Over the last 5 years or so, I have seen this trend growing among the driving traffic. It’s more prominent among younger drivers, but I’ve seen it across all ages.
I understand why, you like the tunes or audiobook on your smartphone or MP3 player and you don’t have Bluetooth or an auxiliary jack on your car stereo to run the sound through that system.
It still seems riskier or more dangerous, as your ability to hear your surroundings while you are driving would be impaired to some degree while wearing earbuds or headphones.
So do you wear them while you drive?
Secondarily, what’s your thought on the safety of wearing them?
I pop them in sometimes for phone calls/teleconferences. I find that it takes me less concentration to listen to a phone call if I can hear people more clearly, and my earbuds are more clear than piping them over the speakers or using the phone speaker.
Only on long distance drives where the SO wants to listen to terrible music at the same time as me, but I need music to stay awake. But if you don’t at least have an aux jack, you need a new stereo!
Safety concerns are lessened if you only use one ear.
I’m not sure how much of a safety issue it is. You can crank up the car stereo loud enough to drown out all road and traffic noise, so I don’t know how it’s any different. Deaf people can get driver’s licenses in all U.S. states, AFAIK.
This. I have these, which I use for phone calls mainly. I honestly forget I’m wearing them half the time. Doubly stupid because my car syncs with my phone.
if you don’t have external input to your sound system then multiple radio converters exist. it plugs in the cig lighter, inputs a headphone cord or flash drive, outputs on a radio frequency that you tune your radio to.
Not exactly the OP’s question, but earlier this week, I saw a bicyclist riding along a busy city street with headphones on. :eek: When I go riding, even on a trail, I have a strange preference for hearing what’s coming up behind me. :smack:
If you’re listening at a low volume, you can still hear traffic noise just fine. I usually wear some moderately noise-isolating memory foam earbuds on motorcycle trips which helps keep the wind noise down. Listening to music at (relatively) low volume still lets you hear traffic noise just fine, although I do usually turn it off when I’m in traffic.
Now, for a while I had a set of 3M Blockade earbuds which are basically just an industrial earplug with a speaker in the middle. Those were great for highway trips since they really cut the wind noise down but they definitely felt dangerous in-town.
Yeah, but so is exceeding the speed limit, which doesn’t keep people from doing so.
I use earbuds to listen to audiobooks and such on long drives when I have passengers. If necessary I’ll use only one ear or keep the volume low enough that I can hear sirens etc., but please don’t ask me to give them up.
I use ear buds as my hands free phone access. The stereo headset makes it easier to hear the other person on these crappy digital phones we are so blessed to have.
On rare occasion, when the overall situation is less than stressful (not rush hour, not city, light interstate traffic, etc.) I *might *listen to music at a low/moderate level.
It’s a matter of responsible behavior, something I am comfortable doing given how much driving I do.
I’m surprised to find out this isn’t against the law everywhere. Period.
I understand that deaf people can get a license. However, the number of deaf people on the road must be a fraction of a percent; people wearing headphones (earbuds) are blocking their ability to hear a horn, siren, etc, and that, in turn, could cause them to miss a chance to avoid an accident.
I wonder… If you are in an accident, and you are wearing earbuds, could the insurance company avoid paying the claim if their position is you could have avoided the accident if you weren’t wearing them?
I personally don’t wear earbuds while driving; nor do I text. And I only use a cell phone if I have hands-free capability. If I don’t have hands-free capability and need to make a call, I pull off the road, find a parking lot, put the car in park and make the call.
I think I’m one of only three people on the east coast that does this.
However, my habits give me the moral high-ground to blow my horn at people who are sitting in front of me at a green light, as they stare down at their phone typing a message or reading an email, oblivious of their surroundings. [Carl Spackler] So I have that going for me, which is nice. [/Carl Spackler]