Calling all road cyclists

[titch juicy]

Plus, how can you hear an emergency services vehicle approaching?

[DJKillaQueen]

I have mirrors on my bicycle handlebars and recommend them. You can hear emergency vehicles through headphones, just as you can hear emergency vehicles over a car or motorcycle engine or through a crash helmet. Sirens are designed to be louder than most noise.

At the end of the day it's up to the individual to do what makes them feel safest. Some people are more easily distracted than others just as some are more able to be focused on more things than others. Speaking from experince, I am more likely to have an accident on my cycle because a car driver isn't looking for me than as a result of wearing headphones.

[katie1997]

As a cyclist, I have the view that the most steps I can personally take to reduce the risk of an accident is in MY interest for the simple reason that I will be the one most likely to suffer greater injury.

So its all very well for me to say "I wanna wear headphones, those car drivers are more far distracted than me blah blah". Wearing headphones whilst cycling, in my view, greatly inhibits my awareness of what's going on around me. No matter if other road users are either a) driving perfectly or b) driving like maniacs. If there's an accident, for whatever reason, I will come off worst.

I can understand why some road users despair of cyclists, and I can sympathise after reading some of the posts on here. Harry, you wonder why we don't smile and wave to other cyclists in London? :))

[DJKillaQueen]

Like I said, it's different for different people. Headphones inhibit your awareness but they don't mine....it is not fair to call all cyclists who do use headphones 'stupid' and I can't see anything in this thread from anyone that would make a driver dispair of cyclists either.

[zeban]

(slow) cyclists, please don't cycle right in front of buses, buses move slow enough as it is!

[david_carnell]

  Quote

Headphones inhibit your awareness but they don't mine

I have the same opinion on beer and yet Her Majesty's constabularly still insist on limiting me to a single pint of nut-brown ale before getting behind the wheel of my motor vehicle.

Ridiculous nanny-state moddycoddling.

Tell you what DJKQ - try cycling blindfolded. Makes the journey much more fun and you can rely on your other senses for guidance - like smell. You'll know you've hit a bus when you can smell the diesel fumes from the engine on your own face.

[DJKillaQueen]

Now why would I cycle blindfolded?....that would be stupid....

I like the beer analogy although it doesn't quite work because beer psysically and metally inhibits, headphones don't.

[david_carnell]

Of course they inhibit physically - they stop you hearing as well. And to say they don't is just plain wrong - if they allowed you to hear as well as normal then you wouldn't be able to hear whatever it is you're listening to. QED.

[DJKillaQueen]

But not to an extent that it interefers with my ability to cycle safely...that's the point of the discussion. I can hear less from inside in a car without the radio on....so eyes and mirrors are everything, just as they are on a motorbike. Why would a cyclist be deemed to need more use of hearing than drivers? Deaf and hard of hearing people cycle, do they not? Are they stupid for even daring to get on a cycle?

[david_carnell]

Ah the Boris Johnson excuse - having been caught cycling whilst talking on a mobile he said that one-armed people are allowed to ride bikes.

And yours is as ridiculous. You are intentionally impairing your faculties rather than battling against a physical disability. To compare the two is distasteful.

You're being disingenuous here just for the sake of proving a point. Just admit you don't really care if you're unsafe and people will shrug their shoulders at your attitude. But to try and maintain a defence of reason and logic whilst all those around you (including cyclists) disagree and point out the glaring flaws is utterly absurd.

[DJKillaQueen]

psml......you are just trying to provoke now. I'm not rising to it....

I've been cycling in London for 25 years....I've had three accidents. Two were the faults of drivers turning left and driving over me. One was the result of mechanical failure on my bicycle. I'd say I'm a very safe cyclist on that record...

[DaveR]

Headphones obviously inhibit your awareness - the issue is whether they materially inhibit i.e. are you less safe as a result. In my view (and that of everybody else, probably in the world) they inevitably do. DJKQ, equally inevitably, disagrees. And thus the debate reaches the usual EDF conclusion.

[DJKillaQueen]

Speaking for everyone else is never a wise thing Dave ;)

[Applespider]

zeban Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> (slow) cyclists, please don't cycle right in front

> of buses, buses move slow enough as it is!

Sorry, zeban - not sure you're ever going to stop that one since there's no way you're going to get any cyclist to sit behind a bus in its fumes while it stops at bus stops. We'll overtake the bus and then it will either catch us up and pass us or it will sit behind us if the next bus stop isn't that far ahead. There are so many bus stops and passengers in rush hour that it's pretty unusual for a most cyclist to pass a bus and then have it overtake them again.

One exception to that though is when the bus catches up on a hill (like DKH) or going over the Thames (like Vauxhall where cyclists are encouraged to go via the bus station); then yes, most cyclists will slow down the bus slightly if it can't get out to overtake.

[titch juicy]

DJKillaQueen Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I have mirrors on my bicycle handlebars and

> recommend them. You can hear emergency vehicles

> through headphones, just as you can hear emergency

> vehicles over a car or motorcycle engine or

> through a crash helmet. Sirens are designed to be

> louder than most noise.

>

> At the end of the day it's up to the individual to

> do what makes them feel safest. Some people are

> more easily distracted than others just as some

> are more able to be focused on more things than

> others. Speaking from experince, I am more likely

> to have an accident on my cycle because a car

> driver isn't looking for me than as a result of

> wearing headphones.

Yes, you can hear a siren aboveyour headphones- but without the headphones you can hear it sooner

[Ridgley]

Cyclist has to be aware of each other and pedestrians, I find this not always the case unfortunately Harry in London not all people are friendly there are some people in the morning that look like they have been smacked by a Baboon hello anyway Harry happy cycling.

[Thomas Micklewright]

i always give other cyclists a nod.

why are there so many people not wearing helmets cycling, perplexes me?

[david_carnell]

Personal freedom?

[katie1997]

Thomas Micklewright Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> i always give other cyclists a nod.

>

> why are there so many people not wearing helmets

> cycling, perplexes me?

cos it gets in the way of their giant funky headphones that gives them super powers of invincibilty on the road. Next?

[Loz]

Thomas Micklewright Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> i always give other cyclists a nod.

>

> why are there so many people not wearing helmets

> cycling, perplexes me?

Darwinism in action.

[DJKillaQueen]

I always wear a helmet but some claim that some motorists are more considerate to cyclists not wearing helmets. Not sure if there's much truth in that....or how that can be measured.

[titch juicy]

now there's a valid debate right there- does wearing a helmet really give a cyclist any more safety on the road?

i guess the only protection it offers is to a head that's going to hit the ground- how often does that happen in a cycling accident? ever?

for the record, i do wear one for my commute, bit often not for a short local ride.

[womanofdulwich]

although I agree and I dont put a helmet on for local 5 minute cycle rides; when I have cycled into town in the rush hour I have seen several cycling accidents and some of them involve the cyclist being thrown off their bike and their helmet inpacting the ground or a vehicle.

ps I dont wear headphones,

[DJKillaQueen]

A cycle helmet is not the same or anywhere near as strong as a crash helmet, but it will offer protection from certain kinds of impacts.

[snowy]

Only up to 12mph though. They offer little protection beyond that.

The two serious accidents where cyclists were knocked over by a bus and a lorry in London yesterday (Aldwych and Vauxhall respectively) incurred more injury to the cyclists legs and torso than a head.

(gah, I've entered a helmet thread!)