Listening to Earphones while Cycling

[Upchuck]

that's a pretty illogical conclusion to come to, tbf.

Not really. I didn't see one cyclists wearing earphones. I wasn't at all surprised. Commonsense tells you they are dangerous when riding in traffic. If you want to go for a ride in isolated woods with them on when you only risk your own safety then by all means, but don't risk mine just cos you want a bit of Bon Jovi on a Friday afternoon.

 

[dodgepot]

no it is. even if they *might* be safe to wear, doesn't mean everyone will be wearing them. does everyone on the bus wear headphones?

 

[Upchuck]

no it is. even if they *might* be safe to wear, doesn't mean everyone will be wearing them. does everyone on the bus wear headphones?

Seems I may have misunderstood the debate...

 

[mauvais]

As you can see the street narrows beyond the junction thanks to the addition of a cycle lane to the right hand side. I almost never use this cycle lane given that I usually queue up on the left hand side of the junction thanks to the manner in which I filter into the road at an earlier point.

Today I was queued up on the left in the ASL, a little ahead of the rest of the traffic. When the lights went green, I went off, albeit a little bit slowly because of a new chain that I had fitted last night occasionally slipping.

This meant that as I approached the area where the road narrowed the traffic behind had gained on me a little.

At this point I heard the engine noise of a substantial lorry shifting up a gear and accelerating.

Prompted by this I looked to my right and lo and behold a large lorry was bearing down on my shoulder, filtering into the narrowed road.

I braked, he went by and everything was fine.

However if I hadn't heard that gear shift from the lorry the situation would have panned out in a far more dangerous manner.

It was a minor incident and nothing came of it but it was also just the kind of scenario in which a couple of late or stupid decisions could have changed the game completely.

Good stuff. Thanks for that.

It's difficult to objectively assess your own behaviour, because as soon as you start thinking about it it becomes conscious. However I almost always check over my shoulder when the road narrows (e.g. before going past traffic islands) for exactly this sort of thing. I hope I eliminate almost all detectable risk by doing stuff like that.

I think you need this kind of experience though before you'd ever consider doing that - it's based on a perception of what might happen, and in turn probably stems from near misses - and I suspect that anyone still picking that up might well need all their senses 100%. Horses for courses.

 

[gentlegreen]

Good stuff. Thanks for that.

It's difficult to objectively assess your own behaviour, because as soon as you start thinking about it it becomes conscious. However I almost always check over my shoulder when the road narrows (e.g. before going past traffic islands) for exactly this sort of thing. I hope I eliminate almost all detectable risk by doing stuff like that.

I think you need this kind of experience though before you'd ever consider doing that - it's based on a perception of what might happen, and in turn probably stems from near misses - and I suspect that anyone still picking that up might well need all their senses 100%. Horses for courses.

^^^^^ I think that's it - and I feel somewhat disingenuous because I'm cycling suburban roads and lanes I've done every working day for over 20 years - I prefer to predict than to detect - I know every bump and shadow of those roads 360 degrees - I am mustering up a video in my head right now ... and to be fair I am incredibly distinctive though having lights - unique on the whole planet... so I'm guessing I have tamed a great many of the drivers I mix with. I'm on a new route at the moment and touch wood they all get my message.