Wearing walkmans can be dangerous!

In message , Robert Bruce
writes
the bullying of those perceived to be more venerable by those perceived
to be safer.

very, very true ;-)

--
dave @ stejonda

to reply by email send to 2003breply at stejonda freeuk com

"PK" wrote in message
...

As pedestrian, motorist or cyclist I prefer to have all my senses
available
for my safety and that of other people. I think it unwise to wear a
walkman
on the road be it in a car on foot or in a car. Can you get you brain
round
that?

You can hear with headphones on.
Although useful to hear as much as you can, there will be very few cases
where it does actually make a difference.
Any cases where it is, you should have used your eyes too.

"PK" wrote in message
...

As pedestrian, motorist or cyclist I prefer to have all my senses
available
for my safety and that of other people. I think it unwise to wear a
walkman
on the road be it in a car on foot or in a car. Can you get you brain
round
that?

You can hear with headphones on.
Although useful to hear as much as you can, there will be very few cases
where it does actually make a difference.
Any cases where it is, you should have used your eyes too.

Sorry James but there does not appear to be a very good correlation between
the wearing of the headphones and the collision. The lad had eyes and ought
to use his observation skills before crossing the road. He also might be a
bit of a risk taker. There are too many unanswered questions about the
collision for it to be attributed solely bto the wearing of headphones.

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.

Nah, a non starter. When I owned a motorcycle, the windnoise and engine
noise amplified by the fairing drowned out all rearwards traffic noise. I
tried an in helmet walkman but the music was spoiled by the wind noise.
Decent observation skills and good roadcraft helped me to avoid incidents
involving other vehicles from the rear during the 200,000+ miles that I
clocked up over the past twenty years. Decent hearing is helpful but non
essential if road users check behind themselves regularly.

Vernon in Leeds

Sorry James but there does not appear to be a very good correlation between
the wearing of the headphones and the collision. The lad had eyes and ought
to use his observation skills before crossing the road. He also might be a
bit of a risk taker. There are too many unanswered questions about the
collision for it to be attributed solely bto the wearing of headphones.

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.

Nah, a non starter. When I owned a motorcycle, the windnoise and engine
noise amplified by the fairing drowned out all rearwards traffic noise. I
tried an in helmet walkman but the music was spoiled by the wind noise.
Decent observation skills and good roadcraft helped me to avoid incidents
involving other vehicles from the rear during the 200,000+ miles that I
clocked up over the past twenty years. Decent hearing is helpful but non
essential if road users check behind themselves regularly.

Vernon in Leeds

(James Shugg) wrote in message . com...

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.

I've got a 25 mph headwind home tonight, gusting up to 40 mph. This
will drown out my hearing fa,r far more than any Walkman - should I
stay at work all night?
Simon

(James Shugg) wrote in message . com...

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.

I've got a 25 mph headwind home tonight, gusting up to 40 mph. This
will drown out my hearing fa,r far more than any Walkman - should I
stay at work all night?
Simon

I've got a 25 mph headwind home tonight, gusting up to 40 mph. This
will drown out my hearing fa,r far more than any Walkman - should I
stay at work all night?

Nah, wear earplugs then you won't hear the wind noise :-)

I've got a 25 mph headwind home tonight, gusting up to 40 mph. This
will drown out my hearing fa,r far more than any Walkman - should I
stay at work all night?

Nah, wear earplugs then you won't hear the wind noise :-)

James Shugg wrote:

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.

I must say this is down to simply not looking rather than hearing.
Obviously had he heard the car he would have looked, but had the car
been a bike he wouldnt have heard it anyway [1].

[1] Unless it sounds like colony of squeaking mice like many bikes do

--

-Alex

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