Headphones and Cycling! Is it safe?

[NigC]

i posted a thread last year saying about what a lovely ride id had with radiohead blasting on the ole mp3.......... a guy replied saying pretty much what a numpty i was. this started a bit of a debate with many pepes defending my right to cycle with earphones in..................... and then this year i got hit off, from behind. the driver didnt see me, and i didnt hear him.

im not so sure now wether maybe i was being a numpty.????

Sorry I'm late - left the office and've been cooking dinner

A numpty for wearing a headset and getting run down from behind? Probably not - unless you pulled out without looking and the driver had no chance of avoiding you. But that dosen't appear to be the case here.

But generally, I think debilitating yourself by reducing 50% of your senses (taste, touch and smell are very little use here) while you are a vulnerable road user is never a good idea. It's not a good idea anyway, even when driving as your chances of not realising the presence of emergency vehicles or others trying to get your attention is also dangerous.

OK, so road noise on busy London roads is not going to give you much of a clue about what's going on around you. But think about this scenario: an ambulance on an emergency call, is approaching from a side junction with lights flashing and sirens blaring - you can't see it's lights as it's coming from a junction you've not yet crossed and the building obscure your view down that road, but you can be damned sure it's somewhere close because of the sirens. Would you cross a junction, even considering it's controlled by lights that are green and in your favour, if you knew there was an ambulance very close to your vicinity? Of course not - at the very least, you'd take a good look around before going, but I think most people would prefer to wait and see where the ambulance is coming from and going to. It's common sense isn't it?

Anyway, as mentioned before, if you want to listen to music or anything else, you can still do so, but I seriously urge you to find a headset that will still allow you to hear what's going on around you

From a driver's point of view: I rarely see cyclists with headsets, but it does make me a little nervous as to whether they can hear me or not - making me even more cautious when passing them.

 

[Hacienda71]

I wonder if this will end up in room 101 like all the should you shouldn't you wear a helmet threads?

 

[Jezston]

For the many people who don't appear to have read my earlier arguments (because if they had they would obviously agree with me entirely), I have thought of a better, more easily tangible explaination for why riding with headphones is safe.

Basically, it's the same as wearing sunglasses while cycling.

No wait, it's not nearly as bad as wearing sunglasses at all.

There is a difference to wearing sunglasses and wearing a blindfold. There is a difference to adding music or additional speech to the noises you already hear. Wearing headphones does not cut out the sounds around you entirely, and with an open backed pair they don't cut them out at all. They just add to it a little bit. Like sunglasses, they also cut out unnecessary, overloading information - with sunglasses this is blinding sunlight, with foam-padded open backed headphones this is deafening wind noise.

 

[Jezston]

In fact I think you riders NOT wearing some kind of wind filter on their ears are utterly irresponsible. How can you hear that car approaching when you are being deafened by wind blowing in your ears?

 

[Hacienda71]

Why would I want to read your earlier arguments when you make a point like the one above?

Have you ever had a fly/bee/wasp go into your eye when doing 20mph?

Ah but have you ever had a wasp in your ear when checking over your shoulder because you forgot to put your headphones in

 

[Hacienda71]

No

Damn there goes that line of argument

 

[Bandini]

I like to hear oncoming traffic. But I have bungeed my Walkman phone and tube speaker to my rack on occasion when I have fancied listening to a bit of music.

 

[GrasB]

Is it safe to ride with headphones? Yes, as long as the volume isn't to high or you don't have noise cancelling headphones that mean you won't hear sirens etc. early enough.

Can you gain extra information about what's going on if you don't have headphones in, most of the time yes but the higher density of traffic the less advantage there is. So around town at rush hour there's next to no extra benefit from using acoustic clues. That said on back roads I often find I'm shoulder checking to see when the vehicle will come round that corner, I usually identify what class it is well before I have a chance to see it.

 

[JoysOfSight]

There is a difference to wearing sunglasses and wearing a blindfold. There is a difference to adding music or additional speech to the noises you already hear. Wearing headphones does not cut out the sounds around you entirely, and with an open backed pair they don't cut them out at all.

+1 this made me chuckle.

It falls down a little though, in that while the accident rate for blind cyclists in rush hour would be pretty high, the accident rate for deaf cyclists is actually lower than average.

(Go on - disprove it. And it's not because they can "feel the vibration of cars" through their tyres )

 

[slowmotion]

Until the day that you meet an electric vehicle that fails to give way and smashes into you. Maybe slowing down and looking would be a much more effective strategy?

Sorry, I think you misunderstood. I never wished to imply that I only rely on hearing. I certainly slow down and look.

 

[Happiness Stan]

How we ever managed to cycle before iPods were invented I don't know. The crushing boredom without Lillie Allen warbling in the background must have been unbearable.

 

[Mark_Robson]

How we ever managed to cycle before iPods were invented I don't know. The crushing boredom without Lillie Allen warbling in the background must have been unbearable.

I used to cycle one handed with a ghetto blaster balanced on my left shoulder, giving the world a treat by blasting out Boney M.

 

[palinurus]

Lilly Allen? I only listen to the most avant-gardest jazz you can get while I'm cycling.

 

[cyberknight]

How we ever managed to cycle before iPods were invented I don't know. The crushing boredom with Lillie Allen warbling in the background must be unbearable.

Edited for accuracy

And no on the road with other traffic i would not risk it.
Scenario...

You get knocked off and the offenders lawyer finds out you had headphones.
Sorry it was your fault for not being able to hear the vehicle approaching ......

 

[adds21]

It falls down a little though, in that while the accident rate for blind cyclists in rush hour would be pretty high, the accident rate for deaf cyclists is actually lower than average.

In all my years, I've never, ever heard of a blind cyclist being knocked down in rush hour, and yet sighted cyclists appear to get knocked down left, right and center. Therefore they must be safer.

From now on, I'm only ever going to cycle while wearing a blindfold.

P.S, Did you know that the average person has less than two legs?