Pedestrians wearing headphones…

[rcannon100]

I started wearing earbuds again. It’s really great not to hear the rude comments of the haters any more Seriously.

[StopMeansStop]

A few weeks ago some guy pulled in front of me to give me an eloquent gesture telling me to take out the buds.

I pulled in front of him to return the favor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYeKEA5AoY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[jabberwocky]

Pedestrians wearing earbuds are bad enough. I cannot believe people actually cycle with them in. :rolleyes:

[off2ride]

I work in a noisy environment but I don’t normally wear ear buds to cancel out the noise but once I see my boss, I put on my Snap-on BS protectors (same kind what you’ll see in a shooting range) I’m just sayin…

[Terpfan]

I’ll admit I sometimes ride with them in, but never on too loud as I can always hear folks calling out. Of course that is assuming they call out. I counted 5 people not giving any warning this morning on MVT. It was fine since I was going slow as molasses and I could see their shadows approaching, but I do wonder if sometimes if we focus on the wrong problems–aloof pedestrians are menacing and not warning them is just as bad. My two cents worth.

[Mark Blacknell]

@rcannon100 13196 wrote:

I started wearing earbuds again. It’s really great not to hear the rude comments of the haters any more Seriously.

That’s okay. One day I’m going to get my friend to teach me how to sign “Get off the )(*@#@# sidewalk!” in ASL, and I’ll just ride next to you

[rcannon100]

That’s okay. One day I’m going to get my friend to teach me how to sign “Get off the )(*@#@# sidewalk!” in ASL, and I’ll just ride next to you

Hugs and Kisses Mark

From the old geezer on the sidewalk, Making Mark cry since 1991.

[MCL1981]

I hate sidewalks. I’d rather ride into opposing traffic in the snow at night with no lights. I feel like its safer.

[vvill]

I used to ride with headphones in quite a bit until some point around Spring last year when I came to my senses. I do really like having music to pedal along to though. I might try to rig up some speakers one day.

[MCL1981]

I’m just not seeing how me wearing headphones makes me a hazard. I’m in my lane moving along in a straight line. I don’t make turns or moves without looking behind me first whether I’m wearing headphones or not. I can hear bells. I can hear people saying “on your left”. If someone is going to plow into me, the status of my ears doesn’t really have anything to do with the other person’s careless and reckless operation. The crash would happen whether I had headphones on or not.

Now, if some ped or cyclist makes moves without checking where they’re moving to, they’re going to cause a crash. This will be the case with or without headphones. The ninjas do it all the time because they’re zoned out. I see cyclists do it all the time while zoned out. No headphones. Just not paying attention.

[PotomacCyclist]

It’s not just what one person does. Enough people with earphones are distracted on the trails, whether it’s pedestrians or cyclists, that other riders are wary of earphone wearers in general. It’s certainly not the only source of distraction and cyclists without earphones can also ride aggressively and dangerously. But the earphones are an additional factor that clearly distract many people on the trails.

(Cell phones are another problem too. I’ve seen cyclists riding while talking on a hand-held phone on the trails. One guy was riding with no hands while talking on his phone, on the wrong side of the yellow line at a high rate of speed. I had to scream at him a couple times to get his attention before he plowed directly into me. This on a sunny summer afternoon with plenty of visibility on the straightaway. And this guy still didn’t see that he was heading straight for me while going in the wrong direction on the trail.)

[off2ride]

When law enforcement are called to investigate a collision involving individuals on bikes, they will probably look for some kind of audio device with headphones/ear buds on the riders that were involved just to find the blame and to wrap things up quickly. Lucky for me, they won’t find such device.

[vvill]

It’s not really headphones in particular, but that one of your senses is being dulled. I ride through a lot of neighbourhoods that have little roads with not much traffic but also not that much visibility and I rely on my ears as much as my eyes to know that a vehicle is approaching – esp when pausing at a stop sign. I don’t mind if someone else chooses to ride with them in but based on my time riding with and without I don’t think I’ll ever go back to them.

But I think generally I have a harder time with pedestrians on trails, etc. Most days I’ll have one case of people walking 2 or 3 abreast without any awareness of what’s around them, sometimes that’s headphones, a cell phone, or whatever.

[jabberwocky]

@PotomacCyclist 13340 wrote:

Enough people with earphones are distracted on the trails, whether it’s pedestrians or cyclists, that other riders are wary of earphone wearers in general.

Tell me about it! I’m to the point where I look for earphones before calling passes, and I don’t call out at all if I actually see them. Earphone wearers have this annoying habit of looking around with an idiot stunned expression on their faces when I actually call out and wandering into a different lane or whatnot.

Besides, if they actually cared about hearing their surroundings, they probably wouldn’t be wearing earphones. :rolleyes:

[Dirt]

Even if it doesn’t dull your senses, it dulls your mind. It turns your focus somewhere other than the world around you. It puts your focus on you instead of everything else… which is exactly the point of wearing headphones!!!!

[Author]

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