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Headphones while driving
Underdog
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Is it legal to listen to music on headphones while driving? I'm not sure why I think it might not be since it's really not much different than listening to the radio but I want to be sure that the sight of me with earbuds on won't get me pulled over. Anyone know?
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For good reason.
Skip the headphones while driving. If nothing else, you'd hate to not notice an ambulance coming up behind you.
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On the other hand, shortly after I got my license, in my first car I was driving with the music up way too loud and the song I was listening to (believe it was Silver and Cold by AFI) the pitch of some of the notes was blending in perfectly with an ambulance that came right up behind me without me noticing for a few moments. I still feel pretty awful about that and wonder if the person on it was all right.
Doesn't mean you should.
The law is, always has been, and always will be, an ass.
It is not excessively dangerous to listen to music through headphones. It probably is illegal in most places. I never noticed it affect my driving/riding. I advise against doing it.
the reason headphones are bad is because they block other sounds from going in your ear, having speakers that are away from your ear allows other sounds to reach them just as well. Maybe if you had those open-ear headphones it would be less bad.
don't do it.
If you're a biker you can get helmets with speakers in them which are not nearly as bad as wearing headphones.
*I wrote this thinking earbuds. . . earbuds are worse than headphones in this regard.
the order situational awarenessness probably looks something like this:
No music > radio > open ear headphones > closed ear headphones > earbuds
They generally don't use the siren when a patient is on board, it stresses them out. The only thing you did was prevent them from getting to the victim.
Helmet speakers are terrible. Wind noise at highway speed can exceed 100dB, and now you're trying to pump music over that. You won't have much awareness when you've gone deaf.
Most Bikers do not listen to music anyway, we get earplugs so the above mentioned wind noise does not deafen us....
Maybe it's just because I'm tall, but I've never understood how anyone could ever miss flashing lights in their mirror. I mean, the thing pretty much is right in my face and I have to duck to see under it to the right.
I think you are giving the average driver's spatial awareness too much credit.
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Definitely, but that's no reason to make it worse =p
Most Bluetooth headsets do not count as "hands-free," especially for dialing. Neither are most of those BT speakerphones or the new "green" solar-powered ones that clip to your visor. My Parrot SK4000 motorcycle kit does count as hands-free. Heck, it syncs with my phone book so the phone doesn't even have to support voice dialing.
They make $200 in-ear headphones + earplugs specifically for motorcycles. I guess it matters less when you already can't hear traffic over your exhaust, wind noise, helmet, and earplugs.
Riders have to be visually more aware of what it going on around them anyway... you are trained to pretend you are invisible and that no one sees you, even when making direct eye contact. You just don't register as a vehicle in some poeple's minds.
That said, cars that have tried to occupy my lane have gone completely undeterred by my little "meep meep" horn. It's been very clear to me that they often can't hear me, so something needs to be said about THEIR ability to hear outside noises. All their seals and vibration dampeners to reduce ambient noise from the road, wind, engine, and other external sources have their drawbacks. I mean, being exposed on the bike, it sounds plenty loud enough to me, but a stupidly loud one can be had for about $10 so I will be remedying that.
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