Headphones Megathread

Danjamin1

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Its something I've thought a bit about recently, more in relation to my own driving as I dont use them on the bike.

Its not that you cant concentrate with the radio on; but I think that you can concentrate better without it. You can take more in as regards whats on the road around you. Just a view.

I cycled to work yesterday for the first time in a while & forgot my earphones, found I was humming away to myself the whole way in & out :pac:

I agree RE: driving with the radio on, I do it of course but talk radio can be a bit distracting if there's a really interesting topic being discussed.

Dr. Mantis Toboggan

Tombo2001 wrote: »

This is something I do, almost to excess.

For example this morning, in the dark/ wet - every time a car is overtaking me I'm looking back, checking.

While I'm pretty sure it influences driver behaviour, a fear I would have is that someday I'll be doing the shoulder check and I'll hit a pothole, or that someone opens a car door and I dont see it in time.....

I think it certainly influences drivers. I've a flippin crick in my neck from the amount of times i check. Again, I'm the same as you, I'm afraid I'll go into a pothole or suchlike.

Annie get your Run

RayCun wrote: »

This is something that always comes up in the running forum, people wearing headphones in races.

Everyone wearing headphones says that they have it turned down low, are completely aware of all their surroundings, etc etc.

While everyone else's experience is that headphone wearers don't hear motorbikes, don't hear ambulances, don't hear stewards, don't hear other runners coming up behind them...

That's actually a really good example. I have in the past cycled with one earbud in (left) but only did it a couple of times - never in the city centre - but stopped fairly quickly. It's not just about what you can hear/not hear and yes, the shoulder check is far more important, but whatever you're listening to is a distraction and on our roads right now, the last thing any of us needs is a distraction from keeping safe. Just my opinion.

I've started turning off the radio in the car sometimes too and have on occasion turned it down in other people's cars when I'm a passenger!

07Lapierre

I wear headphones (earbuds) when i'm cycling to/from work. I listen to Morning radio on the way into work and music on the way home. I find it makes a boring commute more interesting. I can still hear whats going on around me. I really dont see why people need to hear whats going on around them. I can still hear cars coming up behind me and i can see cars coming towards me. Even if i couldn't hear cars coming behind me, so what?

On days like yesterday, when the roads are soaked, the noise from car tyres if far more distracting than any radio station!

mr spuckler

07Lapierre wrote: »

Even if i couldn't hear cars coming behind me, so what?

exactly! other than potentially ensuring i hold my line as well as i can i don't see what hearing a car will cause me to do differently, especially given how often i check behind me anyway.

Tombo2001

mr spuckler wrote: »

exactly! other than potentially ensuring i hold my line as well as i can i don't see what hearing a car will cause me to do differently, especially given how often i check behind me anyway.

There's nothing worse for me that when I think there's no traffic behind and then a car overtakes 18 inches away.

If I can hear them coming, I can check to see where they are on the road.

Weepsie

<Mod Note> Posts moved to here from near misses

C3PO

I'm not in favour of compulsion but I simply do not accept that a cyclist with headphones on is as safe as one without! You are effectively reducing the use one of your senses!

Tombo2001

C3PO wrote: »

I'm not in favour of compulsion but I simply do not accept that a cyclist with headphones on is as safe as one without! You are effectively reducing the use one of your senses!

I completely agree, but it also applies as RayCun mentione to joggers....and in my view to drivers and pedestrians.

The risk with this conversation is that it turns into yet another 'cyclist' issue, when its not.

beans

This has probably been mentioned, but my approach is to have an earbud in my left ear so that my right ear is open to hear the traffic sounds.

I've never found it hampering my awareness of what's going on around me, since anything coming up behind me is to my right.

Weepsie

C3PO wrote: »

I'm not in favour of compulsion but I simply do not accept that a cyclist with headphones on is as safe as one without! You are effectively reducing the use one of your senses!

While likely heightening the other, and far more important one, sight as you should try and compensate.

It's very hard to tell which direction road noise is coming from anyway. All too often I think I've a car approaching from behind, when it's in fact the cars coming against me combined with whatever way the wind is going.


Also, when driving, you you have the door shut, generally radio on, or someones chatting to you. How much sensory deprivation is that yet it it's okay to control 2 tonnes of metal?

seamus

C3PO wrote: »

I'm not in favour of compulsion but I simply do not accept that a cyclist with headphones on is as safe as one without! You are effectively reducing the use one of your senses!

Your non-acceptance of it is irrelevant.

Prove that it's dangerous by default and we can discuss it. If it's dangerous for cyclists to wear earphones, then it's dangerous for cars to drive with the windows up.

On the days where my headphones are out of power or whatever, I notice absolutely zero difference in my ability to cycle safely. Between the wind and the ambient noise, you get very little useful feedback from your ears. Your eyes are the essential one.

About the only thing your ears are good for is hearing emergency services coming. Even then, what do you do? You look around to figure out where they are.

RayCun

Tombo2001 wrote: »

I completely agree, but it also applies as RayCun mentione to joggers....and in my view to drivers and pedestrians.

I thought drivers weren't allowed wear headphones, thought I remembered that from when I got my licence, but can't see any reference to it now.

Pedestrians should be safe as long as they are on a path, it's everyone else's responsibility to stay off the path. If I was walking on a country road with no paths, I wouldn't want headphones in. (And if it was dark I'd wear high-vis and/or carry a light, not that I think these things should be compulsory)

Chips Lovell

Relying on your ears rather than your eyes is progressively getting more dangerous. There's a lot of electric vehicles on the road now that are very quiet.

C3PO

seamus wrote: »

Your non-acceptance of it is irrelevant.

Prove that it's dangerous by default and we can discuss it. If it's dangerous for cyclists to wear earphones, then it's dangerous for cars to drive with the windows up.

On the days where my headphones are out of power or whatever, I notice absolutely zero difference in my ability to cycle safely. Between the wind and the ambient noise, you get very little useful feedback from your ears. Your eyes are the essential one.

About the only thing your ears are good for is hearing emergency services coming. Even then, what do you do? You look around to figure out where they are.

Totally up to you!
I will cycle approximately 14,000kms this year (including about 7,000kms commuting daily from Shankill to Ballsbridge) and I am constantly aware of the sound of approaching traffic from behind! Since this thread started last year I have been very conscious of just how much I do listen when I'm on my bike! Hearing is no substitute for looking but in my opinion it's certainly a good supplement!

RayCun

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Relying on your ears rather than your eyes is progressively getting more dangerous.

It's not about relying on one rather than the other. It's about using both. I wouldn't move right with checking over my shoulder, but I like to know if there are cars behind me, or trucks, or buses, and how fast they are approaching, and I have some sense of that from my hearing. And then I look when I'm going to change position.

It's like driving a car - you should be checking the rear view mirrors regularly to have a sense of your surroundings, and then checking them specifically before a manoeuvre.

crosstownk

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

There's a lot of electric vehicles on the road now that are very quiet.

Only at manoeuvring speed. Most of a vehicle's 'noise' is generated by the tyres.

magicbastarder

also worth bearing in mind that a motorised vehicle is not the only one you could collide with; other cyclists would make less noise than any car.
i recently was startled by a bunch of ninja cyclists from clontarf , out near ardcath. the chap who shouted hello from about 2m or 3m behind me gave me a bit of a start.

Chips Lovell

magicbastarder wrote: »

also worth bearing in mind that a motorised vehicle is not the only one you could collide with; other cyclists would make less noise than any car.

This is true. The amount of people who just move out without looking is unreal.

seamus

RayCun wrote: »

It's like driving a car - you should be checking the rear view mirrors regularly to have a sense of your surroundings, and then checking them specifically before a manoeuvre.

Right. No ears at all. Because relying on your ears is making assumptions about what's around you

07Lapierre

magicbastarder wrote: »

also worth bearing in mind that a motorised vehicle is not the only one you could collide with; other cyclists would make less noise than any car.
i recently was startled by a bunch of ninja cyclists from clontarf , out near ardcath. the chap who shouted hello from about 2m or 3m behind me gave me a bit of a start.

Even without headphones this would still happen.....wind noise drowns out any noises from behind you.

Chips Lovell

The analogy with driving makes no sense. It's contradictory in fact.

RayCun

seamus wrote: »

Right. No ears at all. Because relying on your ears is making assumptions about what's around you

As I said, not relying on your ears.

Hearing the traffic around you is like the periodic checks you should make of your mirrors even when you are driving straight down the road.

Checking over your shoulder is like the checks in your mirrors you should make immediately before changing road position.

I would never suggest that the first is a substitute for the second.

RayCun

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

The analogy with driving makes no sense. It's contradictory in fact.

because drivers don't rely on their hearing?

Drivers have rearview mirrors.

C3PO

07Lapierre wrote: »

Even without headphones this would still happen.....wind noise drowns out any noises from behind you.

This is just not true! Traffic approaching from behind can be clearly heard from a significant distance!

magicbastarder

07Lapierre wrote: »

Even without headphones this would still happen.....wind noise drowns out any noises from behind you.

yeah, that was my point, that my ears were useless in that scenario.

Chips Lovell

RayCun wrote: »

because drivers don't rely on their hearing?

Drivers have rearview mirrors.

Yes, and why do drivers have rearview mirrors? Because they can't look over their shoulders well.

Essentially you're saying that periodically looking behind you while driving is fine, but insufficient while cycling. Which doesn't make much sense.

RayCun

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

Essentially you're saying that periodically looking behind you while driving is fine, but insufficient while cycling. Which doesn't make much sense.

Ha, well, the recommendation is that drivers check their mirrors every ten seconds or so. How frequently do you think cyclists perform an over the shoulder check, when they are not planning to change road position?

As noted above, when you're looking over your shoulder you're not looking at the road in front of you. A driver can switch from mirror to windscreen very quickly.

tomasrojo

magicbastarder wrote: »

also worth bearing in mind that a motorised vehicle is not the only one you could collide with; other cyclists would make less noise than any car.

I'm used to close passes by other people on bikes when I'm on the bakfiets at rush hour, but this morning I was startled by my satchel shifting on my back and me being pushed in towards the kerb. One of the close passes by another cyclist went a bit wrong, and the guy ended up leaning on me (not a collision as such).

Anyway, I pull in a lot to let people pass, and I look behind a lot and didn't have earphones or headphones on. I still was totally unaware that this guy was trying to pass me with a few mm to spare.

If you, sir, are reading this, I apologise for using up half my year's swear words on you. And don't do that again.

tomasrojo

RayCun wrote: »

Ha, well, the recommendation is that drivers check their mirrors every ten seconds or so. How frequently do you think cyclists perform an over the shoulder check, when they are not planning to change road position?

I think you know the obvious riposte here! How frequently do you think motorists check wing mirrors? Every ten seconds? Really?