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OPINION

Earphones on cyclists: Yea or Nay?

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Can you carry a tune?

49 years ago today Dylan went electric. He was booed, notoriously, by folk aficionados who weren't quite ready to be yanked out of the accoustic age. It isn't clear if they were Luddites, or Peter Paul & Mary fans who had bought tickets to the wrong concert and were confused if that was his voice or the feedback.

It seems an appropriate day to do this short quiz:
When is music not a distraction?

A. When in control of any vehicle heavier than a bicycle

B. If a surgeon, performing an operation

C. Those times you have a baton in your hand and are quite dressed up

My point being, why are cyclists singled out? What makes us so uniquely unqualified at multitasking that we can't handle Handel and handlebars at the same time? Why should we be condemned to have to listen to the unlovely and often not particularly helpful sharps and flats of traffic?

I ride a bike. I listen to music. Frequently I do both at the same time. This makes me, in the eyes of many, mad, bad, and dangerous to know.

Am I? Are you? Answers on a postcard.

Road.cc doesn't do polls, so I've put one up here. You don't need to register to vote.

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68 comments

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IngloriousLou | 9 years ago
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Yay if you're someone who's able to deal with riding a bike safely without one of your key senses, nay if you cannot.

It is, of course, a matter of personal choice and one's attitude to risk, for anyone else to say if you should or shouldn't is pointless.

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Here's a list of my favourite senses. Hearing doesn't make the top six.

---

I see if I want comments to go into the 4 figures I'm going to have to give something away. How about a CD? I've got a rare copy of Dylan's Street Legal with the zombie on the cover, representing the changing of the guards in the song of the same name: that's right, he predicted the zombie apocalypse back in the late 70s.

//www.notanothercyclingforum.net/pics/streetlegalzombie.jpg)

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Colin Peyresourde | 9 years ago
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I think there are conditions where headphones do not detract from riding, but there are equally times where it does. I think you have the right to wear headphones, but with that right comes a responsibility to pay more attention....chances are that if you do take this responsibility seriously you'll be too busy concentrating to appreciate your music....and so it goes.

I ride to work on a canal path which is quite narrow. If I can't hear people travelling under the bridges or ringing a bell it impairs my ability to make a good judgement. Wear headphones, but I guess if you are asking the question you know that you are less in touch with your surroundings and potentially vulnerable.

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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I'm not asking the question in the sense of "Should I personally be doing this?", as that's been answered to my satisfaction long ago. I'm asking because I think there is a kneejerk reaction (exemplified to an extreme in some of the initial comments here – I've even had some framed). I would like for people to examine exactly why they have a problem with this. To lift a popular idiom from the never-ending helmet debate, I'm trying to make the case that it isn't a no-brainer.

While I am fully in the camp that you shouldn't ride outside your safety comfort zone, so far I have seen no convincing case to condemn the practice.

Yes, hearing is one of the great senses; I'm so glad evolution threw it into the mix. No, it isn't necessary to concentrate all of it on the din of traffic for safe riding, at least in my experience, which would appear to be supported by the lack of research and gruesome stats which would at least lend weight to the prosecution's case.

I hate for this to sound like an exclusive club or something, but those of us who do this will know what I'm talking about: When you're riding, particularly (especially) in traffic, listening to a favourite tune can have the effect of making your eyes seem like laser beams

//www.notanothercyclingforum.net/pics/supermanlaser.jpg)
Credit

as you constantly scan for possible trouble, and eyes are much better at recognising real trouble than ears. It doesn't completely block ambient noise (you can still hear stuff! Probably more than most motorists can) but does help hush all the annoying and frankly unnecessary auditory clutter which bombards us. And it just feels great; music is a well known mood enhancer, after all. As I've written elsewhere it can help calm road rage, or better yet, stop it from rearing its ugly head. I'm not at all stressed when I cycle in the city. How many people can say that?

PS. Polls are still open

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Quince | 9 years ago
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I don't often listen to music while riding, but there are occasions when I do and think to myself, "y'know, I'd rather actually be hit by something once in a blue moon than feel like I'm going to be hit every other second". Noise pollution is one of the most unpleasant factors about riding in close proximity with motor vehicles, and when you're not IN a motor vehicle, you don't have a wall of glass/steel/radio/etc. in which to shut if off.

I tend not to listen to it in when cycling into somewhere like central London, as I'm having to make decisions every other second and I just find it too stressful to concentrate on music as well. However, when I'm out on the open road, or chugging around Richmond Park, I'm generally much happier doing it, as my decision set if pretty much down to 'go forwards in a straight line', and if I DO get hit (which feels a lot less likely out of the chaos), I feel like there's very little I could do about it anyway. The music wouldn't influence my decision making as there were pretty much no decisions to make anyway.

The 'headphone debate' had been employed by politicians to indirectly re-enforce the notion that cyclists must treat themselves - and expect to be treated - as prey, and that's just fine; which shifts responsibility of the said politicians away from having to create environments in which one CAN ride a bike without fear of death if one makes the slightest mistake. No doubt cyclists would also be encouraged to evolve eyes on the side of the heads rather than the traditional forward-facing set-up if at all possible.

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LinusLarrabee | 9 years ago
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When i'm in the UK and riding to the office I don't use headphones. In the summer, when I'm riding around the French countryside I do. The difference is that I can ride for couple of hours out here in France and only be passed by a handful of cars - almost all of which are very respectful to cyclists and it's not like there isn't enough room to pass on these empty country roads. I realise I'm taking an unnecessary risk, but that's my choice and my responsibility.

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Northernbike | 9 years ago
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when I ride I like to listen to the larks and lapwings and curlews on the moors, the swish of my tyres on a wet road, the clunk of a gear change, sheep baaing, cows mooing, the clip clop of horses coming back from the gallops, the wind in the trees, water rushing over rocks, a farmer shouting instructions to a sheepdog, or where the rider I just caught up with or got caught up by is headed and where they've come from. Wearing earphones would be like wearing a blindfold to me.

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Northernbike | 9 years ago
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when I ride I like to listen to the larks and lapwings and curlews on the moors, the swish of my tyres on a wet road, the clunk of a gear change, sheep baaing, cows mooing, the clip clop of horses coming back from the gallops, the wind in the trees, water rushing over rocks, a farmer shouting instructions to a sheepdog, or where the rider I just caught up with or got caught up by is headed and where they've come from. Wearing earphones would be like wearing a blindfold to me.

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J90 | 9 years ago
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Why are people comparing lorries/cars and bikes?

You're a lot more protected in one then on your bike. Also, you don't have mirrors on your bike you can glance into, which is a massive part of driving. If there was a way of fitting a little one somewhere on a road bike without it looking stupid, then I probably would in all honesty.
My head hardly stops moving on the bike anyway though, that probably stems from having generations of motorcyclists in the family I think, not everybody is that aware of their surroundings, some people not at all.

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Northernbike – What an evocative soundtrack; a fine addition to the "nay" column. When I cycle in the city I have nothing so poetic to look forward to, so I much prefer my chosen playlist. (Quince's first paragraph in his post slightly upthread also resonates with me.) The countryside where I live is usually friendlier on the ears, but still, riding through it every day as I do, I'll take the blindfold.

Already live with sheep right outside my windows half the year, so I'm not missing much there. Am always on one singlespeed or another; no pleasantly clunky gear changes (are the modern ones so clunky? I thought that had been ironed out in the lab). The cows I can smell, which fills my senses quite enough. Larks & lapwings & curlews & water rushing over rocks sounds awfully nice I'll grant you; there is a dearth of those on my regular rounds.

The farmers are usually in their tractor cabs listening to music of their own; the local shepherd, on his loud dune buggy. Those times I pass another cyclist, it's easy enough to turn down the volume or remove an earpiece to be ready for any social interaction should it be offered between the grunts which are the typical conversational fare amongst the hills.

Soothing a balm as 'natural' noises can be on the soul, a daily diet of it isn't necessarily more uplifting than the vast library of human expression piped through that skinny cord.

As I type this I'm looking forward to the Far East Sussex night I'm about to dive into on my bike. At some point I will, however, remove my 'phones just to soak up the sound of peaceful silence.

~ @jollygoodthen

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davidmcw | 9 years ago
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I've been commuting on my bike for years, and have found the best way to stay safe is to pretend that everyone wants to kill me. They're not going to go out of their way to do it, because they're people and therefore inherently lazy, but if they see an opportunity they'll take it- cars will pull out in front of me, passengers will open their doors at exactly the right/wrong moment, pedestrians will step out in front of me etc. I've found this mindset remarkably accurate for predicting people's behaviour, and so applying this logic to the earphone debate I ask myself "would I wear earphones knowing that everybody wants to kill me?". The answer of course is "no way".

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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If you ride thinking (or even pretending) everybody wants to kill you, you're braver than I am; I'd never get on a bike in the first place if I thought the road was so dangerous.

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An ear on the traffic

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joolzkite | 9 years ago
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No, No, No, No. How can we ever condemn drivers for using phones, etc and being distracted and then even consider it Ok for us. Hypocritical springs to mind. We set our standards as though we would like from others.  21  21  21  21  21

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HalfWheeler | 9 years ago
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This is an easy one.

Hell no. Have you got a death wish?

Next!

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DaveE128 | 9 years ago
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Riding with headphones on makes no difference whatsoever to safety....when you are on a turbo trainer.

On the road I want to know as much as possible about what's going on around me.

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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The voting continues with the Nays now building their lead. I could rig the poll but Jimmy Carter would come round and shame me.

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ollieclark | 9 years ago
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I'm not sure it matters. I very rarely wear headphones on a bike but when I have, I can still hear cars coming up behind me. When I don't wear headphones, I'm regularly surprised by cyclists overtaking me.

Of course to be fair, if they ban headphones on bikes they must also ban music in motor vehicles and make it illegal to drive without all windows fully open. And introduce mandatory ear holes in motorcycle helmets.

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3wheelsgood | 9 years ago
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All cyclists should be forced to sing loudly and continuously thus negating the need for headphones, providing free, low-tech entertainment for themselves with the additional benefit of an audible warning to those around them.  35

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Shades | 9 years ago
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No way!...for all of the reasons in the other posts. Darwin Award behavior.

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JamesE279 | 9 years ago
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In my view using headphones is unwise on a bike.
I also don't like motorists wearing headphones.

As it happens I usually drive my car with the window open in busy traffic so that I can hear what is going on around me. I don't think it is necessary, but I like to.

Sirens in the distance, a high revving engine, the whizz of another bike coming up behind me, they're all noises I would like to hear to keep me fully aware.

But as with helmets, it should be down to the individual cyclist to decide.

J

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livestrongnick | 9 years ago
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Nay  45

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bici1977 | 9 years ago
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Absolute Nay! The comparison is flawed as the surgeon doesnt need to hear his surroundings to avoid danger to himself, neither does a conductor and an ice cream van is hardly playing his music loud enough nor for a prolongedperiod of time to be distracting to the traffic.

But hey, if you want to rob yourself of your important senses in an already toxic environment (traffic), you go just ahead! Please make sure to carry your organ donor card with you, thx =)

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Shades: "Darwin Award behavior."

Here's one I made earlier.

bici1977: "...hey, if you want to rob yourself of your important senses in an already toxic environment (traffic), you go just ahead! Please make sure to carry your organ donor card with you, thx =)"

You're welcome to your opinion – that is, after all, what I'm asking for here – but if you're going to show concern for my health (presumably you'd like me to keep my organs?), kindly don't ruin the effect by anticipating my status as a future cadaver open for business.

//www.notanothercyclingforum.net/pics/donorcard-front.jpg)
view back of card

As I replied upthread, why so ominous? Is there evidence that earphones cause a statistically significant (or even any) portion of cyclist injuries?

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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I understand where you're coming from, but will respectfully disagree that it is necessary for us to be ambassadors in this sense. Respect is earned by good behaviour on the road; if other traffic feels I am not safe or in some way worthy simply because there are cords dangling from my ears, it is not my duty to indulge their prejudice.

Music, or the mating call of bull frogs for that matter, is not a distraction (though I may stand corrected on the latter). It concentrates the mind, in my opinion. I know this is counterintuitive; this is the territory I often inhabit.

There are many other points I could make, but I've already made them here, and here, and here.

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andyp | 9 years ago
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' I ask myself "would I wear earphones knowing that everybody wants to kill me?". The answer of course is "no way".'

This makes no sense whatsoever. If everyone wants to kill you, perhaps a bulletproof vest might help. Headphones will make no difference at all.

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J Montaño | 9 years ago
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Everyone seems to have made up their mind already, so at the risk of wasting mine and everyone else's time, my tuppence worth would be...

I have ridden an urban commute for years, always with the ipod on, the incidents and near misses I've had are pretty much always in front of me so I don't see how removing my headphones would have helped. Also even with in ear buds, I can still hear what's going on. In fact I'd leave ear plugs in without music to reduce the traffic noise to a comfortable level.

I really enjoy the audio I listen to while riding, it makes my commute enjoyable, without it I would struggle to motivate to ride to work year round.

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Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Good evening, bici1977.

"Ok, first things first. The mating call: http://youtu.be/etHbbL7Z3Aw?t=20s"

//www.notanothercyclingforum.net/pics/musicfrog.jpg)

I've been wearing earphones while cycling in traffic – the only place I ride – since the 90s, and others have probably been doing it since Walkman days. Your opinion about the importance of hearing (setting aside that I can in fact still hear the outside world - just not with the fidelity you are insisting upon) isn't going to change my mind; nor would I expect to alter the way you or anybody else rides. I only ask that people who think it's dangerous examine why they think this, rather than stick their fingers in their ears and go lalala I can't hear you {because hearing is so important}. Not to point fingers, by the way.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

I am the change I want to see: a happy, confident cyclist who tries to be considerate to other road users. The change I'd like to see in this case is for people not to get distracted by non-issues when discussing cyclist safety; recall that Boris Johnson tried this on last year.

"And if all else fails, and my argument and points fail to make you see what I mean, surely this will give you the notch in the right direction: [The Rules]"

I prefer these rules, thanks.

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jacknorell replied to joolzkite | 9 years ago
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joolzkite wrote:

No, No, No, No. How can we ever condemn drivers for using phones, etc and being distracted and then even consider it Ok for us. Hypocritical springs to mind. We set our standards as though we would like from others.  21  21  21  21  21

Are you trolling or being sarcastic?

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bici1977 replied to Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Fair point, and yes, I dont wish harm to anyone or the author  3

Anyhow, it has nothing to do with evidence if earphones cause more cycling injuries or not. The point is, we as cyclists, want to be and are full members of traffic and want to be respected as such. That goes either way. The same way we dont accept a driver texting while steering a car, because it is a distraction, we should be aware what happens around us and use common sense. The point is not what you are listening to - for all we know you could be listening to the mating call of bull frogs or whitew noise - but that you are impairing one of you senses when wearing headphones on a bike. Hearing is right next after seeing when riding a bike. In my opinion.

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bici1977 replied to Sam Walker | 9 years ago
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Ok, first things first. The mating call: http://youtu.be/etHbbL7Z3Aw?t=20s

Secondly, the example of concentrating better when listening to music, again, is flawed. I used to ride BMX and admittingly listened to music whilst doing so - and yes, it helped my riding (a little [I think]). However, that was not in traffic but in dedicated areas such as Skateparks. A far less lethal environment, given you dont have to fear a 40 ton lorry will push you off the road.

My whole point is not that I dont agree that music might help you concentrate, after all, thats why the surgeon probably listens to some tunes when removing an apendix or what not, but that it impairs your second most important sense whilst operating a vehicle in traffic.

And yes, we do all need to be an ambassador for good behaviour! We cannot rely on everyone else doing the first step. Be the change (bah bah) you want to see in the world. It has nothing to do with prejudice, but with setting an example. The same way I dont jaywalk when little children stand next to me at the red lights, or the same way I dont jump red lights eventhough I just want to do a left turn.

And if all else fails, and my argument and points fail to make you see what I mean, surely this will give you the notch in the right direction: http://www.velominati.com/the-rules/#62  3

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