Driving with Headphones - Page 14

 

 

Pilots do it "on the fly". Couldn't resist 

I noticed a message on my HiFiMAN RE-ZERO case warning not to use earphones while driving, and it just made me laugh. I thought it was absolutely ridiculous, as if a pack of gum would say "WARNING! Chewing gum while riding your bike is highly unsafe!".

 

I drive for a living, and I've always listened to music while driving. Using IEMs to further block out ambient noise is only a positive to me. I use my eyes when I drive, and if there's a mechanical problem it's easier to feel than to hear it.

 

I'm not saying you should all disregard the warnings, I just find 'em funny - I would never have thought this was a problem. I've spent 8-9 hours a day behind the wheel for almost 7 years, and am now awaiting my first pair of custom molded IEMs - music listening is going nowhere but up.

Sorry to bring this back from a few pages ago, but I couldn't resist pointing this out.

I find it odd that you feel the need to taste and smell to drive, what could you possibly be licking ? lol

Now back to the point, I think car audio is far to expensive to deal with, but I agree that headphones are relatively unsafe. Now for quality of the audio, I can see a pair of open cans, but super isolation IEMs seems like it would be a little distracting to just be able to completely remove yourself from the outside of your car acoustically.

And regardless of whether you want to install high end car audio, if you want to kill some road noise for your standard speakers, or your headphones if you find isolation necessary, why not try some dynamat or some other dampener to help out there?

 

 

One of the things I see so often repeated here is how better isolation would "remove yourself" from the vehicle or cause you to become completely "lost in the music." I don't really get it. I can see relaxing and letting the music take over while you're a passenger or sitting in a cozy chair at home, but even as adults, I'm a little lost as to how so few of you seem to believe yourselves capable of focusing on the act of driving despite the addition of music in place of road noise.

Your brain doesn't ever focus on the basics of driving, it's the same while riding a bike. I don't get completely lost in the music unless I choose to, but I don't need to actively think about driving except for when I'm going somewhere I've never been and I'm trying to find the way.

Hearing one thing doesn't impede my ability to see another.

Edit: I misread the above post, but my sentiments stay the same.

Regardless of the legality in your location, as a law enforcement officer I urge everyone NOT to wear headphones while driving.  Many times in heavy traffic there will be a vehicle not paying attention and apparently oblivious to the siren behind them...why?  Because they are wearing their stock iPod earbuds.  I will say I would be less infuriated when I finally got around them if I looked over and they were wearing a set of Grado or Fostex cans ;)  I've seen it many times and I have never been patrol or traffic being a "fed" but state and county police probably see it daily.

 

I see plenty of people doing that without anything in their ears! I think the problem is that some people are just completely oblivious no matter what. It doesn't take much to get a driver's license.
 

Seriously.  I learned more about how to properly handle a car from the license tests on Gran Turismo 3 on my PS2 than I did in driver's ed.  If you can't explain the basics of how a car works and the basic physics involved in making a turn you shouldn't be allowed to drive.

I hate people who I see driving badly with cell phones.HATE.I see these people every day.I've never noticed if a bad driver was wearing headphones. Maybe I've missed something but.....
 

On a long stretch I at least need to have one ear with music.  I fall into highway hypnosis really easy and the only way to keep me focused is a playlist the randomly jumps genres that don't mesh well jarring my attention back.

 

So it's either me being partially distracted or completely not there . . . I think I'll go with partially distracted.

It's not just sirens, it's everything else. You can get lost in musical reverie... and hit people. Walking people, people in other cars - anything. When you plug your music in, you shut part of your awareness out, and I'm not talking just about aural awareness - I'm talking about intuition, surroundings' sense, etc.. It seems that a lot of the people who drive with earphones in come from countries that have little to no traffic taming. They have school, maybe, but getting a license is as easy as running around a block and turning into a u-turn. 

 

Those systems breed feckless drivers. Whatever, that is normal. I see it in Canada, I've seen it in the States, and I've seen in Australia, too. I'm sure it happens in other places. The point is that people think the car is their plaything and never that it is really a massive weapon that they should be in control of, starting first in their heads. 

 

I've railed on this before, partially because I am a modern social contractor, and partially because I've had friends who've been very badly hurt because drivers were listening to earphones. Whether it's the cables rubbing the neck, the ear being blocked, the tunes being loud, or fun, it doesn't matter: earphones and driving do NOT mix. It is sad that the attitude of drivers is that it isn't a dangerous factor, that driving can be taken lightly, but that is the culture that people grow up with. 

 

I won't get mad anymore, as that doesn't help, but it gets tiring to see this over and over again, especially here.
 

 

Well, if you are the kind of person who does than then you shouldn't listen to music at all, through your a car stereo or headphones.  Music keeps me awake and concentrating.

If you can't drive well enough with headphones than you should stay away from driving, period. I agree that driving is serious, and alot of people do take it lightly, but I disagree that music is a deciding factor in accidents, much less the actual use of headphones.

 

 

I like to be as aware of my surroundings as possible. All mirrors are used, music is never turned up too loud and I rarely if ever look at anyone else in my car when talking.

Following many drivers, watching them as they keep turning their heads to be sure to make eye-contact with their passengers as they are deep in expressive conversation, always floors me. Have eye-contact with the road, not your guest.

This morning I passed someone with a cigarette in one hand and a can of coke in the other.

 

Bad drivers, drivers that can not drive well or make very bad decisions are made much worse by distractions. Good drivers have their driving abilities compromised by distractions.

I don't think most people can drive well. I don't think most people can handle shutting off their ears to what is around them.

 

There are too many distractions already. It's foolish to add to them.

I find constant wind and road noise far more distracting than music.  If you find music more distracting then don't listen to it.