Cycling with headphones on (again)

[Simon Mason]

"sean" <[email protected]> wrote in message >
> What you look out for and anticipate with your eyes is what keeps you
> safe.
>

That's right - ride through any city centre and see how many peds walk out
into the road in front of you since they can't hear an engine. There is no
point in hearing traffic coming up behind you if you are riding correctly.
If you want to pull out to turn right then you should always look over your
shoulder, not rely on your hearing.

The only occasions I will turn my radio off is when I wheel my bike over
some lock gates at the docks, I have to listen for the siren which warns
that they will be opening. Also when I emerge from a country cycle track and
have to cross a road and I can't see round the bends.

--
Simon M.

 

[David waters]

I have no major issues with listening to music and riding. I use in ear
headphones but keep the volume as low as i can while still being able to
hear comfortably. i find that if i have it too quiet I am straining to
hear the music and therefore not concentrating on whats going on. A
comfortable volume is the way to go IMHO.

Dave

 

[[email protected]]

Paul - *** wrote:
> sean vaguely muttered something like ...
> > Chris Bardell <[email protected]> wrote in
message
> > news:<[email protected]>...
> >
> > snip
> >
> > Many many people drive their cars with music on (often loud) and
yet
> > hardly anyone considers it a really dangerous thing to do.
>
> On the contrary, I think (and this is only my thoughts, with no
provable
> link in sight) many people regard loud music in cars to be relatively
> dangerous. I'd guess it's more dangerous to those outside the car as
the
> driver _may_ be more distracted by the music whilst driving.
>
> I do think, though, that it probably has little _real_ effect upon
accident
> rates etc

apparently it does and it is tempo rather than volume or genre which is
the key factor according to this research. There is an unreferenced
assertion in te article that previous research has identified links
between loud music and dangerous driving

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992032

plenty of other sources (of varying authority...) here
http://www.google.com/search?q=music+tempo+driving+speed
best wishes
james

 

[Peter B]

"sean" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

> What do cylist need to hear that car drivers cannot hear?

I've never cycled with headphones but most of the time wind noise drowns out
all but the loudest sounds anyway.

Pete

 

[Steve Peake]

On 1 Nov 2004 00:11:00 GMT, Chris Bardell wrote:

> Hiya,
>
> Yeah, Google Groups shows this to have been touched on in u.r.c during
> the last year or so.
>
> Never occurred to me to cycle with headphones on, but I got a tiny MP3
> player off my dad for my birthday last week & decided to try it out for
> the last 6 miles or so of my ride today. Had always been concerned about
> it making me oblivious to other traffic approaching from behind (oo er).


Think about it a different way, if your were to be badly injured then the
drivers insurance company would try to reduce any damages by claiming your
mp3 player made the crash partly your fault.

This could make the difference between a team of stunning Swedish nurses,
and madam Helga, former east German shot put champion!

Are you sure you want to wear that?

Steve

 

[Chris Bardell]

Thanks all for some really interesting responses. Except our friend from
Provence - WTF was s/he on about?

I hadn't really compared / contrasted this subject with loud music in
cars. I admit that in the 17 years I've been driving, if I'm on my own I
nearly always crank the stereo up to near-max. And yeah, there are times
I've not heard cop cars etc. approaching, and it's only when I've seen
the blue light in the mirror that I've realised. Quite possible I
wouldn't have heard a warning blast from someone else's horn to warn of a
problem or danger. Not good - feeling retrospectively irresponsible about
that :-(

Hmmm, undecided if I'll carry on listening on the bike. There is a nice,
raw purity to night-rides on deserted backroads with only tyre noise,
wind noise & the sound of your own breathing to keep you company.

Glad I'm not the only one who subconciously keeps time with the music.
Just as well I don't own a copy of Moby's '1000BPM' ;-)

Thanks again all.

--
Chris Bardell
[Remove favourite mode of transport from email address]

 

[David waters]

Steve Peake wrote:

>
>
>
> Think about it a different way, if your were to be badly injured then the
> drivers insurance company would try to reduce any damages by claiming your
> mp3 player made the crash partly your fault.
>
> This could make the difference between a team of stunning Swedish nurses,
> and madam Helga, former east German shot put champion!
>
> Are you sure you want to wear that?
>
> Steve


That is what discourages me. My iPod is £200 worth of kit. If i take a
tumble that could easily get smashed up. headphones etc i am not too
bothered about. I am also worried the insurance company could use the
fact i was listening to tunes as a reason not to pay out at all. ie
saying i was not taking due care. the fact the driver was probably
belting out tunes will almost certainly be considered irrelevent.

 

[Simonb]

David waters wrote:

> My iPod is £200 worth of kit. If i take a
> tumble that could easily get smashed up.

My Ipod fell out of my jacket pocket at about 25mph (whilst crossing a busy
junction!!) -- only scratched. Mind you, this is the first generation device
and was probably put together more robustly. ;-)

I wasn't using it at the time.

I don't recommend dropping it like this, though. Especially as I had to run
into the middle of a very busy junction [ http://qurl.com/0vbgx3 ] to
reclaim it; miraculously, no-one drove over it, or me!

 

[Pete Bentley]

Steve Peake <[email protected]> wrote:
>On 1 Nov 2004 00:11:00 GMT, Chris Bardell wrote:
>Think about it a different way, if your were to be badly injured then the
>drivers insurance company would try to reduce any damages by claiming your
>mp3 player made the crash partly your fault.


How does that work? Something like "He couldn't hear me coming so it
was OK for me to drive into him" ?

What about wind noise, is that a suitable excuse for cagers to avoid
liability too?

Pete.

 

[Provence1971]

Thanks all for some really interesting responses. Except our friend from
Provence - WTF was s/he on about?

I hadn't really compared / contrasted this subject with loud music in
cars. I admit that in the 17 years I've been driving, if I'm on my own I
nearly always crank the stereo up to near-max. And yeah, there are times
I've not heard cop cars etc. approaching, and it's only when I've seen
the blue light in the mirror that I've realised. Quite possible I
wouldn't have heard a warning blast from someone else's horn to warn of a
problem or danger. Not good - feeling retrospectively irresponsible about
that :-(

Hmmm, undecided if I'll carry on listening on the bike. There is a nice,
raw purity to night-rides on deserted backroads with only tyre noise,
wind noise & the sound of your own breathing to keep you company.

Glad I'm not the only one who subconciously keeps time with the music.
Just as well I don't own a copy of Moby's '1000BPM' ;-)

Thanks again all.

--
Chris Bardell
[Remove favourite mode of transport from email address]

I wouldn't expect you to understand you anti social yob.