Nine in ten people back headphone ban for cyclists, says BBC survey

If they're going to ban headphone wearing by cyclists, then it would only be fair to extend the ban to pedestrians, joggers, horse riders and also ban in car entertainment...

careful what you wish for...

well I completely disagree with the view that using headphones are 'dangerous' - and as others have said - it seems to be a view that drivers may hold, who probably wouldn't go out cycling anyway.

If the argument is 'anything that reduces your attention level from 100% should be banned' then also car radios should definitely be banned, as should squabbling children in cars, oh also ban the hard of hearing / deaf population from setting foot on a road too.

Not only that, but I dispute the findings that music can reduce alertness. Perhaps if you cut completely cut off one of your senses then maybe there's something in it - but do the researchers not realise the wind noise in your ears is as loud as the music anyway?!

On my commute to work during which I don't wear headphones there is a section which can be quite busy with articulated lorries. When I hear them behind me, I pull in to let them pass. Often times I get a thumbs up or acknowledgement that I have been considerate. I like to think that in some instances this has reinforced the idea that if we're all a bit considerate we can share the roads safely. At the very least, if this lorry driver sees me again s/he will give me plenty of space when passing because I have not held him/her up in the past. This is why I don't wear earphones, but also if some kn*b does run me off my bike, god forbid, then s/he will have no defence in court: Hi-Vis, no earphones, lights and a helmet so it must have been the driver's fault (that is if the sun wasn't out on that day).

More shitty journalism from the BBC.

What they should have done was ask if headphone usage for cyclists should be banned and then immediately after ask if they agree drivers should get a years automatic ban if caught using a mobile device seeing how evidence shows they are more distracted than drunk drivers.

Catch out all the hypocritical shitbags with that one.

And how does listening to the radio affect car drivers, is that going to be banned too. Car windows block out noise, perhaps it should be mandated that all vehicle windows be opened whilst the vehicle is moving .

Bad science - the people were asked to self assess, they don't appear to have done any meaningful tests such as response time tests.

I vote that the BBC and tabloids be banned from doing polls about banning things.

I don't like the tone of the article. Cyclists 'admitting' to wearing headphones as if they breaking the law - they're not. And just how loud would music have to be to drown out traffic noise? It'd be deafening. Wind noise is much louder.
Personally I listen to radio 4 on my commute. It keeps me updated as to what time it is and I can either tune out the boring bits or enjoy the 6:30 comedy. Sometimes I'll have music on (usually during election time) but that's quiet as well. I can hear traffic AND music/radio. I have a volume control and can turn it down if it gets a bit loud but to be honest I have have the radio warbling in my ear and still hold a conversation. I listen to radio or music in my car, so why should I have a boring commute in silence?

It's interesting that when I did my long tours (LeJog and East-West) I took the ipod but never used it; just didn't want it.

I'll let car drivers tell me what to do when I don't see ANY using mobile phones, talking to their passenger whilst simultaneously looking at the passenger (not the road) and waving their hands around, or the best one of all, reading the newspaper - whilst driving.

Most of the time on a bike you don't need anything like 100% concentration- even in rush hour London there's time to check out the buildings and things around you as you ride.

On the occasions when you do need to really focus to keep out of trouble it's not because of anything bike related, it's due to the environment being chaotic- pedestrians jaywalking, cars making unpredictable or illegal moves, potholes etc.

If this is about concentration then apply it to all road users, not just cyclists, and ban people after night shifts, or when they've been up all night with their kids.

Otherwise fix the environment that makes using the road need 100% focus, or leave us to judge when we do or don't need that extra 10% of concentration.

I would accept a slight improvement is likely if you ban them but like others evolution has decided that my ears are much better at hearing things in front of me than behind thus for the majority of us cyclists we would gain next to nothing.

I tend to think people enclosed in a steel and glass box tend to have more difficulty hearing things even without music.

I think a focus on improving cycling routes and the behaviour of all those who use roads would bear more fruit.

The BBC's constant descent into Daily Mail territory is at best amusing. At worst, a deeply sinister partner in the media's willingness to keep the public ignorant, mis-informed and riled up.

*cough* scrap the license fee.

Trying to ban head phones from bikes is just a simple act of spite. It doesn’t do anything. It just makes frustrated drivers feel better, because they are giving cyclist, an “out group” a kicking. It’s very much like voting BNP or UKIP. Because you feel life isn’t what you hoped it would be, it’s nice to be able to blame your problems on someone else.

Weather its traffic, or lack of housing, It is irrational scape-goating. People feel like they have had to take a load of shit and now they feel it’s only fair that some other group takes a load of shit. It doesn’t even have to make sense or work, they just want to see some else freedoms constrained.

At the end of the day opinions an anecdote, are a lazy basis for implementing more laws. If you don’t have a good evidence base, then it is nothing more than political gesturing and its quite nasty.

The reduction in concentration is a seperate arguement to the aware of your surroundings one. The second is a bit silly in my opinion - I normally can't hear much over the wind and can't act on what I do hear anyway - but the first argument is theoretically valid. It doesn't justify a ban in my opinion, but it can't be dismissed with the same reasoning that dismisses the second.

The thing is that we already know most collisions between bikes and motor vehicles are the fault of the motorist. We also don't have any evidence that, from the smaller pool of collisions where the cyclist is at fault, a significant number of collisions have headphones as a contributory factor.

A drop in concentration under test conditions could easily be mitigated if people wearing headphones tended to adopt more defensive riding strategies to compensate. The article even mentions that wearing headphones correlated with reduced speed. The only way to test properly would be to look at the KSI rates for cyclists that wear headphones and to control for other potential contributory factors. Even then, it's going to be hard to argue that a ban is justifiable when people in cars are still free to listen to music, hold conversations with passengers, talk on hands free kits etc.

I fear that just banning headphones would be an extreme simplification. Your brains already filters out the majority of noises entering your consciousness so you are never going to hear everything -especially in the manic din of an urban environment.

Personally I tend to listen to spoken word pod-casts rather than music on my commute as the natural silences between words allow me to still have a pretty good idea of what's going on around me. I also deliberately use a cheaper pair of headphones that don't block out noise very well.

However, although I don't think that you can't cycle safely wearing headphones listening to music, and don't subscribe to enforcing wearing helmets. It is still statistically safer to cycle than drive (both on the basis of accidents and effects on health).

My earsbuds are open so I can hear the sound of the road, etc., above the level of the music. Oh, and I use them for running, not cycling, but the effect is the same...

Great, MORE fucking Paper Laws that will be Arbitrarily enforced.

Sure, just pass another law that takes yet another piece of Liberty and Freedom away from mankind. For FUCKS sakes, what is wrong with the STATISTS and the muppets. So fucking IGNORANT. Yes, please, save me from myself, because I need saving. Get fucked. Politicians should be hanged, every single last one of those Nationalistic Western Order NAZI mother fuckers.

I dont see any problem with riding and listening to music as long as it isnt so loud as to drown out your hearing altogether. I find that too distracting but YMMV.

I do listen to music when I ride but I only wear the left earbud when on the road which is enough to give me that extra bit of sense. Having said that I often find that the wind noise is enough of a distraction so listening to music would not make any difference. However I will ride with both earbuds when on a traffic free path when I dont have to worry about cars coming alongside.

This study only proves 9 out of 10 people will answer a question before engaging brain, if only to prove they know nothing of the subject.

"It was interesting in that piece that the researchers suggested that a cyclist with headphones on (presumably at a less-than-hard-rock volume) could hear more around them than a car occupant with the windows closed and the radio off!"

Exactly. There are more drivers, so banning car stereos would improve safety more than banning headphones for cyclists.

While we're at it, institute mandatory helmets for driving as that would save lives, there's actual solid data saying so.

Bet drivers wouldn't agree with that?

In other news, 9 out of 10 people who don't cycle think their opinion on how cyclists should ride counts for anything.

It's a silly, cynical piece of journalism pretending to be about concern for cyclists when actually it's just a vehicle for people to vent their prejudices...

I rarely wear headphones on the bike these days. I used to when I commuted but these days I don't get out as often and have a greater appriciation for my surrondings when I do.

As for the safety aspect, I've got into the habit of wearing a helmet a lot of the time since I started racing. If anything stops me from hearing things around me it's the wind roar from my hat. We should obviously ban helmets on this basis.

I did 30 miles home tonight via the back roads and lanes of Hampshire.

The moon and stars were out, it was cold but not too cold, I had some classic tunes playing and it was glorious.

I didn't get killed.

Honestly, anyone who feels that they know what's best for me and wishes to interfere with my simple cycling pleasure can ram it!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't usually hear cars until they are at the side of me, my hearing is perfectly fine, I just can't hear anything for the wind in my ears as I "bowl along". My commute is on rural roads between towns mostly roads that pass fields, often with national speed limits in place (and NO CYCLE LANES thank you Leeds and Wakefield Councils!) as I have mentioned the only notice I get of cars is the millisecond of exhaust rattle before they blast past me on these roads. It makes no difference whether or not I wear anything in my ears, in fact I have considered getting my full ear cans out just to keep my ears warm.

I suspect all this comes from the same concerned group that has berated CB for not wearing a helmet (it was probably his fault for all the cycle accidents that occurred that day as a result of his flouting of nonexistent laws). I'm willing to bet only a minority of these people actually own a bike, let alone regularly cycle.

@flyingsscot what am I supposed to do about this vehicle behind me that I can't hear anyway once above 15mph?

Feel free to wear headphones riding if you've fitted mirrors.

Other than that, you're kidding yourself.

If your ears work, use them.

Motor vehicles, even electric ones, generate noise, you can usually tell how close, how large how fast....before you look to confirm it, prior to altering your course.

Or just ignore this extra information and continue to moan when fuckwit pedestrians with earphones walk out in front of you.

You don't need a helmet, but you need your eyes and ears, so I also advocate specs if riding over 20mph/ downhill to keep the shit and bugs out your eyes.

I nearly got run over from behind last month; I wasn't wearing headphones and cycling over a major highway. The first thing I heard was the car tires screeching as he jammed on the brakes. Having headphones on would have not affected the outcome in any way.

Given cars are pretty quiet these days, I find it impossible to work out if a car is coming from behind or not and whether it's actually going to hit me.

If you really want to institute something, forcing cyclists to use rear-view mirrors would make more sense. Not that that would make much sense at all, but it would be less nonsensical than banning headphones.

This is just "concern trolling" from people that are hostile to the idea of cycling.

I don't use headphones myself. I really like hearing what's around me. But I suspect that it's of less use than it would need to be to justify a ban.

And, if it is going to be banned, how about banning joggers, walkers and car-drivers from using them?