Cycling in Melbourne Australia
Hands up if you can only ride with an iPod in your ears
As reported in The Age today, this bloke is:
1. Very very very lucky
2. And really should know better
The need for hypervigilance is paramount while commuting - well duh!
Then why would anyone compound the risk of annihilation by other larger vehicular road users by cranking the iPod up to 11 and pumping along to Eye of the tiger?
Oh lucky lucky man.
1. Very very very lucky
2. And really should know better
The need for hypervigilance is paramount while commuting - well duh!
Then why would anyone compound the risk of annihilation by other larger vehicular road users by cranking the iPod up to 11 and pumping along to Eye of the tiger?
Oh lucky lucky man.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Simon Nix on -
I'm of the same mind (especially if the music was loud enough to block out the *dingdingdingding* of an approaching tram) but in terms of headphones being an obvious risk factor the same could easily be said of riding a brakeless fixed gear bike, or riding without a hi-vis jacket (I don't) or a helmet mirror (nope) etc, etc. People take the risks (or add the difficulty) they think they can get away with, and it's certainly their right to do that.
New riders should be very careful, of course, but in the end you pays your money and you takes your chances.
Be careful out there people.
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Permalink Reply by Euan on -
Using eyes is far more important. People are blaming the iPod because it was there, people are ignoring the fact that this man didn't look for a tram on a tram track.
That's far more `duh.'
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Permalink Reply by LongLoad on -
I agree. In the past I have listened to music that has been at a level that I could still easily hear important traffic noises. (this usually meant that I could hear dialogue but not music). I have also ridden on country roads where going at speed I could not hear a motor bike approaching from behind. I would think that most motorists, pedestrians, cyclists would manage to see a tram before hearing it.
In any case, a tram and a bike have colided, one of them should have been giving way and LOOKING out for the other.
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Permalink Reply by Jack on -
I don't really have an ipod but I have on the odd occasion used a pda with TomTom navigation software installed and I use headphones as the little speaker is too weak.
I have an Amateur Radio that I can fit on the handlebars but it is too much of a distraction. A couple of weeks before the fellow rode off the boardwalk in Vermont South I did the same thing, well I did not ride off but got my wheels caught on the edge of it probably caused by being distracted by the radio in front of me and then I went over the edge.
I now leave that sort of stuff off the bike it is not worth it. Except the TomTom was good value and does not talk all the time.
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Permalink Reply by Euan on
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Using a radio and listening to music are two different things. What takes our attention is not so much the sound but interpreting; trying to fill in the gaps of body language and coming up with a reply.
Listening to music is much more passive, indeed ther have been studies which indicate listening to certain types of music aids concentration for surgeons.
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Permalink Reply by Jack on
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I was only looking at the radio probably the same as looking at the cycle computer but I probably had my head down too much causing the accident.
As for the headphones, is it not illegal to drive a car with them on? if that is the case then banning headphones whilst riding seems equal. Maybe we need a boom box trailer like the one that the guys from Coffee Supreme had for the Melburn Roobaix. No headphones required but ear plugs may help.
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Permalink Reply by Euan on
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It's not the looking at it that matters so much, it's your brain activity. When you're having a conversation on the radio or the phone, you're trying to fill in the missing body language in order to correctly interpret the tone of the conversation. Voice alone does not convey the full meaning so we have to work hard to fill in the gaps.
If you're arguing for parity, then we should argue that car hifi be removed from cars and sound insulation be dropped to zero - bad argument IMO. We are not the same as cars, let's not pretend we are.
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Permalink Reply by Neil on -
Note the poll question: Should it be illegal for cyclists to wear headphones? currently running 2 to 1 in favour of knee jerk reaction. Apparently it is all right for motorists to be deprived of most of their senses when driving but cyclists must again be legislated against "for their own protection".
BULLSH*T!!!
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Permalink Reply by SimonG on -
My thoughts exactly, drivers with Doof Doof so loud you can hear them from a block away are just a sense deprived as a cyclist with an iPod. Plus they can injure everyone on the road, cyclists can only injure themselves, or pedestrians i guess!
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Permalink Reply by Chris Harris on -
Unless you have a V8 Ute - then you can play Thunderstruck at full volume while doing donuts.
Surely that's OK?
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