A lovely bit of cycling

[Angelfishsolo]

It's absolutely comparable, if you're splitting your attention between traffic directly around you and noises you've heard in the distance you are distracted.

Sirens are critical to road safety, but as a cyclist your concern is the 100ft radius around you.

For example I saw and heard the ambulance traveling down the other side of the road, I saw all the cars pull over to give it space and I adjusted accordingly and if I hadn't been watching the road ahead carefully I would have missed the police car (who hadn't seen me) doing a U turn in the street to follow the ambulance.

There is no comparison between Sirens and Mobile Phone conversations. The former makes you aware of the possibility of an approaching vehicle and means you can prepare to make necessary adjustments if needed, the latter requires constant though and analysis processes that are not consistent with those that a road user would usually use.
Of course you need to use your eyes as well. Visual and Aural input are both critical to road safety.

If a siren distracts you as much as talking on a mobile phone I would question your right to be on the roads.

 

[marzjennings]

And if you look, and it isn't - you are going to do what exactly? Ninja roll out of the way as it covers the last two feet @ 30mph? Bunny hop it?

I can certainly hear if there is a queue behind me, I will need to look to see if there is a sneaky cyclist behind me, or a queue approaching 'way down the road.

I'll take the couple seconds of visual awareness over your zero time of audible clues.

 

[Origamist]

Of course you need to use your eyes as well. Visual and Aural input are both critical to road safety.

Not equally critical, surely? I'd happily take my chances riding if I lost my hearing, but I'd be relegated to a stoker if I went blind.

Sight: critical. Hearing: ancillary

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Not equally critical, surely? I'd happily take my chances riding if I lost my hearing, but I'd be relegated to a stoker if I went blind.

Sight: critical. Hearing: ancillary

To a person with both faculties I maintain they are equally critical to road safety.

 

[Origamist]

To a person with both faculties I maintain they are equally critical to road safety.

Daft.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Daft.

Yes I agree you are.

 

[marzjennings]

There is no comparison between Sirens and Mobile Phone conversations. The former makes you aware of the possibility of an approaching vehicle and means you can prepare to make necessary adjustments if needed, the latter requires constant though and analysis processes that are not consistent with those that a road user would usually use.
Of course you need to use your eyes as well. Visual and Aural input are both critical to road safety.

If a siren distracts you as much as talking on a mobile phone I would question your right to be on the roads.

Don't be a ponce. The comparison is not between sirens and mobile phone conversations, but between the general distraction of listening to something not within your direct zone of protection or concern, and a phone conversation. And while a phone conversation will no doubt be more distracting than general traffic noise around a cyclist, I still think the noise is a distraction and not a supporting element to a cyclist's road safety.

At what point does what you hearing become critical in your safety on the road? Would ever make a maneuver in the road without visually check the way was clear first? If you're always going to visually check before making a move then the step to listen first is redundant.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Don't be a ponce.

By that statement alone I deem you unworthy of any more of my time.

 

[BentMikey]

I think this is why BM dismisses listening for vehicles. Seriously BM, this is not a dig, I do think you should get your hearing checked! Sirens are used to warn people of the vehicles presence, they can be heard several streets away with normal hearing. Even driving in London I'll wind the windows down when I hear a siren, so I can listen for its direction. They are (almost*) never in sight when I first hear them and I usually identify the direction before they are in line of sight.



*Exceptions e.g. when they put the siren on whilst sitting in a queue next to me

That's OK mate, I'm not taking it that way! Maybe my hearing isn't great, I dunno, but I think it's OK. I do know that I tend to see or hear and react to emergency vehicles long before most other people on the road around me, to the extent that I'm usually the one pointing out where it's coming from.

Some other cases - this is London remember, so it's quite common to have a several of emergency vehicles in the streets around you at one time. With reflections off buildings, hearing becomes very limited. Another one is that quite often the sirens aren't on the whole time, but the lights are. What I do know is that I'm usually spotting lights, or light reflections, before I hear sirens.

A tip for hearing, btw, is that if you rotate your head left/right about the vertical axis repeatedly, you can often get a much better directional indication of where sound is coming from.

 

[marzjennings]

By that statement alone I deem you unworthy of any more of my time.

Really that's it, your feelings are hurt. I figured as you snuck in an ad hominem last time we were good to go.

Oh well, pity.

 

[Angelfishsolo]

Really that's it, your feelings are hurt. I figured as you snuck in an ad hominem last time we were good to go.

Oh well, pity.

No hurt feelings. I just can't be arsed to converse with people who need to resort to petty name calling. I left the school yard a very long time ago.

 

[Arch]

I'm with marz - I'm very sceptical of those using their hearing to enhance their safety. The only way to be certain and to be safe is to look.

Wierd. Surely, anything you do to enhance your safety is good? Of course, I look too, and carefully, but I make use of all my senses.

Even smell, sometimes, you know you get that dusty smell that tells you rain might be on the way? Of course, that's a rather longer timescale.

Marz, I can use several senses simultaneously you know. Being aware of a siren somewhere, and thinking about it, doesn't mean I'm not paying attention ahead. It's called multi-tasking, and some of us are good at it.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Early Action Response Stimuli (EARS), I never leave home without a pair of them.

 

[marzjennings]

Wierd. Surely, anything you do to enhance your safety is good? Of course, I look too, and carefully, but I make use of all my senses.

Even smell, sometimes, you know you get that dusty smell that tells you rain might be on the way? Of course, that's a rather longer timescale.

Marz, I can use several senses simultaneously you know. Being aware of a siren somewhere, and thinking about it, doesn't mean I'm not paying attention ahead. It's called multi-tasking, and some of us are good at it.

Actually most of us are not good at multi-tasking hence such things as cell phone ban while driving.

Random google search quote...

As technology allows people to do more tasks at the same time, the myth that humans can multitask has never been stronger. But researchers say it's still a myth — and they have the data to prove it.

 

[Arch]

Actually most of us are not good at multi-tasking hence such things as cell phone ban while driving.

Well, I said some of us. Perhaps the fact that I frequently use my ears to supplement my eyes when observing traffic, and am still alive, means I'm in the 'not most' category?

Alternatively, because I don't think I'm all that special in this respect, the use of ears as well as eyes is in fact a basic human talent. If you can't do it, that's your problem.