iPod listeners beware
Here's this story from Spinopsys about an Australian bicyclist wearing an iPod in London. The bicyclist was killed by a lorry, but she was listening to her iPod at the time of the accident and could not hear surrounding traffic.
There are two sides to this story. One, no matter the situation a bicyclist should never be listening to music while riding on the road. Two, the news story does not explain how or why the lorry hit the Aussie cyclist.
I know some of you love to listen to music while you're training, but quite frankly it's just plain irresponsible in regards to your own safety. How is it that you're able to hear any traffic concerns that may be outside of your vision?
If I'm not mistaken it's against the law for a vehicle driver to be wearing headphones while driving. Common sense tells you with headphones on you will not hear the ambulance, fire truck or police speeding towards an emergency. Heck, the same goes if you were to have your car stereo playing too loudly.
We don't know if the lorry could be blamed in any way for the accident, but we do know by listening to an iPod the cyclist likely had no way of reacting to potential danger. All you cycling iPod listeners may want to take heed.
(ed. note - I was wrong about the legality of headphones, see comments section for clarification.)
There are two sides to this story. One, no matter the situation a bicyclist should never be listening to music while riding on the road. Two, the news story does not explain how or why the lorry hit the Aussie cyclist.
I know some of you love to listen to music while you're training, but quite frankly it's just plain irresponsible in regards to your own safety. How is it that you're able to hear any traffic concerns that may be outside of your vision?
If I'm not mistaken it's against the law for a vehicle driver to be wearing headphones while driving. Common sense tells you with headphones on you will not hear the ambulance, fire truck or police speeding towards an emergency. Heck, the same goes if you were to have your car stereo playing too loudly.
We don't know if the lorry could be blamed in any way for the accident, but we do know by listening to an iPod the cyclist likely had no way of reacting to potential danger. All you cycling iPod listeners may want to take heed.
(ed. note - I was wrong about the legality of headphones, see comments section for clarification.)
posted by NashvilleCyclist.com at 2/16/2006 10:29:00 AM
7 Comments:
A report and comment on the same story from an Australian source:
http://tinyurl.com/bxswo
It's perfectly legal for motorcyclists to have headphones and communications radios under their helmets. It's also perfectly legal for someone to drive a two-ton SUV while juggling a cup of coffee and a big mac and fiddling with the radio.
Of course a bicyclist is much more vulnerable, so it makes sense for us to be more careful and wearing earphones while you ride is a calculated risk. Yes, it's more dangerous than riding with open ears, but you have a lot of control over how loud to crank the volume and you can also choose whether the risk of dying is worth the pleasure of listening to music. Each to his own.
After having some time to research Tennessee Code Annotated on LexisNexis it appears you are correct. There's nothing in our state's laws saying vehicle drivers or cyclists cannot wear headphones.
The only prohibitions I found were no television screens can be visible to the driver, and school bus drivers cannot talk on the cell phone while transporting children.
Interesting that these are the only two distractions addressed. It's likely these have been prohibited due to accidents taking place where blame was attributed to a television and/or bus driving cell phone user.
You are right, to each his own. However, others' "own" can and has harmed many people. Acting responsibly for the safety of others must also play a role in the decision making process.
"You are right, to each his own. However, others' "own" can and has harmed many people. Acting responsibly for the safety of others must also play a role in the decision making process."
I don't see how someone listening to an iPod while riding solo endangers others. On group rides, of course, it's nuts and I would never ride a paceline with someone wearing a 'Pod, but if they want to ride solo with earphones, I don't see how that hurts me.
To the latest anonymous....
That particular comment is aimed more towards vehicle drivers.
Although, iPod listeners could still potentially put vehicle drivers at risk with erratic cycling. It's a 2-way street, not just cyclists can get hurt. More than one car accident has occurred due to cyclist negligence (for whatever reason).
Imagine you're in a car and someone with his ears plugged up, jamming away to Journey inadvertently runs through a stop sign causing you to swerve to avoid him. Then you have a wreck. Voila, you've been hurt by someone riding solo with earphones.
Huh, what did you say, I had my I-pod in my ears, couldn't hear ya. Oh ok.
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