even hear the very loud train horn blaring at them. You have to hear the bad guys and the trains coming.
Think twice this year about giving your women folk these electronic-devices for Christmas gifts. Safety is more important than short term entertainment.
About Major Van Harl USAF Ret.:Major Van E. Harl USAF Ret., a career Police Officer in the U.S. Air Force was born in Burlington, Iowa, USA, in 1955. He was the Deputy Chief of police at two Air Force Bases and the Commander of Law Enforcement Operations at another. He is a graduate of the U.S. Army Infantry School. A retired Colorado Ranger and currently is an Auxiliary Police Officer with the Cudahy PD in Milwaukee County, WI. His efforts now are directed at church campus safely and security training. He believes “evil hates organization.” vanharl@aol.com