That the hearing of people with earbuds on or stereos loud is as absent as that of a deaf person. That does not seem trivially obvious to me.
I’ve known a few deaf (and Deaf) drivers. I think there are minimum size requirements for things like rearview mirrors, but really, emergency vehicles have lights as well as sirens, and deaf folks won’t be distracted by, say, radios in the car the way hearing drivers will.
Last time I checked (about 15 years ago) deaf and hard of hearing drivers are no more likely to get into an accident than hearing drivers.
I’ve also known a couple of deaf airplane pilots, too.
One hand, and sometimes would turn to look at you. She doesn’t chat anymore when driving, thank goodness, but she still isn’t the best driver.
Not sure it was a game, when I took signing classes in Gallaudet in DC there was a dance hall and the bass was really really loud. In fact there was a sign for hearing people to wear hearing protection due to the loudness. Turns out you can be totally deaf and “feel” the vibrations of really loud bass music. When I rode with totally deaf people they turned their radios down to spare my ears.
and to the signing while driving question, YES they do use both hands to sign while driving and it scares the crap out of me when I am in their cars, especially when the driver turns around in his seat to “hear” better. My friend said he was really good with his knees.
I have deaf family members, most of whom drive. I remember my deaf uncle and aunt once picked up me and my parents in Las Vegas to go to another site. At one point my uncle pulled over unexpectedly and my dad was saying, No, no, not here, and gesticulating to an annoying degree. Then we all heard it: and a whole line-up of emergency vehicles flew past it. I don’t know how he knew, but he knew–and before the hearing people did.
On the roads, horns are used as punishment a thousand more times than for safety warning.
This I find very hard to believe. A huge part of flying an airplane is communicating with air traffic control, and I can’t imagine somebody successfully navigating controlled airspace who couldn’t hear through their headset. Part of the medical clearance needed to get a pilot’s license involves showing aptitude in speaking, and it’s a requirement in the U.S. that pilots must be able to speak English.
Well, there definitely ARE deaf pilots. They use some sort of system that overrides the need for hearing/voice. It may even be a co-pilot, but it’s done regularly.
No, communicating with air traffic control is NOT necessarily a “huge part of flying”, at least not in the US. There is a heck of a lot of US airspace where someone flying VFR is under no requirement whatsoever to speak with ATC, and even many towered airports can accommodate a pilot with no radio (they do prefer some advance warning).
It is even possible for a deaf pilot to be a commercial pilot in the US, although restricted to where radio communication is not required. There have been at least two, one of whom worked as a crop duster if I recall correctly.
Just because someone is deaf doesn’t mean they can’t speak.
My sister speaks pretty clearly, sometimes (when she’s ticked) very loudly too.
My cousin is quadraplegic and he drives… well he did get surgery to get his arms working… but technically still quadraplegic.
I ride a motorcycle and can hear ambient road noises perfectly well. Seems like a stereotypical assumption to think otherwise.
Ignorance fought on the whole “deaf pilot” thing. It’s a hijack, anyway, so I won’t try and nitpick the point. Mea culpa.
I think there are Deaf people with pilots licenses but not Deaf people who are employed as pilots by commercial airlines. However, there may be Deaf people who work as crop dusters, or who pilot helicopters professionally.
I went to Gallaudet for interpreter training, and I never met anyone from any state who said there were so many restrictions they had not been able to drive. The only restriction I recall was that, and understand, this was back in the 1980s, Deaf people had to get right side mirrors installed in their cars in most states, because it was not always standard equipment then. I drove as a passenger with more Deaf people than I can count. I never felt unsafe. Most people don’t sign with two hands; they sign off the steering wheel. They don’t turn to look at people in the back seat; they watch them through the rearview mirror.
Incidentally, you can even have a conversation with someone in the car in front of you by way of the rearview mirror.
People ask me all the time if Deaf people can drive, and it surprises me. Of course they can. The follow up question is sometimes “Can they park in handicapped spaces?” and the answer to that is no.
Deaf drivers are statistically less likely to get into accidents than hearing drivers, but for a long time, they paid higher insurance rates. There was a lawsuit sometime, IIRC, in the early 90s about this.
On a related note, police officers are taught a sign for “show me your license”. (Hands face out, thumbs touching in a L shape) Unfortunately doing it wrong translates to “show me your vagina”. (allowing ones forefingers to touch).
You–and I suggest everyone else here–would enjoy the vid Deaf Driving.", a short conversation-illustration on how the two worlds differently enjoy a car ride, by the CODA Brothers (“CODA”/children of deaf adults–a standard abbreviation). Their videos are signed with their own very expressive and enjoyable voice translation added later.
ETA: it’s them goofing around and is funny. Not a lecture, just in case you were worried.
I have single-sided deafness. The result is that I can’t tell where sounds are coming from. Whenever I hear a horn, I have to look around to see where it’s coming from. Sirens are the same way. I scan all directions looking for the lights (or other people pulling over).
There was one situation where I thought the sirens I heard were coming from a podcast I was listening to. That turned out to be wrong. 
They were MUCH too close before I saw them and frantically pulled over.
J.
Why is this a surprise? He saw them in his rear view mirror. It’s not like anyone else besides the driver would be checking the mirrors or that they would be situated where they could use them. But this brings up another point, the auto makers specifically make the primary safety cues to be visible, not audible. Only secondary cues may be audible chimes, there must always be a primary visual cue to something like door/trunk open or backup warnings.
I’m one of them. You are on borrowed time.
As a cyclist, I am very aware that the audio cues are so much more informative than when you’re in a car. I don’t know if the soundproofing of modern cars has improved (I doubt it) but modern cars are certainly quieter in operation.
Explain to me why someone on a bicycle needs to hear things that someone in a car doesn’t need to hear.
Simply stay on the right side of the road in a place where other traffic is accustomed to bikes and look when you turn and cross intersections. Easy enough.
Just make sure you never EVER assume there’s no other traffic just because you don’t hear any. (It’s insane how many people cross the street without looking and with their back turned to oncoming traffic.)