# Do people walking in public with earbuds annoy you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 1, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871 "2011-09-01T18:54:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/41 "2011-09-02T08:57:54Z")
I have noise-cancelling headphones because the traffic can be so loud; they don’t actually drown out all the ambient sound, all they do is make it possible for me to hear the music or audiobook, though on most of my dogwalks I have the sound quite low. I take them out to talk to people and pay extra attention while crossing the road, but I’m mostly on side-streets next to the noisy main road and cars hardly ever go down them anyway. I walk at least an hour a day on familiar roads and I’m bored out of my mind without a book to listen to. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/42 "2011-09-02T09:00:36Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > I guess these kind of vehicles aren’t so popular up in the Canada. Down here in Florida they use Segways a lot and also those electric trikes that Seniors use. I’d say the trikes are more popular. You have to stand up to use a Seqway. > > Uh. We are talking about safety, not liability. The dead pedestrians are still dead, even if they had the had the right of way. It is dangerous enough driving a car, but when you are a pedestrian around automobiles, then you are prey and the automobiles are the predators. An alert pedestrian doesn’t depend on the laws of traffic, they use the laws of physics. When I want to cross the street, I don’t ask first if I have the right of way. I ask which cars can get to me. > > I had a friend who did two tours in Vietnam and told me the closest he ever came to being killed was a car driving the wrong way street when he was walking across. > > There will be some times when alertness won’t save you, but most the time it will help. Unless you refuse to turn your head to see whether cars are coming from either direction, having headphones in won’t affect your ability to notice a car coming the wrong way down a road. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/43 "2011-09-02T10:06:00Z")
I listen to podcasts constantly when walking to and from places if I’m alone. I’ve never been hit by a car or bike, because I still have working eyes and a working neck. It’s also tricky to get spoken word podcasts loud enough to block out everything else without it being painful, as the variation in volume is much greater. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/44 "2011-09-02T13:59:46Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > You don’t have the right to step in the path of a jogger or a Segway because you didn’t hear them coming. Your concerns are met with the application of just the _tiniest_ bit of common sense. First, people wearing earbuds are not necessarily blocking out all environmental sound. Beyond that a person of reasonable intelligence can negotiate a sidewalk without presenting a hazard to themselves or anyone else. It’s not difficult:[ul] [li]Keep right.[/li][li]Watch where you’re going.[/li][li]Move in a linear, predictable fashion.[/li][li]Pay attention when crossing intersections or turning corners.[/li][/ul] Hell, I’ve been walking in a bustling metropolis for thirty years. I share the [Stanley Park Seawall](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC5p_0wv43w) with cyclists, joggers, roller-bladers, and powered people-movers and enjoy my music without fretting about a collision, because _I don’t walk like an idiot._ I am likewise annoyed by distracted, oblivious people - but the use of personal audio devices is largely incidental. People without headphones are just as likely to meander down the sidewalk like a drunk toddler, blithely motor down the wrong side of the walk, or abruptly alter their course without any attention to the flow of traffic around them. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/45 "2011-09-02T15:10:56Z")
Another day, another bizarre thing to get worked up about in Doperland. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/46 "2011-09-02T15:16:27Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Did you never encounter a bicycle or a Segway or a jogger on your sidewalk?. Cyclists shouldn’t be on the sidewalk anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Double\_Foolscap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@Double\_Foolscap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Double_Foolscap)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/47 "2011-09-02T15:33:37Z")
Shouldn’t, but occasionally are. Luckily I live in a bike-friendly area, but the flip side of that is there are a lot of bikes on the off-road paths I use. Still haven’t got hit because of my preoccupation with the latest witty observations on current news events, though. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/48 "2011-09-02T15:51:39Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Uh. We are talking about safety, not liability. I think the point was that many pedestrian fatalities are the fault of drivers and no amount of pedestrian awareness would have helped. If a car is travelling the wrong way down a street that’s one thing - a look both ways would help. But in my experience any close call I’ve had with a car happened when they did something wildly unpredictable - turned with no signal, ran a red light or stop sign, decided to turn at an intersection when the car traffic was clear but forgot to look for foot traffic, backed out of their driveway without looking behind them, etc, etc. Even though I could see and hear everything just fine (these kinds of things have happened to me both with and without earbuds, so I know it makes no difference) that kind of unpredictable action is, well, unpredictable. I was lucky in every case and I either got out of the way or got the drivers attention. But if you are crossing a crosswalk and a driver decides it’s time to turn left without slowing down or signalling (seen it), then knowing he’s coming is only going to help so much. If you’re in his path you might get mowed down. So I can definitely see that many (possibly most) pedestrian fatalities have little or nothing to do with pedestrians listening to music. So citing 4,000 dead pedestrians doesn’t mean much unless we know how exactly each of them died. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/49 "2011-09-02T15:59:59Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > You know what annoys me? People looking for stuff to get annoyed about. If you think it’s foolish or dangerous to walk around listening to music, then rest easy in the knowledge that they will be injured and get their comeuppance. Otherwise, mind your own business. Sheesh. Yep. **OP** : is my posture bothering you? I tend to slouch sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![happycamper\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cab0a1/32.png) [@happycamper\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/happycamper_5)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/50 "2011-09-02T16:13:36Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > Uh. We are talking about safety, not liability. The dead pedestrians are still dead, even if they had the had the right of way. It is dangerous enough driving a car, but when you are a pedestrian around automobiles, then you are prey and the automobiles are the predators. An alert pedestrian doesn’t depend on the laws of traffic, they use the laws of physics. When I want to cross the street, I don’t ask first if I have the right of way. I ask which cars can get to me. > > I had a friend who did two tours in Vietnam and told me the closest he ever came to being killed was a car driving the wrong way street when he was walking across. > > There will be some times when alertness won’t save you, but most the time it will help. Really? Your OP doesn’t say much about the safety of pedestrians in general, but rather how irresponsible they would be case of an accident. And, I said nothing about right-of-way, but rather how the individual situations might shed light on the safety precautions taken in each. Was your friend wearing earbuds at the time he was almost killed? Talking on a cell phone? Reading a book? What was he doing to lower his situational awareness? If the answer is nothing, then your anecdote doesn’t help your argument, either. In fact, I’d say the opposite. If your friend was paying sufficient attention to his surroundings and still managed a close call, then what more could he have done to prevent the near-hit? Yes, I get your point - drivers never win against vehicles. However, you’re refusing to see the other point being made here, which is that pedestrians wearing earbuds aren’t necessarily paying less attention to their surroundings that pedestrians without them. The closest I’ve come to getting killed was due to irresponsible drivers not looking both ways before they drive through crosswalks. Happens too often, really, which is why you learn never to cross until you make eye-contact with the driver, if possible. [QUOTE=Meyer6] So citing 4,000 dead pedestrians doesn’t mean much unless we know how exactly each of them died. [/QUOTE] Yeah, that’s what I was trying to say and without out all the pointless word-ery, too. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/51 "2011-09-02T17:19:16Z")
[http://www.psandb.com/2011/08/17/study-distracted-pedestrians-have-greater-risk-of-injury/](http://www.psandb.com/2011/08/17/study-distracted-pedestrians-have-greater-risk-of-injury/) > [@](#): > > As researchers expected, pedestrians talking on the phone were twice as likely to be hit than undistracted pedestrians (12 percent compared to 6 percent), and pedestrians who were texting were twice as likely to be struck (up to 25 percent) than those talking on the phone. **However, researchers were stunned to discover that of the pedestrians listening to music with ear buds, one in three was likely to come to harm while crossing the street.** > Researchers surmised that people use their sense of hearing to assist in crossing the street more than they realized, and that by distracting their ears, pedestrians increase their risk of failing to cross a street safely. The study findings appear online in Accident Analysis and Prevention. Of course some other studies show the distraction factor is more important. It just takes time for the brain to change gears and get into fight or flight mode. This is consistent with the people that say they need the music/podcast/book to keep them from being bored, i.e. they are using them as a distraction. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/52 "2011-09-02T17:38:22Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > The reason it bothers me is that I think people have a responsibility to pay attention to their environment when they are out in public. If you are at home or work or sitting down on a bus or train, then using the earbuds is fine. I’d even concede that using an earbud in one ear is okay. But if you are walking or for gods sake riding a bicycle: **Pay attention to what is going on around you**. This also applies to people who play the radio too loud in their cars. If you don’t hear the police car or ambulance until they are on your bumper: your radio is too loud and you need to check your rear view mirror more often. > > I know some people will say,“I’m just walking on the sidewalk. I don’t need to know anything except what is right in front of me.” Do you take the earbuds off you cross the street or come to a corner? Did you never encounter a bicycle or a Segway or a jogger on your sidewalk?. People will say, “It’s my life. I can walk around oblivious if I want to.” I’ll concede that you have a right to kill yourself, but not on the hood of my car or to cause other people to be injured or killed when the car swerves to miss you. You don’t have the right to step in the path of a jogger or a Segway because you didn’t hear them coming. Listening to music = not a problem. Walking and texting just pisses me off no end, as the people doing it are not watching where they are going and just expect people to get out of their way. I usually go out of my way to not get out of their way. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/53 "2011-09-02T19:37:40Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > > [@linked article](#): > > > > However, researchers were stunned to discover that of the pedestrians listening to music with ear buds, one in three was likely to come to harm while crossing the street. An intelligent person reading this must necessarily observe that this finding doesn’t says more about the methodology used than real-life situations. Clearly, one-in-three people listening to music with earbuds while attempting to cross a two-lane road do _not_ come to harm, so the simulation must be at odds with reality. Did the participants have control over the volume? Did the ambient sound closely mirror reality? Were other tactile feedbacks represented? Was the breadth and depth of vision similar to what someone standing at an intersection available in the simulation. It’s really not that difficult to allocate enough attention to crossing the street safely. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/54 "2011-09-02T20:45:50Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > An intelligent person reading this must necessarily observe that this finding doesn’t says more about the methodology used than real-life situations. > > Clearly, one-in-three people listening to music with earbuds while attempting to cross a two-lane road do _not_ come to harm, so the simulation must be at odds with reality. Did the participants have control over the volume? Did the ambient sound closely mirror reality? Were other tactile feedbacks represented? Was the breadth and depth of vision similar to what someone standing at an intersection available in the simulation. > > It’s really not that difficult to allocate enough attention to crossing the street safely. The abstract said 1/3 did come to harm versus 6% with no distractions. The researchers themselves said they said the result was unexpected. They assumed that walking while texting would be the worst. Unfortunately the article is behind a paywall. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457511001965](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457511001965) There were more information in this article: [http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/1555-unplug-from-mobile-devices-to-cross-the-street-safely](http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/1555-unplug-from-mobile-devices-to-cross-the-street-safely) There is also a two minute video in the article. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/55 "2011-09-02T21:59:29Z")
I don’t think anyone has yet posted this video of a [woman texting and doing a face-plant into a mall fountain](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPW8xmI4w6U)? Personally I have no problem listening to music and walking at the same time, although I tend not to if I am on a hike or walking with my dogs, because I enjoy shit like tweeting birds and other natural sounds that accompany rural or park walks. And as I said upthread I usually listen to NPR talk while working, and my work often involves climbing way up high on ladders or being on a roof. These two activities must involve different parts of my brain because I don’t find them incompatible. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/56 "2011-09-03T05:16:31Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > An intelligent person reading this must necessarily observe that this finding doesn’t says more about the methodology used than real-life situations. Yeah, that study seems fundamentally flawed. Simulations are tricky and don’t always mirror real world results. But if 1 in 3 people listening to music were really so distracted that they were at serious risk of being hit by a car, don’t you think that would be a lot more obvious? We’ve all noticed texting drivers that are slow and swervy. We’ve all noticed vapid cellphone talkers who are oblivious to those around them. But I find it hard to believe that listening to music could be \*that \*incredibly dangerous without us ever noticing. Apart from anything else I find it hard to believe that nobody would notice that they themselves were having \*that \*many more close calls with vehicles. I mean, I can tell I’m distracted if I talk on the phone, I can tell I’m a little fuzzy if I have a beer or two, I can tell I’m not too sharp after a poor nights sleep. How do you explain the fact that most people don’t seem to notice any difference between music and no music? We can’t all be \*that \*clueless. I’m honestly not just trying to be argumentative - it’s just that the huge differences seen in that study are a little hard to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Sparky\_the\_Wonder\_Spirit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky_the_Wonder_Spirit)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/57 "2011-09-03T05:25:41Z")
What the hell? I’ve listened to music while walking since well before the advent of earbuds. Haven’t you ever heard of a Walkman? It’s not at all difficult to keep aware of my surroundings. ---
**Author:** ![firstname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7ab992/32.png) [@firstname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/firstname)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/58 "2011-09-03T05:51:12Z")
No, but people who don’t mind their own bussiness do. Seriously are you going to start bashing deaf people next because they can’t hear segways or joggers? ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/59 "2011-09-03T15:37:50Z")
It looks like lawyers are getting involved now. If a car hits you while you are using an MP3 player, you may be a situation of trying to prove you weren’t distracted and at fault. They used the term “Inattention blindness”. It looks like they will also to hold you at fault if they can claim you caused them to swerve to avoid you and hit someone else. [http://www.gaychackermittin.com/Auto-Accidents/Distracted-Pedestrians.shtml](http://www.gaychackermittin.com/Auto-Accidents/Distracted-Pedestrians.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2011, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871/60 "2011-09-03T19:00:09Z")
Interestingly, that website says: > [@](#): > > A study observing intersections at one university showed that 48 percent of cell phone users stepped into the crosswalk as a car approached. That was much higher than those with MP3 players or those without any device. which is the opposite of the study you quoted earlier. Unfortunately I don’t see a cite for their claim. In any case, it doesn’t necessarily surprise me that some lawfirm would offer to sue pedestrians for causing accidents. Hell, maybe some pedestrians deserve to be sued for that. But that doesn’t mean that the law will favour drivers over pedestrians and it doesn’t mean that listening to music while walking should be generally outlawed. None of this addresses the issues that others have brought up. On one hand, listening to music isn’t illegal for drivers, so it would probably be difficult to make it illegal for walkers. On the other hand, walking does not require a licence and is not subject to the same restrictions as driving is. What’s next, banning deaf people from walking around? Blind people? Drunk people? Children? All of those groups are prone to missing dangers around. But how do you stop people from walking around? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-walking-in-public-with-earbuds-annoy-you/594871.md?page=4)