Is it illegal....

Kinetic^

......to listen to earphones when driving a motorised vehicle?

Be it car, bike, tractor - well you get the picture.

I've done it occasionally and I seen a girl with her Ipod in while driving a car.

I was hoping somebody might be able to clear this up for me.

blahblah06

as far as i know it is illegal

Hagar

Whatever about illegal, it's dumb because it's dangerous.

Supercell

Off your bike!, wtf!!...being a biker is bloody dangerous enough without being able to hear whats going on around you!!

seamus

Yes and no.

It's not specifically illegal, but it's fair to say that a Garda could do you for driving without due care and attention for having them in. They're not really any worse than driving with the stereo blasting at 90dB or a two-ear mobile handsfree.

I did it for about 6 months on the bike, and in hindsight it was a poor decision. It was nice to have something distract your attention from cold hands and freezing rain, but then that's the problem. It's not so much that it prevents you hearing what's going on, but it distracts your attention from the area where it's badly needed on a bike.

Kinetic^

seamus wrote:

Yes and no.

It's not specifically illegal, but it's fair to say that a Garda could do you for driving without due care and attention for having them in.

I definately agree with you there. When I did wear them & if I was pulled over then I wouldn't argue for being done.

Saying that, boy racers with a million DB of sound coming from their cars???

japanpaul

I drive with earplugs in on long journeys or if I'm going to be driving on the motorway because the the wind and engine noise is bad for your hearing.
I still reckon it would be dangerous to listen to music while riding your bike, need to have full concentration

Supercell

Good point japanpaul about concentration, there are earplugs that do allow you to hear your enviornment at safe decibels though also, hearing whats happening around the bike is an essential part of safe bike riding imho, not hearing the other traffic and being distracted by music is definately asking to die young imho.

TouchingVirus

I agree with LongWind. Biking is dangerous enough with other drivers not paying due care and attention without adding fuel to the fire by cutting out the driving environment sounds which are extremely beneficial and sometimes necessary when riding a motorcycle.

It is at your peril that you decide to plug in earphones and listen to tunes whilst driving a motorcycle..

Supercell

TouchingVirus wrote:

I agree with LongWind.

Its a smelly Wind too to you ;p

The Field smells better unless you're behind cattle , and has a nicer view !!

KTRIC

I do it occasionally, but I have it at a level where it doesn't drown out the engine or traffic noise. It doesn't matter how loud it is, once you go over a certain speed you can't hear it anyway.

Idleater

I don't think that there is anything illegal about them.

I would suggest using the helmet speaker(s) rather than actual in ear headphones though. These are the same as the ones that the Gardai have, the ones that are used by instructors for lessons, the ones that are sold for communication with pillion passengers etc. Having the speaker(s) on the inside of the helmet, rather than in your ear means that they do not impede the sounds around you like in ear earphones do.

I know a few people that have the full systems installed on eg BMWs and they even have the mobile phones plugged in. I was talking to one person while he was driving. The only gripe from them that I have heard is that you cannot screen the calls because the phone auto answers!

L.

madrab

yeah i sometimes listen to my mp3 player on the bike, but i would only have one ear in & set a lowish level

freewing

you probably wont get done for wearing headphones on a bike but instead you will be done for driving without due care having said that I have a stereo built in on my bike and the headphones are in the helmet(same as all the lads in the club ). I can also connect a number of devices like mp3 , mobile phone, etc.caution is advised ,if you have it up too loud you will not hear surrounding noise like that garda car behind you :eek:

TouchingVirus

Longfield wrote:

Its a smelly Wind too to you ;p

The Field smells better unless you're behind cattle , and has a nicer view !!

My apologies Mr Field, i musta had a virus in my system or somethin

Bottom Line:

Whilst it may or may not be illegal, if you blast it into your ears and drown out environmental noise, your capacity to drive safely is reduced and the chance of an accident rises significantly. There could be an issue with concentration aswell, if you tend to sing along to tunes then you're not going to give 100% on the road, again, its very dangerous.

So play it smart, and just don't do it

sutty

I have done it a few times on long jurnys to waterford, limerick and Galway. One earphone in and at a low setting. I can still hear traffic and the such. Well I can hear as well as I can with out due to the fat pipes I have installed on the bike. I often find it better for longer jurnys. If you have nothing to keep your mind going on a long jurny. It tends to switch off or become destracted more easly than if I had some music to lissen to. (or even some sort of sound file) I dont think its a destraction at all. I was also stopped for tax at a point on my way to waterford and the cop said nothing about the ear phone in my ear when he asked me to remove my hemlet.

KTRIC

sutty wrote:

I have done it a few times on long jurnys to waterford, limerick and Galway. One earphone in and at a low setting. I can still hear traffic and the such. Well I can hear as well as I can with out due to the fat pipes I have installed on the bike. I often find it better for longer jurnys. If you have nothing to keep your mind going on a long jurny. It tends to switch off or become destracted more easly than if I had some music to lissen to. (or even some sort of sound file) I dont think its a destraction at all. I was also stopped for tax at a point on my way to waterford and the cop said nothing about the ear phone in my ear when he asked me to remove my hemlet.

Ah Sutty, you of all people need 110% concentration when driving. We all know what happened to your last bike

Kinetic^

K-TRIC wrote:

Ah Sutty, you of all people need 110% concentration when driving. We all know what happened to your last bike

No we don't, do tell

sutty

HA! that wasn't my fault, it was the lad in the car falling asleep at the wheel! so there

madrab

did he use your bike as a pillow?

digitaldr

I bought a pair of helmet speakers and a little amp on Ebay (the amp was cheaper than on Ebay than on his site). Battery life is very good and I've bought two rechargeable PP9s in Maplin. I only listen to talk radio from my mobile which I think is less distracting than music??

One of the pins on the speaker wire connector broke so I was reduced to left ear only - probably safer! Anyway I did a major rewiring job at the weekend and now have both speakers working again and a mic for the phone - very pleased.

Hotblack Desiato

Jeez, the old threads are really getting dragged up today!

ZXR400

I drive with one mp3 earphone in everyday to work at such a level that its only audible at low speeds...was stopped at checkpoint and nothing was said either.......i consider myself to be be an alert rider with 6 yrs exp of our Dublin traffic/M50 carpark...I am constantly anticipating traffic situation possibilities and observing muppet car drivers we have in dublin who like to switch lanes at leisure with no signals........i dont sing along to the tunes either its just an interesting alternative to windblast......but if going for a weekend ride in the country or open twisty road etc I prefer the sound of an inline four

KTRIC

ninja900 wrote:

Jeez, the old threads are really getting dragged up today!

Thats because this forum is gone to the dogs.

75% of the stuff here is "how do I get my license". If you want real biker chat then go over to :

www.biker.ie

Or

www.irishbikerforum.com


I'm trying to spread myself evenly between here and the other two. Its a hard life, but I don't want to let the fans down.

digitaldr

I'm not entirely sure what the problem is - if I'd started a new thread on the topic I'm sure you'd be moaning too. You can't win!