Headphones Megathread

inc21

good!

Trojan

We need to legislate against deaf people being allowed to cycle. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.

07Lapierre

Deedsie wrote: »

It's just deflection really... I have cycled city centre and country roads. Neither location would I recommend someone to use headphones. It's personal choice, but it's insane to me to be blocking out one of your senses when cycling. I'd want all my faculties about me.

Hopefully nothing will ever happen to any cyclist who chooses to wear headphones but I'd feel like a hypocrite berating a motorist for not showing due care to me and then turn around and turn on a set of headphones while I'm cycling. Bottom line it is irresponsible

I gave up doing that years ago..just report the driver to the Gardaí...that's what their there for.

tampopo

Similar new laws introduced in Japan in the last few weeks came into effect June 1st.

Dades

It's also pretty moot talking about introducing new restrictions for cyclists when actual reckless cycling behavior goes unchallenged by the Gardaí every minute of every day.

Stopping someone for wearing headphones would be akin to speed traps on the N11 catching people doing 65kph. i.e. Does absolutely nothing to benefit road users.

Carawaystick

Deedsie wrote: »

It's personal choice, but it's insane to me to be blocking out one of your senses when cycling. I'd want all my faculties about me.

You've probably never cycled past slurry sprayin, chicken shed cleaning or silage making so. My poor nose.

tomasrojo

Deedsie wrote: »

Because there is very little research done on cycling in Ireland. I'm cycling in Dublin for two years I was in one accident myself and I probably have seen 5 or 6 other fairly serious ones. Of course cycling is a potentially dangerous activity. We share roads with much larger faster vehicles with bad drivers, dodgy road surfaces, trucks that can't see us in certain positions, kamikaze pedestrians and lunatic cyclists.

I've been travelling in Dublin most of the time by bike, apart from a few years abroad, for about thirty years. I have never had an accident (by which I assume you mean a collision), and I've never witnessed one either. That doesn't mean your experience is atypical, but it may not be typical either. (I have been subject to a few road rage incidents during the boom, but nothing since. Had I driven during the boom, I might have experienced the same.)

Even without detailed studies of Irish cycling (there are some studies done), you can use Dublin Bike statistics as a proxy for general cycling in the city centre. Well over eight million journeys, one fatality. It's not zero-risk, but it's about as risky as walking, and I don't consider that dangerous.

DavyD_83

tomasrojo wrote: »

I've been travelling in Dublin most of the time by bike, apart from a few years abroad, for about thirty years. I have never had an accident (by which I assume you mean a collision), and I've never witnessed one either. That doesn't mean your experience is atypical, but it may not be typical either. (I have been subject to a few road rage incidents during the boom, but nothing since. Had I driven during the boom, I might have experienced the same.)

Even without detailed studies of Irish cycling (there are some studies done), you can use Dublin Bike statistics as a proxy for general cycling in the city centre. Well over eight million journeys, one fatality. It's not zero-risk, but it's about as risky as walking, and I don't consider that dangerous.

More work need to be done to remove the perception that cycling is "dangerous". People act as if cycling through town has same odds as walking blinfdfolded through a minefield.
Yes, there are risks involved; there are risks involved in stepping out your door (or staying inside).
Arg, I need to stop reading these thread

Burning Bridges

Amazing from the country that legally allows cyclists to break red lights

JBokeh

07Lapierre wrote: »

What if the murderer is driving a Nissan leaf?

You'll hear the owner of it droning on about how brilliant it is :pac:

Deedsie

07Lapierre wrote: »

I gave up doing that years ago..just report the driver to the Gardaí...that's what their there for.

The motorists have no way to report dangerous cycling though which is also unfair. Pretty much impossible to identify a cyclist in a complaint to AGS?

Inspector Coptoor

More nanny state bollockology

mal1

Deedsie wrote: »

Hopefully nothing will ever happen to any cyclist who chooses to wear headphones but I'd feel like a hypocrite berating a motorist for not showing due care to me and then turn around and turn on a set of headphones while I'm cycling. Bottom line it is irresponsible

I really don't understand this point. Is wearing earphones comparable with careless driving?

tigerboon

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

More many state bollockology

Nanny

But despite your ****e spelling, I totally agree with you.

Deedsie

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

More many state bollockology

Some times the state must intervene when idiots don't know what's good for them, seat belts, smoking ban, plastic bag levy etc. all positive government policies that protect people and our environment. We live in one of the most liberal countries in the world. Such a nonsense argument.

tigerboon

tigerboon wrote: »

Nanny

But despite your ****e spelling, I totally agree with you.

Oh the irony. I didn't use asterisks

Deedsie

mal1 wrote: »

I really don't understand this point. Is wearing earphones comparable with careless driving?

In my opinion yes, it is as irresponsible to wear headphones cycling as it is to e.g. have faulty lights on a car. A motorist should take responsibility for their vehicle and maintain it to the appropriate standard. A cyclist should equally respect the fact that they share the road with other road users and do everything they can to make the roads as safe as they can for them and other road users. Jamming headphones in your lugs to block out all sounds is the opposite to that. I can't believe I have to argue this point. Is it not just common sense? Courtesy to other road users?

Trojan

Deedsie wrote: »

In my opinion yes, it is as irresponsible to wear headphones cycling as it is to e.g. have faulty lights on a car. A motorist should take responsibility for their vehicle and maintain it to the appropriate standard. A cyclist should equally respect the fact that they share the road with other road users and do everything they can to make the roads as safe as they can for them and other road users. Jamming headphones in your lugs to block out all sounds is the opposite to that. I can't believe I have to argue this point. Is it not just common sense? Courtesy to other road users?

It's absolutely shocking that these people are posting valid counter arguments and links to studies disproving the position that it's unsafe for cyclists to wear heads.

I suggest we all have a good think about it while driving around this weekend with the radio off and all the windows down (because that's just common sense and the least we can do to make the road safe for everyone).

mal1

Deedsie wrote: »

In my opinion yes, it is as irresponsible to wear headphones cycling as it is to e.g. have faulty lights on a car. A motorist should take responsibility for their vehicle and maintain it to the appropriate standard. A cyclist should equally respect the fact that they share the road with other road users and do everything they can to make the roads as safe as they can for them and other road users. Jamming headphones in your lugs to block out all sounds is the opposite to that. I can't believe I have to argue this point. Is it not just common sense? Courtesy to other road users?

No is the answer, it's how you behave and act. Not what's in your ears. If you honestly believe what you say then you shouldn't be cycling. Take my hearing away tomorrow and I could still cycle safely. It needs a more cautious behaviour but I could still do it. You're equating cycling to something like climbing K2. It just isn't that dangerous.

Deedsie

mal1 wrote: »

No is the answer, it's how you behave and act. Not what's in your ears. If you honestly believe what you say then you shouldn't be cycling. Take my hearing away tomorrow and I could still cycle safely. It needs a more cautious behaviour but I could still do it. You're equating cycling to something like climbing K2. It just isn't that dangerous.

Putting headphones in your ears while you cycle is an action, pretty poor behaviour in my opinion too. Of course deaf people can cycle but I am sure they would be extra cautious checking their surroundings using their other senses and hand signalling.

I was cycling South on the N11 this week up the hill near John of Gods, I got caught behind a really slow cyclist with headphones in. Could he hear me as I said excuse me. Not at all, just stayed plodding away. It's just inconsiderate of other road users, potentially unsafe & is a poor example to be setting for the new cyclists starting to commute. Monkey see, monkey do... Monkey won't hear much though.

I have the same opinion on zombie pedestrians btw. Dopes just wandering onto the road/cycle lane without looking. They can't hear people coming as they have headphones in. A girl got caught under a Luas this year cause she didn't look and didn't hear it coming. A Luas?

It's just selfish, inconsiderate behaviour really.

Deedsie

Trojan wrote: »

It's absolutely shocking that these people are posting valid counter arguments and links to studies disproving the position that it's unsafe for cyclists to wear heads.

I suggest we all have a good think about it while driving around this weekend with the radio off and all the windows down (because that's just common sense and the least we can do to make the road safe for everyone).

Links to studies that say wearing headphones is safe? Where? The two arguments I have seen are, cars have radios and ban deaf people from cycling.

Sarcasm is great. Simple question, is it safer to cycle with or without headphones in? I'd put the same question to a pedestrian, jogger etc who interacts with other road users.

I love music, but listening while cycling is like listening to a poorly tuned in radio station to me. I couldn't enjoy it. i don't mean to be getting up people's noses here. I just think it is important to have both sides of these discussions debated.

France are right to ban this but if the same ban was introduced in Ireland tomorrow no one would police it. AGS don't have the resources simple as that.

mal1

Deedsie wrote: »

Putting headphones in your ears while you cycle is an action, pretty poor behaviour in my opinion too. Of course deaf people can cycle but I am sure they would be extra cautious checking their surroundings using their other senses and hand signalling.

I was cycling South on the N11 this week up the hill near John of Gods, I got caught behind a really slow cyclist with headphones in. Could he hear me as I said excuse me. Not at all, just stayed plodding away. It's just inconsiderate of other road users, potentially unsafe & is a poor example to be setting for the new cyclists starting to commute. Monkey see, monkey do... Monkey won't hear much though.

I have the same opinion on zombie pedestrians btw. Dopes just wandering onto the road/cycle lane without looking. They can't hear people coming as they have headphones in. A girl got caught under a Luas this year cause she didn't look and didn't hear it coming. A Luas?

It's just selfish, inconsiderate behaviour really.

I think you answered the question in regards earphones in your first paragraph, the exact point I was making. When you put earphones on, you should change your behaviour. In fact with or without earphones, we should all be cautious and check our surroundings. Something that a lot of cyclists don't do.

Your example is poor and so was your behaviour. What would you do if you were behind slower traffic in a car? Start shouting 'excuse me', press the horn? No, you wait until a safe time and space becomes available and pass. You shouldn't be calling to another cyclist just cause they are slower (and especially when someone is making an effort going up a hill). It is an unhelpful distraction for them and unsafe. It's also rude and inconsiderate.

Honestly, you need to become more aware of your own behaviour and stop judging others with such vitriolic language (i.e. saying dopes, zombies etc).

Boskowski

I think it's long overdue. Earphones are not in the same ballpark to radio at all. They tend to block out everything. How anyone can cycle or drive with those is beyond me - in the interest of their own safety that is.
You delegate basically your own safety to everyone else. Especially on a bike where you're the most vulnerable. It's crazy stuff.
I sometimes see cyclists not only with earphones but also doing mad stuff like breaking lights cutting cars off at junctions etc while wearing these. All I'm thinking there is someone with a death wish.

Qualitymark

Leroy42 wrote: »

Thats exactly what the city is missing. All the cyclists, that are already apparently RLJ and ignoring even basic road rules, now transporting ghetto blasters on their handlebars so everyone gets to listen to their favorite One Direction or Justin Beiber track

Stop, stop - I'm still trying to remember what the song was I heard blaring from a van around 18 months ago. Drove me crazy for a while; it sounded so familiar, like BeeGees or ELO or Dire Straits… have never tracked it down.

The odd thing about this ban is that it's Bluetooth earphones. They're the ones they make the staff wear in Lidl, aren't they? (Is that really safe for the youngsters, having Bluetooth broadcasting right beside their brain for eight hours a day?) For cyclists, I thought something like Jawbone that resonates in your cheekbone was safer than in-ear or on-ear earphones, since it allows you to hear the traffic even as you listen to your music.

I'd agree that it's a nicer cycling experience to hear and see all around you rather than diving into your own little musical world - but this mad desire to ban everything and regulate others' behaviour - especially the behaviour of those seen as socially inferior…

RainyDay

Uh-oh....

http://www.kevinhumphreys.ie/national-news/tackling-dangerous-cycling-with-headphones-in-dublin-city/

irishrover99

RainyDay wrote: »

Uh-oh....

http://www.kevinhumphreys.ie/national-news/tackling-dangerous-cycling-with-headphones-in-dublin-city/

Another reason not to vote Labour

tomasrojo

I don't know anyone who will vote Labour in the next election.

Not saying this is a good thing. Some good initiatives at Dublin City Council level came from Labour. Also Kevin Humphreys is willing to be pictured near a bicycle while not in binman-warrior garb, which I always think is a positive, whatever about his misplaced enthusiasm for stretching the extent of laws to encompass things they have really nothing to do with.

Chips Lovell

I find Labour a lot more pro-cycling than other parties, particularly Fine Gael. Andrew Montague was one of the big promoters of Dublin Bikes.

tomasrojo

Roisín Shortall (not in Labour anymore, obviously) opposed dropping the compulsory use of cycle tracks, and Eamon Gilmore had some very, shall we say, opportunistic objections to the 30km/h zone in Dublin (which I know not all cyclists support, but at least those cyclists didn't decide they didn't support it when a load of blowhards decided that putting their car in third and barely touching the accelerator was a skill beyond human mastery).

But on the whole, I find Labour progressive enough on cycling, and I'm not especially looking forward to their annihilation.

qb123

An idiotic idea. Hope someone links up to the response he gets from the Gardai; assume they'll give it short shrift as it would be quite hard to prove you were cycling without reasonable care just because you have headphones in your ear - how they prove what volume they're at for start?