Sorry I just don't see any of those saving the day. It's nice to know
someone's passing but you can't count on the audible warning, so you
should always look first and signal anyway if you plan to move left,
because someone silent could be passing you. And audible warnings are
nice to give but you can't assume the person you directed it towards
isn't deaf (or listening to loud music on earbuds) so you should be on
visual alert anyway.
I would wager a person can't tell from the sound (in time to react
anyway) whether a car coming up behind you is going to miss by 3 feet or
3 inches or nail you. A mirror is better for that but even then a
sudden swerve is going to get you. And I'm no expert on goose behavior
but to me they don't seem that much more likely to honk before they dash
out.
Lawmakers in NY proposed a law against people crossing the street while
wearing headphones, which makes about as much sense to me as banning the
deaf from crossing the street. To me banning them while biking would be
about as ridiculous. Not that you are proposing that, but in terms of
importance I think driving the message of riding like you are invisible
and being truly defensive (as you have done quite well) does more to
improve bicycle safety than opposing headphone use, and doesn't risk
tuning out those who disagree on that point.
And I think that video as Harry pointed out does exactly that. (Drives
the message of riding defensively that is).
-Doug
India Rose Viola wrote:
Doug,
I hear myself out of danger all the time- when people tell me they are passing,
when cars swerve by, when a goose honks it's warning signal. And I also call
others' attention to danger with my bell, voice etc. I use my waving arms,
too, but there are a lot of times (really) that an audible warning does or
could save the day.
I don't attempt to use hearing instead of seeing, but I use it along with
seeing. If you can't hear well or see well then maybe you have sufficiently
trained yourself to rely on your better senses, but for the rest of us, we can
use all the sensory help we can get.
-india
----- Original Message -----
From: Doug Adler <[email protected]>
Date: Monday, September 28, 2009 1:29 pm
Subject: Re: [Bikies] Comment on the biker hit by legislator who ran the red
light incident, but waitm there's more!
To: [email protected]
Cc: India Rose Viola <[email protected]>
Great byline, but I just don't know if I can get on board with the no
headphones thing. Maybe my bias as a result of my being hard of
hearing, but I think being alert (and maybe using a mirror) is way
more important than hearing. And depending on the volume you can
still hear ok with them, probably better than I can with my hearing
aids whistling in the wind anyway. So I hate to have music lovers
tune out from the rest of the safety message.
In what scenarios can you really hear yourself out of danger? I just
don't see it...
-Doug
India Rose Viola wrote:
Although we are all distracted from time to time, I have to say that
it seems from my anecdotal n=1 observations, that the privilege of
driving a car/truck/SUV is not taken as seriously as it should be. As
much as it may be inconvenient or difficult, driving requires one's
full attention. I think biking on roadways or mixed-use paths does
too... which could lead me down the path of getting all up-in-arms
about folks who bike with earbuds/headphones on. I am not a fan of
that. My new byline for cyclists is, "Our senses are our defenses".
-India (loves to preach, doesn't she?)
--
Doug Adler
Instrument Engineer
Space Science & Engineering Center
University of Wisconsin-Madison
[email protected]
608-265-9908
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