Wearing headphones at the wheel.

[colonel c]

I know wearing headphones (full over-ear type)in public in now considered chic but today I notices two people wearing them whilst driving. FFS! they look stupid enough walking around in public but driving! If there isn't a law against it, there dam well should be.

Edited by colonel c on Thursday 3rd April 23:10

[Geekman]

I'd imagine it's the law that's caused them to wear headphones - cheapest way of legally answering the phone whilst driving.

[TonyTony]

If there was a law against it then deaf people wouldn't be allowed to drive?!

I don't see why you would unless you are using it as handsfree though as somebody has already said.

[Riley Blue]

I think it ought to be one of these:

CD10 Driving without due care and attention
CD20 Driving without reasonable consideration for other road users
CD30 Driving without due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other road users

With music pounding in their ears how are such drivers able to hear other traffic, emergency vehicles etc.?

[trashbat]

What else are you going to ban? ICE? Loud exhausts? Open top cars?

[R1 Indy]

No worse than wearing ear plugs?

Or should i not wear plugs in my 7? (Then just go deaf anyway)

[surveyor]

I've taken to doing this with one ear in one in our cars that I have not yet got around to installing hands free in yet. Works surprisingly well. Keeps me mostly legal while on the phone

[Colonial]

colonel c said:

I know wearing headphones (full over-ear type)in public in now considered chic but today I notices two people wearing them whilst driving. FFS! they look stupid enough walking around in public but driving! If there isn't a law against it, there dam well should be.

Edited by colonel c on Thursday 3rd April 23:10

I have a deaf mate.

Should he not be driving?

[Tribal Chestnut]

Another cyclical thread.

I wear headphones and listen to music in the Eunos if making a long journey. It's not dangerous for me, or anyone else.

I generally won't take calls in the car as a matter of principal.

[ToothbrushMan]

Nothing cynical about this thread at all if youve got your head screwed on.
I saw a guy earlier in the week wearing a massive set of headphones (the sort you used to wear when trialling music in HMV) whilst driving along. I couldnt believe my eyes. Cars isolate you enough from the outside world and this just deadens your senses and must reduce your overall awareness of your surroundings. Vehicles reversing (beep, beep) other vehicles bibbing their horn, cyclist ringing their bells, police /ambulance sirens....wind and road noise, engine noise.....take all those sounds away and I reckon youre at greater risk of having a prang.

Probably the sort of retard that scrapes along the side of another car and doesnt hear a thing and drives off oblivious....the sort of drive I think is increasingly popular on todays roads. Young asian women seem to be top of the "devil may care" school of driving charts atm around my area.

[dave7692]

I like having my music on in the car, however I just spent the money on an FM transmitter rather than a set of headphones, unless you car radio is completely knackered I don't see why headphones should really be necessary.

[Hol]

trashbat said:

What else are you going to ban? ICE? Loud exhausts? Open top cars?

With respect.

The closer the source of a single source of noise is to the ear - the less chance you have of hearing any other source of background noise.


Volume of music obviously DOES come into it, but the vast majority of people would still hear an emergency vehicle siren, lorry horn or person shouting over the speakers.

Stick the same end-volume straight in your ears and you cancel out all other sounds.


Hence, its not the greatest idea when you are supposed to be aware of your surroundings.


But, we live in a free state, so people are left to decide things based on their own intelligence and opinion.

[Hol]

Colonial said:

colonel c said:

I know wearing headphones (full over-ear type)in public in now considered chic but today I notices two people wearing them whilst driving. FFS! they look stupid enough walking around in public but driving! If there isn't a law against it, there dam well should be.

Edited by colonel c on Thursday 3rd April 23:10

I have a deaf mate.

Should he not be driving?

He cannot help his disability and my guess (perhaps you could confirm or deny this) is that he has learnt to compensate for his lack of hearing (of sound waves) with a greater attention to other stimulants.

If so, he is used to doing that 24/7 365days a year.
He is therefore an expert at it and has demonstrated his abolity when he was given his licence.

[trashbat]

Hol said:

With respect.

The closer the source of a single source of noise is to the ear - the less chance you have of hearing any other source of background noise.


Volume of music obviously DOES come into it, but the vast majority of people would still hear an emergency vehicle siren, lorry horn or person shouting over the speakers.

Stick the same end-volume straight in your ears and you cancel out all other sounds.

This isn't necessarily true. I don't wear headphones in a car as I've no reason to, but I used to do it when cycling, and no doubt this will get me a whole barrage of 'that's suicidal' comment. However my choice of headphones - i.e. not isolating, noise cancelling or in-canal ones - and reasonable volume meant that I still had very good aural situational awareness. That's coupled with the fact that I pay constant attention to what's going on around me, which is mostly visual information.

I don't really think headphones of the type I have are much different to speakers in terms of drowning out other sounds; these, FWIW:



I'm all for stopping people doing stupid things, but sometimes it requires a bit more information.

[HorneyMX5]

I've seen this a few times recently with people wearing the big ear covering type, I bet they're noise cancelling ones as well.

I'm in the "It shouldn't be allowed" camp. It removes one of your key senses which you rely on when driving to monitor the world around you. Deaf people have no choice and of course it's fien for them to drive, they afterall have no say in the matter.

Slightly related but I find playing Forza or GT with the sound right down or muted (the wife hates the noise) my laptime suffer badly and I'm less aware fo the cars around my blind spots as I can't hear their engines.

[skyrover]

colonel c said:

I know wearing headphones (full over-ear type)in public in now considered chic but today I notices two people wearing them whilst driving. FFS! they look stupid enough walking around in public but driving! If there isn't a law against it, there dam well should be.

Edited by colonel c on Thursday 3rd April 23:10

Ever driven a lexus?

It's basically like wearing ear defenders

[triggerh4ppy]

Just ban stupid looking headphones. they look rediculous wherever you where them.

I think its worse when I see people with the hood on and then these huge headphones over the top? What is that about? Doesnt whereing your hood make the sound worse?

[Ozzie Osmond]

TonyTony said:

If there was a law against it then deaf people wouldn't be allowed to drive?!

While there is no specific law against wearing headphones you can certainly be nicked for doing it.

In the same way you can be nicked for wearing a helmet when driving on the road.

[dododo]

I was pulled over by the police a few years back for wearing one of those stupid Bluetooth earpieces. Even though I wasn't on a call the policeman said that it could interfere with my hearing of other traffic, particularly emergency vehicles.

I argued that I actually had two ears and therefore was not totally blocking my hearing in both ears - something to which he suggested I was being a smartass and offered to fine me if that could help my understanding of the problem.

Since then I just ensure that any car I buy has a hands-free kit built in.

[mikeyr]

I wear in ear phones, listen to podcasts so only voices. Even at a higher volume it can still be drowned out on a motorway by tyre noise so hardly impairing my senses.

It's certainly less intrusive than listening to loud music through a radio ... or the many motorbikers wearing earplugs!