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Cyclist with headphones (cc licensed by Adrian Midgley on Flickr)Council criticised for ‘headphones can prevent you from hearing the traffic’ poster aimed at cyclists
Brighton and Hove City Council have come under fire from a number of cyclists for a safety poster intended to highlight the dangers of wearing headphones while cycling. Featuring a man riding with headphones on, it reads: “Headphones can prevent you from hearing traffic. Share the road, share the responsibility.”
A number of cyclists have been critical of the message and an adapted version has appeared on social media reading: “There’s no evidence wearing headphones is hazardous but we’re blaming cyclists anyway. Share the roads, take all the blame.”
Councillor Gill Mitchell, chair of the environment, transport and sustainability committee, defended the poster. She told The Argus that it was part of a larger campaign focusing on the dangers of distraction.
“The council’s road safety awareness campaign is aimed at motorists, cyclists and pedestrians, with six different posters carrying messages about the dangers of distraction from headphones, mobile phones and other devices.
“The campaign was launched following road traffic collision statistics for Brighton and Hove over the last three years which show that failing to look properly is by far the biggest contributory factor. As a new administration, we are committed to improving road safety in the city for all road users and will be looking at new and innovative ways to refresh our road safety campaigns and messages.”
However, Mark Strong, a local cyclist and transport consultant with Transport Initiatives, feels that this approach fails to acknowledge deeper problems on the roads.
“There is a huge imbalance in the level of responsibility which is not shown in the original poster. It looks great but whether it would make any difference to the actual numbers of people getting hurt is debatable.
“All accidents have more than one cause and a poster essentially saying ‘don’t be stupid’ won’t get very far. There needs to be forgiveness in the road environment. The system should be able to cope with that and should not be so on the edge that any mistake can lead to an accident.”
In 2013, London Mayor Boris Johnson said that he would not be against a headphone ban for cyclists while more recently Lord Scott of Foscote called for a ban on cyclists using ‘earplugs’, arguing that “a cyclist’s main protection should be his or her own eyes and ears.”
A 2014 BBC survey found that nine out of ten people were in favour of a headphone ban. However, there has not been much research into the effect of headphones on the safety of cyclists. In one example, research published in 2011 in the journal Transportation Research by academics from the University of Groningen found that ‘very large’ negative effects were found when in-earbuds were used, but that no negative effects were found when listening to music using only one earbud.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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51 comments
Because driving a car and riding a bike are exactly the same thing? I know this is a frequent comparison but I think it's pretty disinegenous. Cars have lots of mirrors but I don't hear anyone saying that's a reason that bikes should too.
Same with the 'deaf people manage' line. The fact that they do doesn't change whether it's a good idea to limit your hearing or not, any more than the fact that blind people manage to walk down the pavement means it doesn't matter if you walk around with your eyes closed.
Anyway, rant over. I don't wear headphones personally, and I happen to think that sometimes your hearing can give you useful information about what's going on out of your field of vision. But each to their own, I can't say I get particularly upset when I see people using them. And I totally agree that campaigns like this are actually reinforcing misguided notions about who's actually doing the harm and that's not helpful at all.
So no cycling for deaf people? do the Greens not have something to do with Brighton?
Personally I think that all road users should be made aware of the dangers of using headphones whilst driving, cycling or even crossing the road.
When I'm cycling one of my best defences is a good shout and if a driver is wearing headphones (and some do) he/she will be unaware of peripheral noises made by other traffic in a way that he/she won't be if the in car stereo is on.
It's actually illegal to wear headphones whilst driving. I got pulled over for it in my teens while driving my parent's Morris Minor which didn't have a radio.
Wearing a pair of headphones while driving a car on the road has been illegal for decades, but wearing specifically an earphone on one side is not.
It is only a matter of time before someone uses this as the basis for making bicycle headphones (both sides) illegal.
I am patiently awaiting the moment when someone brings into the argument the fact that it is very, very common for motorcyclists to wear in-ear earplugs (noise reduction ear defenders) under their helmets. Did the council that made this poster not know that?
I don't see how ear-plugs used by motorcyclists bear any relevance to the debate over in-ear audio devices.
Ear plugs defend against wind noise at high speed, the effect on ambient noise is pretty minimal.
Personally IMHO I think anyone who wears headphones or earphones whilst out on the street or public highway is asking for trouble. This includes pedestrians, runners, cyclists and motorists. These people all come under the heading Dickheads !
So presumably you think deaf people are also 'dickheads'?
Would deaf people be wearing headphones? #justsaying
Just to say that deaf or hard of hearing people wear hearing aids That includes me!
I need hearing aids to help me deal with every day experiences including keeping safe whilst out on my bike. Headphones subdue natural senses that are there to keep us safe hearing aids work the opposite way . Smart arse !
Great quotes from Mark Strong.
I don't ever wear headphones, but I don't understand how they would compromise my safety. Does the car coming from behind that is about to hit me sound different?
What a fantastic point - I might use that one whenever this debate comes up with friends.
dunno, but i do know that if i'm approaching a crossroad the fact i can HEAR traffic approaching sure does help.
but you know better obviously.
Or the driver pulling out of the side road who's not looking properly?
Or the lorry that overtakes you with oncoming traffic so cuts back in early? (as happened to me 3 times recently. Yesterday I had to nip onto the kerb, and I wasn't even wearing headphones)
The council is just victim-blaming, I'm afraid, because it's a hell of a lot easier than addressing those responsible for the vast majority of deaths and injuries on the road.
While cycling is a minority activity, conducted only by mamils and people too poor to buy a car, then this mindset will prevail. But it can change.
try riding with them and then come back with your thoughts. I've tried it and I found I really noticed the loss of one of my senses.
I'd be interested to know:
1) How many cyclists wearing headphones are killed annually whilst wearing headphones?
2) Out of these cyclists how many were at fault in the accident?
3) Out of the ones at fault, how many of the accidents were caused as a direct result of not being able to hear the hazard that killed them?
4) Out of these that couldn't hear, how many would have heard the hazard and had time to appropriately respond if they weren't wearing headphones?
I'd imagine we have some pretty low numbers that fit all criteria - a campaign aimed at drivers encouraging them to safely pass cyclists would be more appropriate.
As southseabythesea correctly stated, with the wind rushing by your ears you often don't hear traffic sneak up on you. The shoulder-check is the lifesaver. Why aren't cars/lorries/taxis etc not targeted for using music systems?
Hmmm. Motorcyclists wear earplugs to protect their hearing - are we to vilify that practice too?
How about we start, as a society, by stopping the dangerous and illegal driving that occurs every day on almost every road? Then we could remove those vehicles that have inherent and dangerous blind spots and replace them with ones that work just as well but have much better visibility. Then we could take the incompetent drivers off the road by retesting regularly. If there are still significant cyclist deaths once those measures have been taken, perhaps *then* we could start to attack cyclists for wearing headphones. Oh, and ban the deaf from cycling.
I have custom made earplugs for use on the motorbike - even with them I have creeping hearing loss and tinnitus, mostly because wind noise on the motorbike. I will certainly continue to wear them and would buy better insulation if I could find it.
My car has double-glazed windows. That feature is one of the reasons I choose that particular car as long journeys in cars increases my tinnitus. Again, I would readily buy a car with better insulation if I find one.
All of this will have to be banned if we are to ban earphones from cyclists.
This subject has been done to death on here, personally I agree with the posters.
I do sometimes use headphones when off-road, but never in traffic.
Problem with posters like this is that they ingrain in peoples' subconscious that if you're driving and you see someone in front of you who is riding and wearing headphones that it becomes ok to drive too close, to honk at them, or cut them off because in some way "its their fault"
Sometimes depending on the wind direction and your own speed you don't hear cars until the last moment, that's not wearing headphones. I'd prefer to have my wits about me, it's difficult to say... "There’s no evidence wearing headphones is hazardous" when you're dead.
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