London cyclists: How many more have to die

[Crispy]

It's legal, but it's not clever, IMO. more sensory inputs = good

 

[Mrs Miggins]

...and if you'd been aware of what was behind you at all times, you wouldn't have been surprised by the coaches. Boing, boing...

...I was aware of them and took evasive action...I heard them coming...with my ears

 

[kyser_soze]

I'm not saying it's clever, but AFAIC relying wholly on vision means I take nowt for granted...

 

[Lemon Eddy]

You drive in a sound insulating box with a stereo, don't be a twat.

Shit comparison. That metal box is driven by someone with mirrors all around him to let them see what's behind easily. It's big enough that people are more likely to notice it. If somehow despite the mirrors and bigger visibility circumstances still come together to cause a crash, the driver is surrounded by seat belts, airbags, crumple zones, and all manner of things that will help to keep him going.

Whereas on my bike there's no mirrors, and despite being a fat git in dayglo yellow I still manage to be invisible to most drivers - so I'd say blocking out one of the two senses I've got that lets me know what's happening (and the only one with 360 degree coverage) would be pretty fucking stupid.

 

[ajdown]

... and of course we don't all drive cars with huge big thumping stereos that block out the sound around us, we also don't necessarily have air conditioning meaning we open the windows.

 

[mauvais]

Well, I can't hear shit. Ever watched those boring commute videos people film on their bikes, where it's all WHHSSSSSHHHHHHBRRRRRSSSHHHHHHHH? Above 15mph or so, that's all I hear.

I make up for that by checking behind every few seconds, which I never see anyone else do by the way. I have music at a listenable volume so when not moving quickly, I can still hear the important stuff - e.g. when I'm at the front at the lights, drivers behind are wondering why I'm not going anywhere on green, just as they nearly get taken out by the ambulance coming through the junction.

As it is, I find riding without them demotivating, and my mind wanders off to thinking about all sorts of inane things like how to make it rain gravy (what would happen if you tried to seed clouds with a mix of potassium and Bisto?) and before you know it I've crashed into the back of someone.

 

[kyser_soze]

All of the above same for me. Apart from the bit about raining gravy.

 

[Crispy]

even the gravy?

 

[kyser_soze]

Do you know, your reply hadn't appeared even after I'd made the gravy-based edit...weird...

 

[gentlegreen]

Why some kind of hat gg?

I always wear a hat - I have no hair to speak of.

 

[gentlegreen]

Cycling with headphones/earphones is just suicide.

It depends entirely on the context.

In my case it's cycle paths and suburban roads where it takes the edge off the sound of static traffic.
(20 years, blah, blah, open back 'phones, gentle ambient music, blah, blah ...)