Cyclists and headphones.

[G2EWS]

Hi All,

Sorry to see you fellows getting cross with each other. This is obviously an emotive subject. Surely we are all allowed our own opinion. Neither right or wrong, just ours!

Anyway, back to the purpose of the thread. Personally I suffer very bad tinnitus, I hear white noise 24/7 and a 1kHz tone 24/7. If tired or stressed I get very high pitch sounds coming through in waves. Sounds awful and guess it is, but as will all problems you get used to it and thank heavens that you don't have something worse wrong with you.

But this means my hearing would be seriously impaired if I put headphones on whilst cycling, so am unlikely to try it.

I was under the impression that it was illegal to wear headphones when driving and can see that this law may actually be applied to cyclists as well?

Best regards

Chris

 

[User6179]

I don't really like to be a nuisance cyclist and I don't really need 6' of empty road to my left most of the time so yes I would have to move back over from primary and out of people's way.

Is the primary position 6ft from the kerb ?

 

[marzjennings]

. If you have to see everything to cycle safely then it's impossible to cycle safely in London. There is far too much going on for you to see everything hence you use your other senses

I disagree, almost everything you need to be aware to cycle safely in London you can see and should be looking out for. Tourists/children stepping into the road, taxis coming out of side streets, buses pulling out, cars changing lanes, motorbikes splitting the lane, other cyclists, pot holes, red lights, etc. Yes it's pretty crazy, but all of it only requires visual observation. If you feel you're missing stuff and that your hearing is filling in the gap you are not looking around enough.

 

[User6179]

Hi All,

Sorry to see you fellows getting cross with each other. This is obviously an emotive subject. Surely we are all allowed our own opinion. Neither right or wrong, just ours!

Anyway, back to the purpose of the thread. Personally I suffer very bad tinnitus, I hear white noise 24/7 and a 1kHz tone 24/7. If tired or stressed I get very high pitch sounds coming through in waves. Sounds awful and guess it is, but as will all problems you get used to it and thank heavens that you don't have something worse wrong with you.

But this means my hearing would be seriously impaired if I put headphones on whilst cycling, so am unlikely to try it.

I was under the impression that it was illegal to wear headphones when driving and can see that this law may actually be applied to cyclists as well?

Best regards

Chris

Illegal to wear headphones - which law is this?,is it maybe to do with comunications rather than listening to music?,would be very surprised if wearing headphones was illegal.

 

[martint235]

I disagree, almost everything you need to be aware to cycle safely in London you can see and should be looking out for. Tourists/children stepping into the road, taxis coming out of side streets, buses pulling out, cars changing lanes, motorbikes splitting the lane, other cyclists, pot holes, red lights, etc. Yes it's pretty crazy, but all of it only requires visual observation. If you feel you're missing stuff and that your hearing is filling in the gap you are not looking around enough.

So if you're looking at all the stuff on your list (which is all forward facing I notice) when do you have time to look behind you? Good idea to keep your ears open too, no?

Sorry but as I said before: to deliberately remove a key sense when cycling is madness to me. It's like eating with a peg on your nose

 

[green1]

A few examples of how I used hearing recently:
Group ride, we have constant overtaking vehicle, I am rear rider; I hear each one coming and can call a "tail" warning based on looking ahead and analysing what's going on ahead of me to see if an overtaking vehicle is coming in to conflict with us.

I think every rider who wears headphones wouldn't be wearing them if they were out of a group ride. It would kind of defeat the purpose if you ask me.

 

[martint235]

Is the primary position 6ft from the kerb ?

Primary is wherever you feel you have control of the whole lane.

 

[G2EWS]

Illegal to wear headphones - which law is this?,is it maybe to do with comunications rather than listening to music?,would be very surprised if wearing headphones was illegal.

Hi Eddy,

Just checked and it is indeed an urban myth. However, if the driver was spotted driving without due care and attention and wearing headphones in both ears, then that would be taken into consideration.

Best regards

Chris

 

[User6179]

Primary is wherever you feel you have control of the whole lane.

White line in the middle of the road for me then ,just googled it and it says middle of your lane ,I always thought primary was 1 metre out ,dont know how I thought that ,saying that most of the roads you need to stop dangerous overtakers on are quite narrow and i dont think if the road lane is 12ft wide you would need to take primary ( 6ft to your left) as most cars are about 6ft wide .

 

[martint235]

White line in the middle of the road for me then ,just googled it and it says middle of your lane ,I always thought primary was 1 metre out ,dont know how I thought that ,saying that most of the roads you need to stop dangerous overtakers on are quite narrow and i dont think if the road lane is 12ft wide you would need to take primary ( 6ft to your left) as most cars are about 6ft wide .

I personally would count a metre out usually as secondary. But as I say primary is wherever you feel you need to be to have control of the lane.

As an example going through a pinch point I'll usually put myself bang centre of the lane if there's traffic behind me. However coming down Shooters Hill (multiple pinch points, 40+mph for me) I will tend to be about a foot to the left of the centre line to discourage all overtakes. I don't like being overtaken at 40 by a twonk who then immediately puts his brakes on

 

[User6179]

Hi Eddy,

Just checked and it is indeed an urban myth. However, if the driver was spotted driving without due care and attention and wearing headphones in both ears, then that would be taken into consideration.

Best regards

Chris

Thats what i thought and what you say above you could also say the same if someone had the radio on or was having a conversation.
cheers

 

[G2EWS]

Very interesting reading on the Primary and Secondary position having just goggled it. Along with the fact that riding two abreast is also perfectly legal.

As a newbie to this cycling on roads I think we need to re educate motorists to these rules as I was not aware of them and wonder how many none cyclist motorist know how the law stands!

Regards

Chris

 

[User6179]

Very interesting reading on the Primary and Secondary position having just goggled it. Along with the fact that riding two abreast is also perfectly legal.

As a newbie to this cycling on roads I think we need to re educate motorists to these rules as I was not aware of them and wonder how many none cyclist motorist know how the law stands!

Regards

Chris

Most motorist wont be interested to be honest as they just see cyclists as a nuisance !

 

[User6179]

I personally would count a metre out usually as secondary. But as I say primary is wherever you feel you need to be to have control of the lane.

As an example going through a pinch point I'll usually put myself bang centre of the lane if there's traffic behind me. However coming down Shooters Hill (multiple pinch points, 40+mph for me) I will tend to be about a foot to the left of the centre line to discourage all overtakes. I don't like being overtaken at 40 by a twonk who then immediately puts his brakes on

Yep , the amount of times im overtook just before a roundabout then they put the brakes on in front of me, think maybe im to far to the left .
cheers

 

[mickle]

Hi All,

Sorry to see you fellows getting cross with each other. This is obviously an emotive subject. Surely we are all allowed our own opinion. Neither right or wrong, just ours!

I have a problem with the presumption by some on this thread that the use of headphones whilst pedaling a bicycle is 'dangerous', 'madness', 'crazy' etc without - it seems to me - any real understanding of how listening to what's going on around us actually affects what we do. I remain completely unconvinced that the use of headphones has a measurable negative effect on cyclists safety. And I guarantee that asking the antis for evidence would be an exercise in futility.

And anyway. 1) Cyclists wearing headphones hear about the same as drivers.
And anyway. 2) Electric cars.
And anyway. 3) Deaf people.
And anyway. 4) It's a perfectly legal activity.
And most of all. 5) A girl was killed a couple of years ago here in York performing a perfectly legal and mundane every-day manouver. She was hit by a reversing lorry which was crossing a cycle track. The papers and their websites were full of 'comment' after the event and one of the recurring themes was that she was wearing headphones - as if this had any bearing on the incident. It made her out to be wholly responsible more her own demise. The fact was that the collision wasn't her fault and, actually, she wasn't even wearing headphones! But it deflected attention away from the real cause of her death. 'Stupid girl had it coming' was the implication. Kinda sickening, but symptomatic of the contempt with which great swathes of the population hold cyclists.

If people are going to suggest that my decision to wear headphones is 'dangerous' and that I am, by implication 'crazy' they'd better have a decent argument. And I haven't seen one yet.