B6 - Wednesday, August 4, 1982 - North Shore News

GETTING RID OF ‘NEVER-NEVER LAND’

US cracks down on Walkmans

By UNITED PRESS INTL

Authorities around the country are passing tough laws to keep music freaks from walking, jogging and driving in the “never - never land” of stereo headsets.

They say the laws are mecessary to keep these deafened and sometimes gilassy-eyed individuals from

hurting themselves .and others. Woodbridge, N.J.,

recently banned the use of the earphone-cassette players by rivers of cars, motorcycles and mopeds, as

well as by joggers on roadways.

When the ordinance takes effect Aug. 29, even

pedestrians will have to remove the headsets to cross the street.

Chicago alderman Louis Farino, however, says he was the first lawmaker to propose such a measure after he almost hit a cyclist wired to a personal stereo.

“One day I was driving my car and a cyclist was in front of me,” Farino said. “I saw him with his headset on, blew my horn and tried to pass him. He damn near hit me. He said he was sorry, he

was hstening to music and couldn't hear me.”

He said a young suburban woman was killed recently because she couldn't hear a car coming.

Farino’s headset ban was passed in a city council committee but never made it to the full council, evidently because of pressure from the electronic industry.

In Massachusetts, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle while wearing a stereo headset. The fine is $25 for a first offense and can go as high as $100 for subsequent violations.

“The real reason for this law is obvious,” public safety director George Luciano said. “Next to sight, hearing is the most important sense used when driving.”

A Newport, R.I., or- dinance designed to free music lovers ears for the sounds of oncoming traffic rather than the latest rock tunes was being considered by the city council.

No headsets while driving, motorcycling or biking would be allowed, joggers and pedestrians would have to remove the earphones while crossing streets.

Alliance car causes

SOUTHFIELD, Mich (UPI) - The shutdown of its plants plus the high cost of laun- ching the new Renault Alliance model were the reasons American Motors Corp. said it lost $68.7 million in the second quarter of 1982.

The AMC loss, announced last week. translates to a deficit of $1.24 a share. Last year, AMC lost $19.9 million

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or 35 cents a share in the second quarter.

In the first six months of 1982, AMC lost $119.7 milhon or $2.17 a share compared to $72.6 million or $1.27 per share in the opening half of 1981.

Worldwide sales of autos and jeeps dropped 29 per cent in the second quarter. Car sales dropped 34 per cent while jeep. sales dropped 18 per cent.

“T’'ve noticed a higher and higher degree of people riding cars, motorcycles and bikes with these things on,” councilman William Collins said. “I term that a hazard simply because people using personal stereo units cannot hear oncoming cars. It's really getting out of hand.”

The resolution describes the headsets as having “the potential to remove a person from the confines of reality and decidedly impairing one’s ability to hear.”

Collins, 30, a Brown University geologist, said a headset-equipped jogger recently walked in front of his car at an intersection.

“I watched this guy be- bopping across the street cutting me off, and he didn't know where he was. He was in never-never land.”

The Woodbridge, N.J., law carries a $50 fine and 15 days in jail. Several similar bills are pending in other cities.

One measure, sponsored by New Jersey Sen. John Gregorio, would impose a $75 fine for a first offense on anyone found wearing the

AMC loss

AMC Chairman Paul Tippett said the loss was caused by “several abnormal circumstances” such as the closings of the company’s automotive and jeep plants for up to three weeks for an early model changeover and to prepare for the launch of the new Renault Alliance.

The car was designed by the French automaker Renault, which owns 46 per cent of AMC stock.

earphones on a highway, whether on foot or in a vehicle. A second violation is worth $150.

“When you are on a public road, you should be able to hear a warning” from a car horn or siren, Gregorio said this week.

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