Driving with Earphones?

[NeonNinja]

With the recent news of this poor man "smashed into mincemeat", earphones (headphones?) being his fatal detriment, got me thinking.

I see lots and lots (trend?) of people driving with their earphones.

Risk much? Do you do it, why?

 

[Akasha]

I've seen it, I think it's really stupid

 

[Sysem]

I hate it too, but I do it

With no radio, and traffic/commute, it keeps my sanity. I only have one in, and its never loud though.

 

[zizo911]

I'd rather listen to my own silence.

 

[bwana]

I hate it too, but I do it

With no radio, and traffic/commute, it keeps my sanity. I only have one in, and its never loud though.

Thats probably less distracting than driving with the car stereo blaring.

 

[bruce_the_loon]

I hate it too, but I do it

With no radio, and traffic/commute, it keeps my sanity. I only have one in, and its never loud though.

Probably the least bad way to do it, like a bluetooth headset for a cell phone. But when people do it with both ears and using noise-cancelling headphones, they isolate themselves from the sounds around them and create a dangerous situation.

Why not go and buy one of these, http://aluratek.com/bump-3-5mm-portable-mini-speaker-with-built-in-lithium-ion-battery, and use that in the car instead.

 

[Sysem]

Probably the least bad way to do it, like a bluetooth headset for a cell phone. But when people do it with both ears and using noise-cancelling headphones, they isolate themselves from the sounds around them and create a dangerous situation.

Why not go and buy one of these, http://aluratek.com/bump-3-5mm-portable-mini-speaker-with-built-in-lithium-ion-battery, and use that in the car instead.

This is why I was against it initially.

Thanks, I've been thinking about something like that. My car runs quite loudly though, so unless its the built in speakers (also gone...), it may not work. Worth a try though.

 

[HavocXphere]

I dare not. Piloting a 2 tons chunk of metal is serious business & you need all your senses. Plus I kinda rely on sound as my first line of defence to detect if something mechanical is going wrong with the car.

Earphones often block external noise *by design* which is just bad news given that you need situational awareness.

Plus if something goes seriously wrong and you end up in court...god help you if you were wearing earphones. Won't take much to convince a judge that you fk'd up because you were distracted / couldn't hear the sound of screeching tires etc...*doof* guilty as charged...just because you insisted on listening to Britney Spears while driving.

I'll happily listen to radio at a modest volume though - that seems like a reasonable trade-off to me among all the factors.

Thats probably less distracting than driving with the car stereo blaring.

I find single earphone only incredibly disorientating / annoying...I see people do that at work...I just can't.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Always wondered why people do that,
Their stereo broken?

Incredibly dangerous thing to do,

 

[medicnick83]

From the ambulance point of view... I've seen it happen.
People don't hear the sirens or take interest in what is happening behind them.
It pisses me off.

Don't do it... or have it softly in your ears.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

From the ambulance point of view... I've seen it happen.
People don't hear the sirens or take interest in what is happening behind them.
It pisses me off.

Don't do it... or have it softly in your ears.

Isint that why sometimes your right behind somebody and they ignore you?

Whats the cause most of the time?

I heard from my dad once who said,
Always give way to an ambulance, unless you put yourself in a dangerous situation,

Like at a red light and im in front, cant go foward without risking an accident......

 

[medicnick83]

You can go forward, go forward slowly, and turn in front of another car (in a different lane), this way, they can see what you doing, when the light goes greens, you just get right of way considering what you've done to put yourself into another lane or, if it's clear completely to the left and right and infront of you, slowly go forward and just continue onwards SLOWLY, if there is a camera and you get flashed, just point out the ambulance in the back when the fine comes.

Just don't panic, do whatever you need to do, just do it slowly, with some thought and don't panic.
So long you moving (to get out of the way of a ambulance, fire truck etc) they can't moan at you.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Just don't panic, do whatever you need to do, just do it slowly, with some thought and don't panic.
So long you moving (to get out of the way of a ambulance, fire truck etc) they can't moan at you.

Thanks, always wanted to know what i should do....

Really hard for me not to panic, as your sitting there 3cm from me with 20 diffrent lights and sirens going,
Whole idea of that is to get others to move, and its quite intimidating

But if you say as long as theres a gap youll take it...... even if you mount the kerb......

 

[medicnick83]

Thanks, always wanted to know what i should do....

Really hard for me not to panic, as your sitting there 3cm from me with 20 diffrent lights and sirens going,
Whole idea of that is to get others to move, and its quite intimidating

But if you say as long as theres a gap youll take it...... even if you mount the kerb......

Dont' mount the kerb if your car can't do it without damage... just don't sit there and do nothing or look in the mirror and see us and do nothing - that pisses me off the most.
If you can't move (due to cars not letting you) then don't... it's fine... Just check your mirrors, see the ambulance and make an effort.
It's the ones that don't make an effort that will get a moerse fright when I moer on their window to get the F outta my way (and then you find those are the ones with pumping music or talking on their phones)

 

[satanboy]

Only morons wear earphones while driving.

 

[Gunner182]

Had to do it recently as I had to take an important call and don't have a hands free kit. I don't know how people do it, but I've never wished for so many red robots in my life.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Dont' mount the kerb if your car can't do it without damage... just don't sit there and do nothing or look in the mirror and see us and do nothing - that pisses me off the most.
If you can't move (due to cars not letting you) then don't... it's fine... Just check your mirrors, see the ambulance and make an effort.
It's the ones that don't make an effort that will get a moerse fright when I moer on their window to get the F outta my way (and then you find those are the ones with pumping music or talking on their phones)

So just make an effort? Any gap i give you is enough?

I do get it, thankfully i do try get out of the way when i can, always afraid of an accident becuse i panic easily when a ambulance is behind me, the sirens are quite intimidating.

Question for you guys; Does your ambulance gave a tannoy/PA system? That you can speak over and say, you in the red bmw please move over

 

[Fazda]

Stupid practice conducted by stupid people!

Anything that distracts you from the job at hand - i.e. driving - is a no, no!

 

[Kosmik]

I think it's unsafe and I know folks who do it even though they have car stereo.

 

[bwana]

Stupid practice conducted by stupid people!

Anything that distracts you from the job at hand - i.e. driving - is a no, no!

So no eating, drinking, talking, listening to the radio, using a gps…