[dziendobry]

I listen to podcasts with earphones I use Sony MDR-EX51, sometimes with just one in but usually both, there are no laws against it in TX.  I can hear everything going on around me as well as the traffic report when I flip on the AM station.  I have seen quite a few other drivers around here doing the same.  Better then most people pre-occupied texting or gabbing away on their phones.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

When my Pioneer CDPlayer's front panel won't open (and there wasn't any disc in it) I drove with my SR225's around my neck, not my ears. Not dangerousat all if it's in boring as hell bumper-to-bumper traffic.
 
And a question to the motorcyclists in general, and to those with supersports/superbikes/hypersports in particular, can you still hear the stock exhaust with IEMs on?

 

[ForgottenxxRebel]

even though you can say theyre distracted, its just as easy to be distracted by music playing on the car radio.   wearing headphones can;t be the same as texting since youre not taking your eyes off the road while listening.   its more important to see while driving than hear, you see someone crossing the street, cars stopping ahead, you don't hear that. 
 
Quote:

 
Bingo!  Another point that most people miss is that responsible motorcyclists everywhere ride with earplugs so they don't go deaf from the wind noise, regardless of its legality.
 
I know why many of you are reacting negatively to the idea of using headphones while driving.  It's emotional.  Deep down in your gut it can't be right.  I had the same reaction when a friend first told me he wears earplugs under his motorcycle helmet.  I even argued with him about it for a bit.  In the end I didn't have any good arguments for my original position, so I changed my mind.

how did motorcycles come into this??   earplugs aren't distracting, it's more distracting to have a splitting headache from wind noise.    plus you can still hear car horns and sirens with earplugs...you're just not hearing about 25-30 db of wind noise.   
 
i would never even think to ride at road speeds (or highway speeds

) without earplugs.   just about every helmet is noisy as hell.   even at lower speeds offroad i tried looking for quieter helmets.   that's when i read about earplugs on a bike forum about five years ago.  
 

 

[Sumflow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gav007 /img/forum/go_quote.gif  How many people have you seen driving with headphones/earphones on though?  My guess is close to zero. 

The first one we saw today was at the mall, we could clearly see the long white wires from both ears lead down to her ipod, which she adjusted before starting her Van and driving away.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThEvil0nE /img/forum/go_quote.gif

it's illegal... done deal

What law?

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Originally Posted by Nebby /img/forum/go_quote.gif  I'll list both Vehicle Codes here

Awesome that makes 3 states...
 

 

[ForgottenxxRebel]

i feel embarrassed.  i'm young and just took a written drivers test not too long ago.  i should remember, but i dont remember seeing anything about headphones while driving.   honestly, i don't think anyone cares that much.   except people on these forums who act like the moral police.

 

[Painful Chafe]

Quote:

I hate to rain on everyone's parade of self righteousness, but I fail to see how listening to headphones is different from just cranking your car's stereo.  Hearing is almost completely inconsequential to driving.  When was the last time you heard someone signal anything useful with their horn?  Emergency vehicles have flashing lights which are much more noticeable than sirens.  Many modern luxury cars also isolate you to a remarkable degree and AFAIK safety nazis don't have their panties in a bunch about them.  Finally, deaf people drive all the time without incident.
 
If you get into accident while wearing headphones it will be because you were paying too much attention to the music instead of the road, not because of the way you were listening to the music.  If you're going to condemn using headphones while driving you'll need to condemn car stereos too.  And traveling with passengers, and cup holders, and drive-thrus, and roadside billboards, and lots of other things that are more distracting.  That's at least a logically consistent stance, if not a popular one.  I'm willing to take this back I someone has a few studies to back them up, or at least propose some mechanism of action I didn't already eviscerate.

 
Don't confuse irrational people with reason. What's wrong with you, sir??!!
 
But, seriously. I have learned a lot here. I didn't know it was so dangerous to drive if you can't hear your surroundings. I'll have to take away my fathers license. His LS430 is so quiet a freight train could pass by and you wouldn't hear it. And imagine if he has some Ann Murray or Barry Manilow cranked? Also, all motorcycle licenses need to be revoked. You can't hear anything around you when your on one of those. This is a serious problem people!
 
I am going to start doing my part. I hope you will all help me. Please keep an eye out for my petition to revoke licenses from the deaf. Those irresponsible whiners.  I think this is a good place to start.
 

 

[no_mas_123]

By personal experience(and maybe your mileage will vary) I don't recommend it.  I did it many years ago(around 20 yrs old)  in the cassette(huh?) days. Had my headphones on while driving up to Mammoth for some skiing.  I thought the same as the other poster, my girlfriend(now wife)  was sleeping and I could turn it up without disturbing her and myself stay awake.  For me what it did was give me tunnel vision and took away the peripheral vision or senses.  So what happened was I spun out around a bend and went around about 4 times from what I remember.  My recollection was I was heading straight toward a post(I was looking straight on at it), and somehow spun around it.  After coming to a stop, took them off and have never used any since while driving.  Just my .02.

 

[Dragunov-21]

 
Quote:

When my Pioneer CDPlayer's front panel won't open (and there wasn't any disc in it) I drove with my SR225's around my neck, not my ears. Not dangerousat all if it's in boring as hell bumper-to-bumper traffic.
 
And a question to the motorcyclists in general, and to those with supersports/superbikes/hypersports in particular, can you still hear the stock exhaust with IEMs on?

Depends on how loud my music is.  I can hear it, but I don't usually find myself noticing it until it's time to shift, though my bike's pretty quiet and is happiest at 6-7k, which is low for a bike.

 
Quote:

even though you can say theyre distracted, its just as easy to be distracted by music playing on the car radio.   wearing headphones can;t be the same as texting since youre not taking your eyes off the road while listening.   its more important to see while driving than hear, you see someone crossing the street, cars stopping ahead, you don't hear that. 
 

how did motorcycles come into this??   earplugs aren't distracting, it's more distracting to have a splitting headache from wind noise.    plus you can still hear car horns and sirens with earplugs...you're just not hearing about 25-30 db of wind noise.  

Just because your eyes are on the road doesn't mean you're concentrating.  The issue with texting isn't so much the eyes, as most people (IME) can type without looking down.  But your cencentration is elsewhere, so you react to visual stimuli far more slowly.
 
As for motorcycles, with earplugs, yes, you can still hear everything important, but when you add xdB of music over the top, you may be hard pressed to hear them, let alone notice them. (If you were strictly referring to 'plugs, nevermind)

 
Quote:

By personal experience(and maybe your mileage will vary) I don't recommend it.  I did it many years ago(around 20 yrs old)  in the cassette(huh?) days. Had my headphones on while driving up to Mammoth for some skiing.  I thought the same as the other poster, my girlfriend(now wife)  was sleeping and I could turn it up without disturbing her and myself stay awake.  For me what it did was give me tunnel vision and took away the peripheral vision or senses.  So what happened was I spun out around a bend and went around about 4 times from what I remember.  My recollection was I was heading straight toward a post(I was looking straight on at it), and somehow spun around it.  After coming to a stop, took them off and have never used any since while driving.  Just my .02.

 

[ForgottenxxRebel]

Quote:

As for motorcycles, with earplugs, yes, you can still hear everything important, but when you add xdB of music over the top, you may be hard pressed to hear them, let alone notice them. (If you were strictly referring to 'plugs, nevermind)

i'd never listen to music on the road or recommend it.   i've worn phones for offroad mxc but i wouldnt on the road, especially a busy one.   the isolation + music and possible distraction, i don't feel safe.

 

[JoeyRusso]

 

 
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Have you ever ridden a cruiser with straight-through pipes?  Perhaps we've got different definitions of overwhelming (mind you, I've never ridden with an open-face), but I've been on the back of one a couple times, and DAMN!  Load up the engine and it was very uncomfortable - I could never do it on a daily basis, and I've got no doubt the bloke that rides it is doing himself some damage, though he's already got industrial deafness.  The problem's not limited to cruisers either, I've known a few guys/girls who've bought a bike with IXIL/Screamin' Demon/etc cans, and had to swap them out because they found them a PITA to ride.
 


Like I said, I can't claim a lot of experience on them, but between an open pipe and wind-noise, you're not going to hear anything besides a police/ambo/fire siren.  Though that's something I'm surprised no-one's mentioned, and is actually a pretty good point...  I can hear sirens through earplugs, but not through isolating IEMs when music's playing at anything above a low volume.  Typically I don't have the music past "background noise" anyway, I try to keep 360-degree awareness, and check every intersection before pulling out (put that down to riding - no-one sees you, and half that do don't care), but ability to detect emergency vehicles is certainly a factor to consider when you're trying to work out whether a given 'phone/wearing-habit is safe or not.

Yes, as a matter of fact I have

. I've owned and ridden several crotch rockets and Harleys, including a Heritage softail with a full windshield and straight pipes.  On top of that I've ridden several Ultra Classics (the bikes with full fairings, windshields, GPS/radio/sattelite/cd players, etc.), including one with a Screaming Eagle 110"  motor with straight pipes (very loud).  Even with a half helmet, the sound of the pipes isn't overwhelmingly loud to me (see below).
 
I can hear car horns and emergency sirens through wind noise and over pipe noise when riding, and I agree that's the whole point.  Those are pretty important things to hear when riding or driving.  Those are unexpected sounds that you need to be able to hear ASAP so you have enough time to react.  A split second can make all the difference in the world.  Riding or even driving with IEM's is something I would never do. It's hard enough avoiding the texters, cell phone users and otherwise distracted drivers on a daily basis.  You need to be completely focused when riding. 
 
Being a passenger, puts you closer to the end of the pipes, so that is a much louder position.  In my experience, wind noise is more of a problem.  Even riding a sport bike with a full face helmet for a full day can fatigue your ears and cause headaches.  Properly designed ear plugs are a good option when riding (even as a passenger) as they only attenuate sound they don't eliminate it. 
 
just my 2 cents... 

 

[Sumflow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Painful Chafe /img/forum/go_quote.gifBut, seriously. I have learned a lot here. I didn't know it was so dangerous to drive if you can't hear your surroundings. I'll have to take away my fathers license. His LS430 is so quiet a freight train could pass by and you wouldn't hear it... all motorcycle licenses need to be revoked. You can't hear anything around you when your on one of those. This is a serious problem people! .. Please keep an eye out for my petition to revoke licenses from the deaf.

I wonder why the world’s top drivers use to wear custom fitted earplugs, during Formula 1 races?

 

[High_Q]

Quote:

I wonder why the world’s top drivers use to wear custom fitted earplugs, during Formula 1 races?

You aready answered it.  Because they are world's top drivers.

 

[ASilva]

Well, good or bad you can't do it in my country (Portugal).
 
Even if you use only 1 of the IEMs (if it has both). A friend of mine got a fine for using a pair of earbuds while driving and he only had 1 inserted, it was the standart headphones with mic that come with some Nokia phones. The cop told him he could only use headsets with 1 earbud on them, even if you don't have both inserted. How stupid is that?

 

[zarcondg]

O.K. I need to nip this one in the bud. In regards to My headphone amplifier I'm building.
 
Even tho my amplifier is designed to operate directly from 13.8V, I never intended it to be used any where other then at Mission Control (or similar facility). This was to save the waste of the inverters bringing 13.8VDC up to 120VAC, then a power supply bringing that back down to whatever DC the amplifier requires. I'll give you this tho, a car probably doesn't create any where near the amount of vibration, a rocket launch does.
 
Any activity that takes your attention completely off the road while driving is bad, if not deadly. As stated earlier, the ability to hear oncoming traffic at a blind intersection (or wherever) is helpful, however not required IF your being cautious. Def people drive all the time (What is a hearing aid). However, how many people die driving into oncoming traffic or a telephone, because they were looking at the settings on there radio or reading a text message on the phone in there lap. They caused crashes, not because they were listening to music, it was because they stopped paying attention to where the car they were driving was going. They were being stupid, and ruined it for the rest of us that are responsible. Next thing you know, it will be illegal to talk to the person in the passenger seat. That's it, passengers tend to make noise just like the car radio, and both can be enjoyable on a long drive, If your being responsible.
 
Food for thought; How many distractions do police officers have in there cars. There radios, that laptop thing, etc. The solution is simple, they pay attention to where the car is going when there driving, or they stop the car in a safe place to look at whatever is demanding there undivided attention.

 

[tdockweiler]

I quite often drive around the village in my Tata Nano while wearing my HD-800's. So far it seems safe, but my tire fell off yesterday.