Another twunt

guinea

Another attack on cyclists. This time from the editor of visordown, the motorbike mag.

http://www.visordown.com/editors-blog/c ... /8147.html

Apparantly I 'deserve to die'.

Escargot

A wee bit strong but wearing headphones on a bike is a no brainer as far as I'm concerned. Don't do it.

No one deserves to die but there are ways of increasing the risk. Wearing headphones is probably one of them.

_Brun_

It's not an attack on cyclists. It's an attack on people who ride round like complete arseholes, seemingly oblivious to anything going on around them.

Whether headphones is the cause of that or just coincidental I'm not sure. I see plenty of examples of cyclists who ride well with them, and badly without.

freehub

I wear earphones when I'm cycling alone, I don't think I deserve to die, or that I don't pay enough attention, if anything I notice I pay more attention that many car drivers and other cyclists, I look behind often, I indicate, I stop at red lights, if I want to move to the right lane to turn right I do so safely and when there is adequate space, I don't know how not wearing my headphones would make me anymore safer, if I car has spun out behind me I'd easilly hear that through my headphones.

211dave112

i'm pretty sure some motorcyclist have some kind of headphones in when they ride and people in cars do. who doesn't listen to music when driving! I rarely do as i do feel safer when i can hear everything but that my choice, i don't think it changes my riding at all it just makes ME feel safer.

i hate james martin more than this guy, at least this one is a cyclist!

ride_whenever

I'm sorry he's completely right...

he's not saying they deserve to die more that they'll get whats coming to them, and i actually agree. I can understand wanting to listen to music, but stick your phone in the top of your bag or in a pocket blaring out tunes, headphones are just insane.

this is a pertinant bit:

I'm not saying that earphones = no clue. But by wearing them you're as bad as car drivers texting while crawling through traffic - you're simply not paying enough attention and are a danger to others. If you wear earphones, you ought to be compensating for that by looking around you more than usual.

the road is a dangerous place, and riding around in a blissful little bubble assuming nothing with happen to you and everyone will just make your life easy is a prickish thing to do. Eventually it will catch up to you and i only hope that it isn't fatal or too damaging to your person.

More people need to take responsibility for their own actions, and yes riding in primary is safer, but can you not behave in a considerate fashion to other road users?

Sorry to rant, but things like this are a real pet hate of mine.

fast as fupp

he's spot on- a lot of dicks on bikes have no road sense whatsoever

ride_whenever

knowing the motorbikes some of my friends ride, headphones wont make a jot of difference to what they can hear :roll:

freehub

ride_whenever wrote:

I'm sorry he's completely right...

he's not saying they deserve to die more that they'll get whats coming to them, and i actually agree. I can understand wanting to listen to music, but stick your phone in the top of your bag or in a pocket blaring out tunes, headphones are just insane.

this is a pertinant bit:

I'm not saying that earphones = no clue. But by wearing them you're as bad as car drivers texting while crawling through traffic - you're simply not paying enough attention and are a danger to others. If you wear earphones, you ought to be compensating for that by looking around you more than usual.

the road is a dangerous place, and riding around in a blissful little bubble assuming nothing with happen to you and everyone will just make your life easy is a prickish thing to do. Eventually it will catch up to you and i only hope that it isn't fatal or too damaging to your person.

More people need to take responsibility for their own actions, and yes riding in primary is safer, but can you not behave in a considerate fashion to other road users?

Sorry to rant, but things like this are a real pet hate of mine.

Just cause one person finds it hard to concentrate with headphones on and is dangerous on the road does not mean everyone is, imagine you cycling past someone with headphones on, you'd be more of a danger on the road than that person when you are full of rage from the guy wearing headphones eh.

I'm in no blisfull bubble assuming nothing will happen, I've had lots of near misses, I've had one crash, I've avoided lots of near misses as I expect them to do what they're basically not indicating they're going to do. On the whole the whole headphones argument is rubbish, if you feel you are less safer on the road with headphones, don't wear them... if you're no different then fine, I've done the same routes with and without headphones, I'm no less safer with my headphones on, with them off the ride just becomes a drag that lasts forever when I'm on my own.

As I've said, I've passed plenty of cyclings, even pedestrians, drivers certainly appear to be not paying attention, and there is me with headphones on, paying full attention, maybe everyone just thinks people have headphones full blast so you literally can't hear anything?

phearnde

I listen to music through earphones, when cycling on my own.

Perhaps this reduces, very slightly, the road noise - but I don't believe it is sufficient to pose a risk to me or to other road users.

Whether I have my earphones in or not, I am at pains to observe what is going on around me, whether this be other vehicles, pedestrians or the road itself.

I don't jump lights or pavement hop.

freehub

Tell a lie, when I'm going into a headwind I turn them up, problem is, I still can't hear them because of the wind. Maybe there should be a new title "Cycling into a headwind? You deserve to die"

disgruntledgoat

I ride with headphones on a fair bit, and have a couple of observations..

1) I have 2 sets of headphones. One is the noise-cancelling type which does exactly what it says. Relays high quality sound into my head completely blocking out the outside world. The other is a rubbish pair that came with my MP3 player, these fit mouch looser in my ear and allow me to still hear what is going on around me.

2) I find I look round a lot more, slow down for junctions more and brake in places I wouldn't otherwise on descents when I'm wearing headphones purely because I recognise that my hazard perception is impaired when I ride with them.

3) As a result of this, I can't think of a near miss i've had with headphones on that could have been averted by not wearing them. Occasionally, however, I am surprised by a larger than expected vehicle approaching from behind. In town traffic, I take them out, as I recognise this is more dangerous.

4) Is it any different to a motorist using a car stereo?

ride_whenever

will, i think we're actually arguing the same thing, sort of.

there is nothing wrong with wearing headphones if you're still fully aware of your surroundings... but the VAST majority of people I see riding with headphones on are not paying attention to their surroundings, at all, which is what i have a problem with, this blase attitude to road use.

The original article is written about a particular subsect of cyclists, the ones who just don't give a damn about other road users. There is a significant overlap between this section of riders and the section of those who wear headphones, and you're experiences of this may indeed differ but mine do seem to suggest this.

Like you said, when you wear headphones, you counter the loss of some of your hearing by looking around more. So you're not part of the blissful bubble, and so you probably are less likely to get hit!

Porgy

guinea wrote:

Another attack on cyclists. This time from the editor of visordown, the motorbike mag.

http://www.visordown.com/editors-blog/c ... /8147.html

Apparantly I 'deserve to die'.

I deserve to die too

I'd like someone to tell me to my face that I can't ride a bike!

The bloke who wrote that is a cvnt in my opinion, does nothing to challenge my possibly unfair impression that motorcyclists are mainly selfish tw@ts.

Porgy

ride_whenever wrote:

The original article is written about a particular subsect of cyclists, the ones who just don't give a damn about other road users. There is a significant overlap between this section of riders and the section of those who wear headphones, and you're experiences of this may indeed differ but mine do seem to suggest this.

There is probably a significant overlap between those riders and those who wear lycra - as tossers who write for newspapers so regularly remind us.

However to confuse this with any sort of causation shows feeble mindedness.

Porgy

No-one deserves to die :evil:
















not even that tv chef bloke whatever his name is.

ride_whenever

no but an increased proportion of headphone wearing cyclists being idiots, again not saying you all are, but in my experience i see maybe 3-4 'sensible' cyclists, ie riding assertively looking around and properly aware wearing headphones to approximately 45-50 'idiot cyclists' which is a significantly higher proportion than of cyclist i usually see, about 3 sensible cyclists to 7 idiots.

there is also a significant overlap with the sensible cyclist wearing headphones and being fully lycra'd up and motoring along, maybe 2-3 of the 3-4 and probably 2-3 of the idiots i see (regardless of headphones) are lycra'd up the same.

From my observations there is a correlation between headphones and cycling like an idiot. Now I doubt that the headphones cause these people to behave like an idiot, however the people who are, from observation, most likely to be wearing headphones tend to cycle more carelessly than those who do and that is likely to be an attitude issue.

fast as fupp

would you headphoners ride with a blindfold on?

Porgy

fast as fupp wrote:

would you headphoners ride with a blindfold on?

that would be stupid :?

Porgy

ride_whenever wrote:

no but an increased proportion of headphone wearing cyclists being idiots, again not saying you all are, but in my experience i see maybe 3-4 'sensible' cyclists, ie riding assertively looking around and properly aware wearing headphones to approximately 45-50 'idiot cyclists' which is a significantly higher proportion than of cyclist i usually see, about 3 sensible cyclists to 7 idiots.

there is also a significant overlap with the sensible cyclist wearing headphones and being fully lycra'd up and motoring along, maybe 2-3 of the 3-4 and probably 2-3 of the idiots i see (regardless of headphones) are lycra'd up the same.

From my observations there is a correlation between headphones and cycling like an idiot. Now I doubt that the headphones cause these people to behave like an idiot, however the people who are, from observation, most likely to be wearing headphones tend to cycle more carelessly than those who do and that is likely to be an attitude issue.

So you admit that the headphones is only a factor in identifying the idiots, and even then you'll get it wrong about 10% of the time.

So its riding like an idiot that is an issue - I see liots of them without headphones on.

Headphones is a bit of a red herring really isn't it?

bompington

ride_whenever wrote:

no but an increased proportion of headphone wearing cyclists being idiots, again not saying you all are, but in my experience i see maybe 3-4 'sensible' cyclists, ie riding assertively looking around and properly aware wearing headphones to approximately 45-50 'idiot cyclists' which is a significantly higher proportion than of cyclist i usually see, about 3 sensible cyclists to 7 idiots.

there is also a significant overlap with the sensible cyclist wearing headphones and being fully lycra'd up and motoring along, maybe 2-3 of the 3-4 and probably 2-3 of the idiots i see (regardless of headphones) are lycra'd up the same.

From my observations there is a correlation between headphones and cycling like an idiot. Now I doubt that the headphones cause these people to behave like an idiot, however the people who are, from observation, most likely to be wearing headphones tend to cycle more carelessly than those who do and that is likely to be an attitude issue.

Impressive stats!
I bet riding along with a clipboard is way more dangerous than headphones

Porgy

bompington wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

no but an increased proportion of headphone wearing cyclists being idiots, again not saying you all are, but in my experience i see maybe 3-4 'sensible' cyclists, ie riding assertively looking around and properly aware wearing headphones to approximately 45-50 'idiot cyclists' which is a significantly higher proportion than of cyclist i usually see, about 3 sensible cyclists to 7 idiots.

there is also a significant overlap with the sensible cyclist wearing headphones and being fully lycra'd up and motoring along, maybe 2-3 of the 3-4 and probably 2-3 of the idiots i see (regardless of headphones) are lycra'd up the same.

From my observations there is a correlation between headphones and cycling like an idiot. Now I doubt that the headphones cause these people to behave like an idiot, however the people who are, from observation, most likely to be wearing headphones tend to cycle more carelessly than those who do and that is likely to be an attitude issue.

Impressive stats!
I bet riding along with a clipboard is way more dangerous than headphones

fast as fupp

Porgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

would you headphoners ride with a blindfold on?

that would be stupid :?

agreed

would you agree that in the main the senses used on the road to detect traffic are sight and hearing?

jimjamyaharr

Porgy
why anr motorcyclists selfish?

Pokerface

Personally - when a motorbike whizzes past me (usually inches away) at close to 100 miles an hour on the Cat and Fiddle, I find myself wishing more of them would end up a smear on the road.

I rode with earphones in. And I look around and pay attention way more than the average cyclist/motorcyclist/car driver. And I can still hear sirens and car horns. No worse off than a person in their car with the stereo turned up.

Porgy

jimjamyaharr wrote:

Porgy
why anr motorcyclists selfish?

I've no idea - you should ask them

Porgy

fast as fupp wrote:

Porgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

would you headphoners ride with a blindfold on?

that would be stupid :?

agreed

would you agree that in the main the senses used on the road to detect traffic are sight and hearing?

I have a hearing impairment - connected with autism - so my main sense is sight - in heavy traffic my sense of hearing is worse than useless.

And when I'm not in heavy traffic I tend not to wear ear-phones

ride_whenever

bompington wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

no but an increased proportion of headphone wearing cyclists being idiots, again not saying you all are, but in my experience i see maybe 3-4 'sensible' cyclists, ie riding assertively looking around and properly aware wearing headphones to approximately 45-50 'idiot cyclists' which is a significantly higher proportion than of cyclist i usually see, about 3 sensible cyclists to 7 idiots.

there is also a significant overlap with the sensible cyclist wearing headphones and being fully lycra'd up and motoring along, maybe 2-3 of the 3-4 and probably 2-3 of the idiots i see (regardless of headphones) are lycra'd up the same.

From my observations there is a correlation between headphones and cycling like an idiot. Now I doubt that the headphones cause these people to behave like an idiot, however the people who are, from observation, most likely to be wearing headphones tend to cycle more carelessly than those who do and that is likely to be an attitude issue.

Impressive stats!
I bet riding along with a clipboard is way more dangerous than headphones

photographic memory 8)

ride_whenever

Porgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

Porgy wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

would you headphoners ride with a blindfold on?

that would be stupid :?

agreed

would you agree that in the main the senses used on the road to detect traffic are sight and hearing?

I have a hearing impairment - connected with autism - so my main sense is sight - in heavy traffic my sense of hearing is worse than useless.

[curious]
Just on a curous aside, if you don't mind me asking, how is it useless? Do you not have aural spacial awareness or something like that? Don't feel you have to expound on it if you don't want to though.

[/curious]

robthehungrymonkey

I completely agree with most of his article.

I think the headline is just attention grabbing to increase the audience (which worked).

Headphones are only one part of that article and are obviously partly to blame for him cycling like an arse.

There are a lot of people that cycle dangerously, fueling a lot of the crap we get from other road users.

One bad cyclist can create opinions on cycling that last a long time. I hate it when motorcyclists moan about not being seen, but then weave in and out of traffic and in and out of blind spots too quickly for drivers to realise they're there.

dilemna

What do cycling headphoners listen to? Chopin's Funeral March?

It's all a bit silly. Wearing head phones whist cycling means you are relying on other road users to make allowances for you if your concentration lapses. Not the best policy really. Cycling you need all your own wits about you to spot the halfwits.

Cycling into a head wind is a dangerous time as often cars qucikly creep up from behind squeezing close by you. As you cannot hear them approaching you cannot give them a swan look which makes them wait or pass nice and wide which I guess is what happens when listening to music through headphones.