Threat to whom? Seems like Darwin will sort it out.

Gormenghast: Threat to whom? Seems like Darwin will sort it out.

Exactly my thought.

Great, one more reason for Calvin's dad to biatch and moan.

I see now the danger is to other cyclists and pedestrians, mainly. That I'll agree is a problem, but as far as mass casualties goes, you can't beat a motor vehicle smashing through a crowd.

But the comparison of iPod-zombies to the deaf doesn't quite work, I think - the deaf aren't being actively distracted by their music or news program or whatever it is ("oh wait the good part is coming up" "what's this lyric?" "the yen is at 84? Nowai!") or fussing around with the device ("shoot I want to skip this song" "oh wait I need to turn the volume down, recorded that at too high a level!" "dammit why isn't it shuffling?"), and the deaf know they're missing a sense so are used to compensating for it, they know they need to really be looking around.

I wear my iPod while walking to work, I'll admit, but I do mute it when crossing the few busy intersections I need to deal with, and I have the old-style earbud headphones anyway, they don't block noise. But I won't use my iPod on the bike. Others may have confidence they can pull that off, but not me. Stuff just goes too fast, and my hands are occupied.

Locally we have had some pedestrians hit by walking out into the street while listening to iPods or worse yet on the phone. The girl on the phone died. iPod boy got a ticket.

Gormenghast: Threat to whom? Seems like Darwin will sort it out.

But not until the driver who kills them gets the bejesus sued out of them.

Listening to an iPod while you ride your bike is f*cking stupid (and I say this as someone who probably has thousands of miles of on-road bicycle experience).

I have to listen to my ipod because riding my bike is boring! Besides, I adorn myself with enough blaze orange clothing and blinking lights to give epileptics seizures. If cars can't see me, they deserve to get sued!

There's gonna be a zombie iPodcalypse in Britain!

AntiNorm:
Listening to an iPod while you ride your bike is f*cking stupid (and I say this as someone who probably has thousands of miles of on-road bicycle experience).

My favourite is seeing someone do this but at night, with no helmet, no lights, and no reflective gear. It death waiting to happen.

I am guilty of this. Although I only listen to podcasts and only listen with one ear.

/I know, I know.

Gormenghast: Threat to whom? Seems like Darwin will sort it out.

A pedestrian was killed by a bicyclist in Boston recently. The pedestrian was the zombie, though. Not an iPod zombie. More like a real one. Old enough to be past his use-by date, lurching into traffic from between two parked cars.

ZAZ: A pedestrian was killed by a bicyclist in Boston recently. The pedestrian was the zombie, though. Not an iPod zombie. More like a real one. Old enough to be past his use-by date, lurching into traffic from between two parked cars.

Makes you wonder if zombies have a "killed again" experience akin to being "born again"...

I can't stand having both earbuds in when walking down the street, I feel like someone's gonna get the drop on me.

Nope, one earbud only for me. Like a cat.

Wear just one earbud, or wear the headphones around your neck.

I'm sorry, but that new Sprint Ad blocked my entire existence.

I bet George Romero never though there would be zombie metrosexuals, but here we are.

How is this different from somebody driving with music at full blast?

My shiatty old car lost four stereos in three years. Now I listen to my iPod in the car. Regular earbuds, no noise cancellation, no wrecks.

Also, i hate cyclists and that they imagine themselves a motor vehicle. You're not, so stop darting around my car while I'm mid right turn! You will get hit and hurt!! Dumbass. Utah is not bike friendly, no matter recent efforts to make more bike lanes down town.

Cyclist fatalities are increasing because there are more (inexperienced) cyclists not because of the farking iPod.

Cyclists are assholes anyway.

People talking and texting while driving, cyclists riding with headphones on, pedestrians texting while walking...
WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

Two words: IN SANE.

I see them riding thru Philly with the earphones in. Darwinian Meat on a Platter.

BTW, to get the evening Bike Hate thread going, yup, I'm the one that rides against traffic or on the sidewalk in Philly. Primarily in the interest of self preservation. The Authorities are currently on a jihad about this in Philly, but since I don't ride in Philly this time of year, the heat will die down by spring.

This is what happens when you put a child's toy on a man's road.

I like cycling with large headphones. It helps me ignore the honks of angry drivers and/or cars swerving to avoid me.

Canadian Canuck: My favourite is seeing someone do this but at night, with no helmet, no lights, and no reflective gear. It death waiting to happen.

And then they biatch about drivers on numerous biking blogs.

/bikes 15 miles to work a three times a week
//other cyclists piss me off more than drivers of cars do

itazurakko: But I won't use my iPod on the bike. Others may have confidence they can pull that off, but not me.

Where I like to ride, you hear the cars 10 - 15 seconds before you see them. I'd love to have music while riding, but I want that early detection more.

Your mom is an iPod.

Drunk drivers eclipsed as greatest threat on roads by iPod zombie cyclists Elie Woods with a nine-iron.

Well, DUH!

What, you WANT to hear people screaming at you as you violate all traffic and safety laws?

IIRC, Florida has an ordinance against wearing headphones while cycling on public roads

I do like the idea that if cyclists want to use a public road, they have to purchase insurance like automobile and motorcycle drivers have to.

What about zombie cell phone yappers?

bravian: Cyclist fatalities are increasing because there are more (inexperienced) cyclists not because of the farking iPod.

THIS.

You're as likely to be distracted by your own daydreaming as you are by music.

Still, it's marginally better to be able to hear things going on around you than not(though usually you can't hear dangerous things until it's too late to do anything anyway).

/thousands of miles of on-road bicycle experience, blah blah blah

I wear my Ipod while riding, so what? I follow all the rules I am supposed to, so drivers should be paying attention too. Here in Boston it doesn't take too many reminders from Mr. Bike Lock on a Chain to encourage drivers to respect our right to be on the road as well.

tsrohtx: Anyone using any roadway, whether pedestrian, cyclist, or driver, and having any headphones/earbuds on (yes, even one) deserves a ticket. I ride a lot, and I don't use headphones. Does no one have any attention span anymore?

I really wish people would start getting ticketed for this. As a cyclist, my opinion is that the cyclists wearing headphones are unquestionably the biggest douchebags on the road, apart from anyone using a Segway.

Obviously you've never dealt with DC drivers...

"If cyclists had to take a test, like all other road users do, and pay insurance, then perhaps there would be a lot less idiots riding their bikes, wearing their iPod or mobile phone earphones and expecting everyone else to not only give way to them but to also read their minds as to their next action,"

This.

I use my iPhone while I ride my bike but usually only on my school's campus where car traffic isn't an issue. The earbuds don't block noise and I only listen to podcasts which are easy to hear over. I never listen to my iPhone on the regular road because cars have it out for you enough as it is. You can also get a ticket for doing it.

AntiNorm: Gormenghast: Threat to whom? Seems like Darwin will sort it out.

But not until the driver who kills them gets the bejesus sued out of them.

Listening to an iPod while you ride your bike is f*cking stupid (and I say this as someone who probably has thousands of miles of on-road bicycle experience).

I have to disagree with this. I wear an iPod (old style earbuds) while walking and bike riding. I do keep the music low, so I can hear cars and look for distractions, but the main issue in my area is that the frats invented a game of 'aim to hit the bicyclist'. Because, apparently, jocks needed for the sports teams and rich helicopter parents will get charges dismissed.

When I bike, I always give the car the right of way, even if they don't have it, because they are bigger than me and will win any contest on that scale. But, when biking down the road in the bike lane, a car should NOT be swerving in and out a foot behind me with drunken idiots jeering all the while. People driving cars think it's a joke, people riding bikes know that it's not.

/cops don't do a lot about it
//have since stopped riding my bike because it was just too dangerous thanks to the idiots in the area

YES. A bike hate thread. I love this shiat. Everyone who doesn't use the public roads exactly like I do should be summarily shot! People who use their feet are gay! People who use fossilized plants are Republicans! Ah-ha-ha!

Safe cyclists listen to Zunes.

of riders who career through the traffic, sporting the telltale white wires of an iPod.


You can get paid to do this??

I ride and wear an iPod on occasion. Then again, I ride in the country where there are few cars because it is damn hard to ride 50+ miles in the city.

RoxtarRyan: I do like the idea that if cyclists want to use a public road, they have to purchase insurance like automobile and motorcycle drivers have to.

Why? Show me the evidence that uninsured cyclists are causing massive damage they aren't able to pay for. We shouldn't just legislate insurance because you "like the idea". We should legislate based on actual issues and problems, not picking on the whipping boy of the moment.

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/Main/index.aspx

Just me or does anyone else want that zombie?

/Would hit it repeatedly till I was a zombie.

tsrohtx: He_Hate_Me: Obviously you've never dealt with DC drivers...

No, I haven't. I live in Suburban Houston, and have been fortunate enough never to have lived on the East Coast.

Cherish these years, son.

I had to stop cycling this summer 'cause I started to jizz blood.

tsrohtx: I'm a conservative, and I ride a bike.

'Twas a joke, man.

Fizics: it doesn't take too many reminders from Mr. Bike Lock on a Chain to encourage drivers to respect our right to be on the road as well.

LOL ITG roadkill. One pass with my Caprice Classic and Mr. Bike Lock on a Chain would become a permanent part of your abdomen.

Am I doing it wrong? Cars are significantly louder than my headphones.

//I don't ride a bike, but will probably start when I have space to store one.

tsrohtx: It's legal for me to ride in the middle of the only lane traveling in my direction of travel. I only do that if I don't hear any cars behind me.

I take the middle of the lane when I don't want any cars trying to pass me.

Generally that's either preparing to turn left (AFTER SIGNALING!), OR at one place in my town where there are high walls on both sides of the road and the lanes (one each way) are kinda narrow, going under a bridge. It's a whopping five seconds or so I'm under there, so I figure they can just deal. Once I'm on the other side and stuff widens up, I'm back on the edge with passing room.

Other than that, I'm to the right. Mind you, that's not always to the very very edge, because often there's crap on the edge. But usually there's no problem passing me. Usually I try to avoid busy streets anyway, I'm a wuss.

tsrohtx: The brain tries to follow the verbal dialogue, which distracts you from the task at hand.

That's key, I think. I listen to the news walking to work (on the sidewalk) but pause it to cross the street for this reason. The shiatty earbuds I have (hey, it's spoken word, so they're fine enough) don't block OUT sounds, so if the iPod is silent I can hear, if I have a hat on I won't reach under there to take the headphones all the way OFF, but yeah, definitely paused.

I always assumed it was illegal to ride with headphones on. Dunno. I personally won't do it anyway, because I do not have skills.