People driving with earphones on....

mufc802 said:
Saw a guy with headphones in today, he had his indicator on for about a minute on the motorway unaware.
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There's a whole lot of people wearing earphones on my daily commute then.

Incidentally, I've been in a double glazed Bentley. You couldn't hear a thing outside the car at speed with the radio on a moderate volume. You could argue that anything with a loud exhaust was the same. What about motorbikes?
 
bradUK said:
There's a whole lot of people wearing earphones on my daily commute then.

Incidentally, I've been in a double glazed Bentley. You couldn't hear a thing outside the car at speed with the radio on a moderate volume. You could argue that anything with a loud exhaust was the same. What about motorbikes?
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Bikers are far more exposed to all the elements and the senses than any car driver, except perhaps ones in a caterham or Ariel atom. :D

Most bikers actually wear earplugs to prevent hearing loss due to wind noise (I do, I ride a very quiet 125cc bike, the wind noise at 50mph or above is far louder than the bike). I have no problems hearing ambulances/police cars before they've even come into view. In fact with ear plugs in I can hear more, because I'm not being deafened by wind noise.

Anyway, exhausts sound different depending on whether you're behind or in front of the vehicle, or you're the driver/rider or outside of the car/bike. Bikes need loud pipes due to drivers wearing headphones or listening to loud music completely unaware of what's going on around them :D;)
 
As long as they look in their mirrors often and don't flick ash and fag butts out of the windows then whats the problem?
 
yes but the brunt of this thread is talking about being able to hear your surroundings, which is not a pre requisite for driving. and as for the loud music being distracting, where the **** do you draw the line? remove stereos? put the driver in a soundproof box so they cant be distracted by passengers?
 
Gaygle said:
It's not the same at all. Deaf people drive because the benefits to them outweigh the risks. However, a person will all their senses choosing to block on of them out is stupid. A person with all their senses will be more aware of things going on than someone missing their hearing.
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That's one of the most backward examples of logic I've seen on OcUK in weeks. Which is really saying something.

"Deaf people drive because the benefits to them outweigh the risks".

Bravo.

I have excellent hearing, and I drive a car because the benefits to me outweigh the risks too. Same reason I drink water and breathe shared oxygen, and fly on an aeroplane to go to faraway places.

In an ideal world every single person in control of a 2 ton metal road bullet would have full command of each of their senses. But this isn't an ideal world.. So we legislate accordingly.

You either allow people with a decreased situational awareness to use the roads. Or you don't. And I know 4-5 people who are either partially or totally deaf and have far better driving records than the people that I know who drive with full situational awareness.

So how do you decide?. And are headphones a distraction in their own right? (like a car radio, or a loud engine, or a noisy passenger?), or just the loss of a sense?. Are we banning deaf people from the roads?.. Or are we going after distractions. If we're going after distractions, then I want your kids banned from the back of your car. And the noisy passenger. And I want adverts and signs on the side of the road banned. And any kind of in-car interactive buttons and switches and so on. Car stereos, etc. No point banning one distraction and leaving a hundred others.

"a person will all their senses choosing to block on of them out is stupid"

If you're going to outlaw being stupid, we're going to need more prisons..
 
Jokester said:
I've noticed this as well, though more full over ear headphones. Got to wonder what folk are thinking.
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I've noticed a guy driving on my route to work with over ears on. Can't blame him though, as he drives a Reliant Kitten that tops out at about 70 with a loud exhaust. Actually, they may even be ear defenders :p

But yes, earphones whilst driving is generally completely stupid.
 
Because they isolate sound significantly, why would you want to reduce your awareness of your surroundings? Some people are barely able to drive as it is.

It's the same as why you shouldn't drive with sunglasses at night.
 
Minstadave said:
Because they isolate sound significantly, why would you want to reduce your awareness of your surroundings? Some people are barely able to drive as it is.

It's the same as why you shouldn't drive with sunglasses at night.
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using vision to drive is a lot more important than hearing.

last time i checked you only have to do an eye test before a driving exam, not a hearing test as well.
bazzabear said:
You think you'll put a spanner in the arguments by raising a point which has already been raised and rebuffed several hours before in the thread? ;)
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and what?

its clearly a valid argument that people are overlooking.

deaf people are allowed to drive but people that i have perfect hearing are not allowed to wear headphones while driving.

and for those that say its the loud music that distract you while driving. ill just go and remove my stereo out of my now then?
 
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benneh said:
That's one of the most backward examples of logic I've seen on OcUK in weeks. Which is really saying something.
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benneh said:
You either allow people with a decreased situational awareness to use the roads. Or you don't.
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That's pretty special, you managed to break the record for stupid logic in your own response. You might as well have said: "You either allow paedophiles to live in the community. Or you don't". Absolutely blinding logic.

People with one eye (and hence no depth perception) are allowed to drive. By your reckoning it should be fine for a person with two functional eyes to jump into a car and stick an eye patch on; because people who live with one eye can gradually learn to work around the limitations, someone with two eyes should be perfectly safe to drive the second they put an eye patch on, right?

benneh said:
If you're going to outlaw being stupid, we're going to need more prisons..
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There are many levels of stupidity which are already outlawed.
 
opstrat said:
and what?

its clearly a valid argument that people are overlooking.

deaf people are allowed to drive but people that i have perfect hearing are not allowed to wear headphones while driving.
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Deaf people don't have the choice though, so it's deemed as being an acceptable risk for the small number of deaf people on the roads. Deliberately reducing your own situational awareness just so you can listen to some music without the distraction of what else is going on about you is potentially reckless.
 
opstrat said:
and for those that say its the loud music that distract you while driving. ill just go and remove my stereo out of my now then?
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Your stereo doesn't block out the outside world to the degree headphones do.

Common sense should tell you headphones are bloody stupid.

It's the same as crossing the road with headphones on, yes you can do it with just your vision but there is a substantially greater risk of an incident if you do.
 
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It's not so much the sound, but more the way that earphones tend to isolate you from what is happening around you. You'll also notice that wearers tend to move their head a lot less (fear of them falling out or whatever). None of this will help with the care and attention with which they drive.
 
danza said:
I've noticed a guy driving on my route to work with over ears on. Can't blame him though, as he drives a Reliant Kitten that tops out at about 70 with a loud exhaust. Actually, they may even be ear defenders :p

But yes, earphones whilst driving is generally completely stupid.
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spotted a guy in a rather loud 7esque car at GLA the other day wearing ear defenders.
 
Can't believe I am sharing roads with people that think it's ok to wear headphones while driving.
 
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