The mp3-wearing undead are terrorizing British drivers, shrieks the London Times.
Beware, iPod zombie cyclists are on the rise
It's an imaginative claim. As the Guardian points out, the article is a tissue of small points stretched thinly. For example,
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.
But the article will make a guess anyway. Similarly,
Abigail Haythorne, 17, died after pulling out into an oncoming car. She had an MP3 player in her pocket, and her earphones tucked inside her neck scarf, and [the coroner] said it was possible she was wearing them when she was struck by the car.
"It was possible," not certain. But we're talking about the devil technology, so a stab in the dark is as good as, well, as stab in the dark.
...and that's about it for evidence. The Times spots people complaining about bikers on discussion fora and blogs, proving that major newspapers don't stint on research.
Creatively assigning death to technologies is an old, established meme. What's the cultural vibe around London bicycles these days?
(thanks to Ted Major)

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