Is it safe to wear headphones while cycling?



Quote:
Originally Posted by alienator .


Thank you for telling me what you think I'm thinking. Here's a hint: I wasn't thinking what your shortsightedness led you to believe that I was thinking. Since I understand you're having great difficulty I'll try to explain further using simple words:
Guy on bike. Guy wear headphones. Car come behind guy on bike. Car guy not see bike guy. This case is bike guy if hear car could save self. Bike guy idiot with headphones not hear car and not save self.
Are you actually going to argue that there are zero cases wherein hearing might be the only thing that saves a cyclist? Really? If you're going to say "no", then you must have some god-like powers.

  • Re-read my response - at no point did I tell you what you were thinking ... and I seriously doubt you "understand" much about me
  • If I'm being shortsighted, perhaps it's another nail in my coffin in terms of my inability to "perceive my surroundings" ... you should be happy about that
  • I wasn't arguing anything ... merely pointing out the weakness in an argument that tries to establish cause and effect with an incomplete set of variables. I suppose next you'll tell me that your hearing allows you to differentiate between a car traveling behind you at 50 mph that is either 2 feet inside our outside the shoulder stripe ... wow, I'm impressed!
 
devil94 said:
Quote:

 
  • Re-read my response - at no point did I tell you what you were thinking ... and I seriously doubt you "understand" much about me
  • If I'm being shortsighted, perhaps it's another nail in my coffin in terms of my inability to "perceive my surroundings" ... you should be happy about that
  • I wasn't arguing anything ... merely pointing out the weakness in an argument that tries to establish cause and effect with an incomplete set of variables. I suppose next you'll tell me that your hearing allows you to differentiate between a car traveling behind you at 50 mph that is either 2 feet inside our outside the shoulder stripe ... wow, I'm impressed!
 
Actually, you were telling me what I was thinking, aka upon what I was basing my argument:
devil94 said:
Again, you're basing your entire argument on the notion that only a rider's hearing allows them to be aware of their surroundings
Since you're slow to figure things out, I'll make it more clear: there are certainly accidents in which the "victim" could have avoided the accident or minimized the damage in an accident if they had not compromised one or more senses. The point is there are times when hearing can help you escape or minimize the fallout of a driver's stupidity. None of your arguments are on point whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted by alienator .


Actually, you were telling me what I was thinking, aka upon what I was basing my argument:
Since you're slow to figure things out, I'll make it more clear: there are certainly accidents in which the "victim" could have avoided the accident or minimized the damage in an accident if they had not compromised one or more senses. The point is there are times when hearing can help you escape or minimize the fallout of a driver's stupidity. None of your arguments are on point whatsoever.

That's a disappointing response ... you can do MUCH better than that ;)
 
I need headphones to buffer the noise of the gunshots from my 9mm that I carry.....aw **** that's another thread.
 
I've tried not to post at this thread. I can't help but see the ear-bud question as an analogy to cycling safety in general. I could say: I really don't care if another cyclist gets him or herself ran-over by a newer near silent automobile. And I guess that would be true... if it wasn't one of my loved ones that ran him or her over. I've seen people that [by no fault of their own] have killed someone while driving. What I've seen wasn't pretty. A school teacher I knew... never drove again (she never returned to teaching ether).

As cyclist we have [nearly] every right to the road as motorist. But with whatever legal rights we have, we can't lawyer away the fact that humans are much more fragile than automobiles. If you get yourself under the wheels of an automobile due to your own carelessness (like not hearing a car because of your music).... how do you plan to pay for that. I just wonder..... do you have savings or insurance money set aside to help treat the mental trauma that the motorist suffers. It would seem reasonable that you would want to “clean-up your own mess”.

In the 1980's and maybe some years afterwards in some places. It was trendy for adult cyclist to make obscene gestures towards motorist. Often those cyclist created a disdain with many motorist that still puts other cyclist lives in danger.... yet today.

If... you ride completely alone... ride blindfolded, talking on the phone, texting, and with your private parts exposed for all I care. But if your sharing pathes, streets, roads or whatever with people I may care about... please show a little respect.
 
I am sorry OP that you can't read why other people tend to like the headphones.

O on a side note:
I road 20 miles just for the fun today and didn't see one car, person or animal on my trip.
Ops... I lied I saw a dog, but I guess I shouldn't have had my headphones in so I could hear him barking at me. To bad White Zombie and Matalica where in my ear, I could have been hurt by the dog.
 
JCDIP1 said:
I am sorry OP that you can't read why other people tend to like the headphones.
O on a side note:
I road 20 miles just for the fun today and didn't see one car, person or animal on my trip.
Ops... I lied I saw a dog, but I guess I shouldn't have had my headphones in so I could hear him barking at me. To bad White Zombie and Matalica where in my ear, I could have been hurt by the dog.
So?
 
Here's a koan for y'all. If the bicyclist is wearing headphones, does the dog bark?
 
Originally Posted by JCDIP1 .

I am sorry OP that you can't read why other people tend to like the headphones.

O on a side note:
I road 20 miles just for the fun today and didn't see one car, person or animal on my trip.
Ops... I lied I saw a dog, but I guess I shouldn't have had my headphones in so I could hear him barking at me. To bad White Zombie and Matalica where in my ear, I could have been hurt by the dog.
110 million albums sold and Mr IQ Zero can't spell a four syllable band name...

... If it'd had been the devil dogs down by the edge of the River Styx they woulda had your ass and spared us your inane reasoning.
 
oldbobcat said:
Here's a koan for y'all. If the bicyclist is wearing headphones, does the dog bark?
If it's Lassie or Baxter (from Anchorman), the dog will bark....as a warning about the dangers of riding with headphones. After all, both dogs are paragons of canine heroism.
 
swampy1970 said:
 

110 million albums sold and Mr IQ Zero can't spell a four syllable band name... 
 
... If it'd had been the devil dogs down by the edge of the River Styx they woulda had your ass and spared us your inane reasoning.
 
 
Yes, JCDIP1's communication skills are a bit lacking. I think John Bonham had better communication skills than Señor Dip 1 even after Mr. Bonham had his arms, legs, and face blown off in some muddy, dank trench........
 
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]O yawn! [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]That’s the best you got! Ha! You’re going to get on me about spelling? Hell if that’s the worst I could do compared to your lame ass responses I am fine. I am sorry I didn't spell check when I was texting the message into my phone. But you got the point. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]I can see this thread has gone from wearing headphones to trolling/bashing. Seeing you like to talk down to people and try to push your IQ level, let me slap some reason into your simple minded mind. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]White Zombie and Metallica were not even the same era as Led Zeppelin you dumb ****, get your **** straight before you post and make yourself look like an ageing moron. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]As for some insight as to why people don't come to this forum (this is my last visit), it could be because of people like you! Lets see you have over 7800 posts, you are CLEARLY on the forum way to much, you need to spend time with your family or judging by your attitude, yourself! If a new member like myself wants to give any insight as to why they do what they do, you the Forum God smites them down with your high level of typing skills and stupid remarks. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]Good day Douche and have a happy V-Day! [/COLOR][/SIZE]
 
JCDIP1 said:
[COLOR=000000][SIZE=11pt]O yawn![/SIZE][/COLOR]
don't take it personally, sarcasm and jokes are often used in the forum,
 
Originally Posted by JCDIP1 .

[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]O yawn! [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]That’s the best you got! Ha! You’re going to get on me about spelling? Hell if that’s the worst I could do compared to your lame ass responses I am fine. I am sorry I didn't spell check when I was texting the message into my phone. But you got the point. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]I can see this thread has gone from wearing headphones to trolling/bashing. Seeing you like to talk down to people and try to push your IQ level, let me slap some reason into your simple minded mind. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]White Zombie and Metallica were not even the same era as Led Zeppelin you dumb ****, get your **** straight before you post and make yourself look like an ageing moron. [/COLOR][/SIZE]

[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]As for some insight as to why people don't come to this forum (this is my last visit), it could be because of people like you! Lets see you have over 7800 posts, you are CLEARLY on the forum way to much, you need to spend time with your family or judging by your attitude, yourself! If a new member like myself wants to give any insight as to why they do what they do, you the Forum God smites them down with your high level of typing skills and stupid remarks. [/COLOR][/SIZE]
[COLOR= black][SIZE= 11pt]Good day Douche and have a happy V-Day! [/COLOR][/SIZE]

Who said anything about Led Zep? The metallica song "one" is based on the book Johnny's Got His Gun whose main character is Joe Bonham - hence the getting his arms, legs, face blown off...


... And you're the one calling people a dumb **** and a douche.

Jesus.
 
swampy1970 said:
The metallica song "one" is based on the book Johnny's Got His Gun
I even gave a visual clue....
danfoz said:
Another One Bites the Dust (Queen 1980)
A game show host once said that Freddy Mercury didn't die of AIDS. He died of awesomeness. There is truth to that as Freddy was too awesome for our world. Back to the topic at hand....I rode a century on Sunday and was amazed at the number of people wearing headphones. A few of them seemed unaware of the outside world as they didn't respond to people's greetings and the like. What made their choice even more cool was that later in day, the winds were blowin' really strong which made hearing someone difficult at best. I'm sure the music in the ears really helped with that.... I think people as such live in the kind of reality in which existed that kid in Iron Eagle, you know the one that stole two fighter jets with Louis Gossett Jr, took the jets to somewhere in the Med, and used the jets to free his dad from prison......
 
I don't allow headphones/ear buds on our shop rides. Violators are subject to ridicule, bludgeoning, or a pump in the spokes - whichever I think will amuse me more.
 
I'm new to road cycling and will readily admit that I used to cycle 7 miles to work and 7 miles home with my earphones in. Then they broke... Easily the best thing that could have happened to them.

I enjoy my cycling more, I feel safer, I feel more in tune with my bike, and just generally happier on my bike.

Someone mentioned earlier about senses being dulled because people are focusing on the music they're listening too. I tend to agree with that too because I feel particular tweaks in the bike or hear things happening that I never had when I rode with earphones in.

I will never ride with earphones again if not for the experience, then for the safety factor including some idiot on his bike tonight on the way home who pulled out in front of me because he didn't look and didn't hear me shout because... He had his earphones in.
 

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