Can you wear headphones while driving?

[TREMAiNE]

I seem to be reading conflicting information on this but can I wear over-ear headphones while driving?

If no, what is the 'crime' that you commit?
If my car had a radio, presumably I could have the volume on max but that is legal.

[sixor8]

Yes, you can. You don't have to legally inform DVLA if you are deaf, after all, because visual acuity is much more important.

Personally, I don't think it's a good idea because unless you ARE deaf, you're more likely to be used to audio cues from satnavs, horns, and emergency sirens for example. It can also rile up other road users.

[Drumroll]

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

[MustangGT]

Drumroll said:

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

This. I imagine it would also be possible to bring a prosecution for 'careless' or 'without due care and attention' should the worst happen.

[surveyor]

Drumroll said:

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

I used to think this until I drove a hired motorhome during the first covid lockdown. I could not begin to describe the noise behind me. Noise-cancelling headphones saved me!

[TREMAiNE]

Drumroll said:

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

My (mostly) daily driver is a Morgan 3 Wheeler.
My issue isn't that I don't want to hear any sounds, it's that I hear way too many of the other sounds.

I've been wearing noise-cancelling headphones which do the job but someone made an off-hand comment I'd be getting 3 points which prompted me to start looking into it.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

TREMAiNE said:

My (mostly) daily driver is a Morgan 3 Wheeler.
My issue isn't that I don't want to hear any sounds, it's that I hear way too many of the other sounds.

I've been wearing noise-cancelling headphones which do the job but someone made an off-hand comment I'd be getting 3 points which prompted me to start looking into it.

Yeah, they're an uninformed idiot.

I've almost always got some in-ear headphones in whilst driving and listening to wither a podcast or some music.

[hurstg01]

my mate has an older car as his daily which doesn't have a decent stereo, so downloads podcasts to spotify on his phone and listen to that on his commute through his headphones

Edited by hurstg01 on Monday 28th November 12:50

[TheInternet]

surveyor said:

I used to think this until I drove a hired motorhome during the first covid lockdown. I could not begin to describe the noise behind me. Noise-cancelling headphones saved me!

Maybe go a bit faster or pull over from time to time?

[surveyor]

TheInternet said:

surveyor said:

I used to think this until I drove a hired motorhome during the first covid lockdown. I could not begin to describe the noise behind me. Noise-cancelling headphones saved me!

Maybe go a bit faster or pull over from time to time?

Plates, pans, pots etc.

There was no traffic on the road to get stuck behind me.

[RB Will]

TREMAiNE said:

Drumroll said:

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

My (mostly) daily driver is a Morgan 3 Wheeler.
My issue isn't that I don't want to hear any sounds, it's that I hear way too many of the other sounds.

I've been wearing noise-cancelling headphones which do the job but someone made an off-hand comment I'd be getting 3 points which prompted me to start looking into it.

I was going to say it depends on the car, normal saloon etc no need for headphones unless serious track spec. I wear in ear ones if I'm out by myself in my Nomad. I find they actually help with hearing outside noises. They mute the awful wind noise and quieter rattles and whines of the car but still let you hear anything important.

I'm not 100% on the legality. I've never been told off but then in ear ones, often under a helmet a bit undetectable. A Nomad owning friend got a telling off for his over ear cans if I remember correctly, but that was in Portugal, and he may have been driving like a willy immediately prior too

[TheLoraxxZeus]

surveyor said:

I used to think this until I drove a hired motorhome during the first covid lockdown. I could not begin to describe the noise behind me. Noise-cancelling headphones saved me!

You probably want some ear plugs bud, not noise cancelling headphones. You can pickup good quality ones for fk all money that reduce the overall volume level without making you completely deaf to your surroundings.

[Shiv_P]

You can put headphones in transparency mode which passes through audio, which is a good work around if you don't have bluetooth in your car I guess...

[QBee]

I cannot see a problem.

Only issue would be a due care and attention one if you weren't being visually observant.

My wife is profoundly deaf and has no driving restrictions imposed by the DVLA or her insurers. And no compulsion to wear hearing aids.
She does have a cochlear implant, which gives her about 40% hearing, but it is non-directional, so she has to look for the blue lights if she hears sirens.

But on longer journeys she tends to take off the cochlear and go back to zero hearing, because she finds it less tiring than trying to decipher random noises.
Of course, as a result of being deaf all her life she is much more aware of visual cues.

[Tommo87]

An assumption. But, i always thought they were illegal, because of the reduced ability to hear ambient noise etc.


Im glad I just book marked and came back.

[otolith]

I can hear more exterior noise in my Elise with earbuds in than I could in my E class with the stereo on. Consider something really properly sound insulated like an S-class - is that illegal? Dangerous?

[donkmeister]

I was going to mention that wearing headphones while driving will mean everyone will know you are a knob, but I was picturing someone in a hatchback obliviously pulling out on a roundabout (that's the time I usually spot headphones on drivers).

But driving a Morgan 3-wheeler... Surely earplugs under your leather flying cap would be more appropriate and less likely to get blown off at speed?

[Mabbs9]

If there was a problem with using them then logic would say there should also be a limit to how loud you can play music. Both would stop you hearing external sounds.

[Paul_M3]

For longer journeys with prolonged motorway speeds in my Exige I use these:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00REB9VTO/ref...

They do a good job of reducing wind/road noise, but you can still listen to the stereo and hear the outside world ok.

[Aretnap]

MustangGT said:

Drumroll said:

Why would you, want to isolate yourself from the sounds around you?

You know things like emergency vehicles sirens, even your own car having an issue.

I love my music but never have it load enough that I can't hear what is going on around me.

This. I imagine it would also be possible to bring a prosecution for 'careless' or 'without due care and attention' should the worst happen.

There would have to be a defect in your actual driving (weaving across the road, pulling out in front of someone etc etc) for you to be prosecuted for careless driving. And if there's a defect in your actual driving, you can be prosecuted for careless driving with or without the headphones.

At worst the fact that you were wearing headphones would be an aggravating factor (ie something that doesn't affect your guilt, but might affect the penalty) but I'm not convinced even if that.