"James Shugg" wrote in message
om...
I was walking along in the drizzle yesterday, passed a young guy about
18yo, wearing headphones, who was crossing the road (single lane each
way, divided by a median strip). A few moments later I heard a brief
skid and a loud thud and turned around in time to see a shoe flying
through the air and a Peugeot 605 grind to a stop.

Amazingly the guy seemed more or less alive, he was sitting in the
gutter and shaking, but not obviously bloody. The 605's windscreen was
badly cracked. Passers-by called an ambulance which was there within
minutes.

Sounds really obvious I know, but still it hammered home to me how
much we rely on our hearing, and I'll now make more of an effort to
persuade my cycling friends that they should not use their walkmans on
their daily commute.

Sounds very nasty.

I wear a walkman on my commute and if you are safe and careful then there is
no reason why not.

I stop at every junction, look to make sure nothing is coming, look again
before i cross etc. etc. No accidents to date. I have my walkman turned
very low and can hear the traffic in any case!

How is it different to a car driver having his radio on? There you have the
noise of the engine, the radio and the fans all blowing!!

Just my 2p worth ;-)