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Do You Wear Head Phones?

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Do You Wear Head Phones?

Old 02-08-08, 09:06 PM
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Do You Wear Head Phones?

She Did!
https://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5526766.html
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Old 02-08-08, 09:10 PM
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if you're not paying enough attention to NOT get hit by a train.....I think headphones are the least of your worries.
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Old 02-08-08, 09:42 PM
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How loud was that music that it makes your vision block out a train?
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Old 02-08-08, 10:20 PM
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Holy crap, you can be blind and still feel a train coming.
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Old 02-08-08, 11:24 PM
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That woman hit the lottery. She got to live another day after being hit by a two story building!
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Old 02-09-08, 12:33 AM
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I wear headphones, but their at a volume that I can carry on a conversation without anyone speaking loud.
Can't imagine not hearing a train.

HAS to be another aspect to the story

Ken.
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Old 02-09-08, 12:40 AM
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that is pretty crazy. I have worn headphones a few times but to miss a train that just makes no sense. If I do wear headphones I make sure I can hear clear.
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Old 02-09-08, 10:23 AM
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Huh. I've only worn one (didja hear that???) ONE earbud in an ear while on long tours - the rest of the time I want and need to hear everything going on around me.


But holy poo - I mean at home here I ruin my already ruined ears and have my very nice headphones throbbing - but hell - I sure would feel and HEAR a train coming!!!! Definitely more to this story!
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Old 02-09-08, 11:59 AM
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I don't, and probably wouldn't. I'd rather hear a car coming up behind me. I can see how having volume on low may be alright depending on where you're riding, but I'm not going to bother looking into it.
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Old 02-09-08, 12:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Pharmr
if you're not paying enough attention to NOT get hit by a train.....I think headphones are the least of your worries.
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Old 02-09-08, 12:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Dahon.Steve
That woman hit the lottery. She got to live another day after being hit by a two story building!
She should have been wearing one of those safety Volvos and walked away!

https://www.car-accidents.com/pages/a...ain-crash.html

Lots more car crash pictures at this site for the Kar Kulture bashers to salivate over!
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Old 02-09-08, 04:23 PM
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Originally Posted by 10 Wheels
Why would you wear head phones? What electronic data could possibly be more interesting than the world around you?
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Old 02-09-08, 04:59 PM
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Ditto Botto!

I've actually been in a couple of nasty slushy/rain situations (commutes) recently and the one ride freaked me out a lot - with the worst being that I'm riding along 3 lanes of traffic going my way (3 going the other) and it's all basically an entrance/exit of the expressway - and oh hell it's bad to ride those area!

BUT! I've had a couple of nasty rides this year where I'm riding heavy traffic, at night and it's a heavy rain - that is going from sleet to snow - makes for a heavy wave of crap that hits you when a car goes by, UGH! But the absolute worst thing - actually things is:

the sound of the oncoming car or cars magnified with the water/slush. Dam that just takes the Tude off of tude when I go thru that - it sounds like a car is slamming into you every time a car goes by. Oh yeah - and I'll just add the fact that it's a crappy area too - so NO BREAK DOWNS!!! Freak time driving ... prefer not to do it --- I have a 12-15 min bus ride directly to my office so on these nasty days where I do not like to ride on ice/slush to work - I take the bus.

And to end (hehe, as I've gone onto a rant I think) - I do NOT employ headphones/ear buds. Dam I need really to hear my way thru the city driving. As I stated earlier - once in a while I'll toss them on for boredome purposes only - but I really prefer hearing everything. And you know why too.
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Old 02-09-08, 05:24 PM
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Head Phones

Originally Posted by Tude
Ditto Botto!

I've actually been in a couple of nasty slushy/rain situations (commutes) recently and the one ride freaked me out a lot - with the worst being that I'm riding along 3 lanes of traffic going my way (3 going the other) and it's all basically an entrance/exit of the expressway - and oh hell it's bad to ride those area!

BUT! I've had a couple of nasty rides this year where I'm riding heavy traffic, at night and it's a heavy rain - that is going from sleet to snow - makes for a heavy wave of crap that hits you when a car goes by, UGH! But the absolute worst thing - actually things is:

the sound of the oncoming car or cars magnified with the water/slush. Dam that just takes the Tude off of tude when I go thru that - it sounds like a car is slamming into you every time a car goes by. Oh yeah - and I'll just add the fact that it's a crappy area too - so NO BREAK DOWNS!!! Freak time driving ... prefer not to do it --- I have a 12-15 min bus ride directly to my office so on these nasty days where I do not like to ride on ice/slush to work - I take the bus.

And to end (hehe, as I've gone onto a rant I think) - I do NOT employ headphones/ear buds. Dam I need really to hear my way thru the city driving. As I stated earlier - once in a while I'll toss them on for boredome purposes only - but I really prefer hearing everything. And you know why too.
This accident took Place in The Houston Medical Center. The Trains are Electric and run down the center of the roads. I used to direct traffic here two hours a day. 65,000 Employees work here each day.
I have had people Step in Front of an Ambulance With its Lights Flashing.
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Old 02-09-08, 05:34 PM
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Originally Posted by 10 Wheels
This accident took Place in The Houston Medical Center. The Trains are Electric and run down the center of the roads. I used to direct traffic here two hours a day. 65,000 Employees work here each day.
I have had people Step in Front of an Ambulance With its Lights Flashing.
All the more reason not to have them on while riding

You really, REALLY need all your senses when out riding.
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Old 02-09-08, 06:42 PM
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I've seen lots of people with headphones walk into traffic or drive through stopsigns and have someone brake or swerve to avoid them, without them even noticing. Of course if you ask them, they're oblivious to what just happened, so they'll tell you they've never had a problem.
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Old 02-09-08, 06:55 PM
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Originally Posted by crhilton
Why would you wear head phones? What electronic data could possibly be more interesting than the world around you?
Some of us have a passion for music and it helps enhance the world around us.
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Old 02-09-08, 08:08 PM
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"A woman in her late 20s was riding her bicycle across the tracks between platforms at the Hermann Memorial-Rice University station"
It is common place for train commuters to get hit in these situations. They become so accustomed to crossing the tracks before or after their train ride and they forget to watch out. The trains leaving the station are not yet up to speed, they are not blowing their horns.

This is an electric commuter train in Houston. It is not loud. (You can find YouTube videos of this Houston train bashing cars, by the way!)


"...dragging her 20 to 50 feet before the driver could stop..."
The train stopped in seven to sixteen yards? How fast could it have been going?

Given the above facts, earphone had little to do with it. SPECULATION ALERT! I would say familiarity with the situation, habit, following others at the time and inattention lead to this collision. We need to make "watching out" our habit to avoid following in this womans steps.
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Old 02-09-08, 08:13 PM
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I wonder if she didn't try to beat the train.
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Old 02-09-08, 08:27 PM
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Originally Posted by daredevil
Some of us have a passion for music and it helps enhance the world around us.
Same here, I love music, but I also love it cranked up, so I personally find the "keep it quiet" too hard to do and rather ride without it going "boo boo do da!" to myself.
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Old 02-09-08, 08:34 PM
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I ride mostly on MUPS and almost always have my music on. When I'm on the road, i take the earbuds off.
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Old 02-10-08, 03:56 AM
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Originally Posted by crhilton
Why would you wear head phones? What electronic data could possibly be more interesting than the world around you?
I do sometimes, rarely though. The world around is interesting and you can still get a good feel for it but urban commutes that you ride on hundreds of times come up with less and less to indulge you.
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Old 02-10-08, 06:22 AM
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Most likely, the lady just wasn't paying attention and would have been struck with or without earphones. If the train is really quiet, then, the lack of phones probably would not have helped.

I wear phones when I feel like it, go without them when I feel like it, and I don't think it affects my personal safety at all. I am keenly aware of my sense of hearing and will not damage it by cranking music up loud enough so that I can descend a hill at 35 mph and still hear my music over the rush of the wind. In fact, I have carefully selected a pair of wrap arounds (they fit on your ears like the earpieces on wire-rimmed glasses) just for their aerodynamic design. Each ear piece is a perfect hemisphere and does not catch the wind and cause a lot of wind noise at my ear.

When I wear them, the simply present another set of sounds to my ears. They do not block out the outside. I can hear traffic approaching (not that it helps much), and I can hear horn honks and conversations of passers-by. When I wear them, my goal is to listen to the music while I ride, not to block out the rest of the world.

I vote for being careful when you ride, but, also for following your own desires with regard to the use of headphones.

Caruso
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Old 02-10-08, 06:32 AM
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Originally Posted by Tude
All the more reason not to have them on while riding

You really, REALLY need all your senses when out riding.
Yeah sure, gotta concentrate on the birdies chirping, or maybe pickup tires singing, broken exhaust systems blasting; or maybe concentrate on the cadence count on the computer.

Besides, what would the other club members/group thinkers/Safety Nannies say?

Last edited by iltb-2; 02-10-08 at 05:53 PM.
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Old 02-10-08, 01:12 PM
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What's the point of this? This can't be used as ammo for the "no music!" crowd, these one in a million examples are lame. If I ride alone, I'm listening to music.
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