Driving with Earphones

While riding my bike to work this past week I witnessed a near accident because the driver of a car was wearing earphones. The bike path I take to work runs alongside a dog park. That means it crosses the parking lot where drivers have to stop and watch for cyclists. On Tuesday a guy on a road bike passed me on my much slower mountain bike. He came to the crossing at the same time as a driver wearing earphones. The driver stopped but never bothered looking to see if any bikers might be approaching. He started going as this other cyclist, who was not required to stop, got to this minor intersection. The cyclist realized the driver was not paying attention and slammed on his brakes before getting T-boned by the much larger truck. The cyclist tried to yell at the driver but the driver couldn't hear a thing because of the earphones. The driver then proceeded through the intersection without yielding to the cyclist.

As a cyclist, you have to be aware of your surroundings and pay attention to all of the inattentive people driving cars. It is my experience that headphones make drivers less attentive and I think they should be illegal to wear while operating a bike or motor vehicle. The state of California agrees with me. Its law states:

Wearing headsets or earplugs in both ears is not permitted while driving or operating a bicycle, unless designed to aid hearing or specifically designed to attenuate injurious noise levels.

Not wanting to provide the wrong information, I looked up the law for Utah. There is no law against wearing headphones while driving. That really surprised me but I guess that explains why I see a lot of drivers cruising down the road listening to headphones and not worried about getting pulled over. If you are interested in finding out the law in your state, AAA has a great page that lists every state with its headphone law.

I found it interesting that my last blog post talked about headphones and then I had this recent experience. It made for a good follow-up for today. Fortunately I was glad I didn't have to help scrape the poor cyclist off the pavement on Tuesday.

On the Phone While Driving

In a number of states it is illegal to drive while talking on the phone unless you have a hands-free device. I understand this law as it is tough to hold your phone and steer the car at the same time. I think it is a good practice to never have your phone out while driving even if you are in one of the states that does allow you to talk on the phone and drive like Utah.

I am noticing a trend though. Last night I drove home from the airport with my wife and she noticed that the woman in the car next to us was simultaneously driving and watching a video on her phone. I'm sure this person thought she could multitask but her driving proved otherwise. She spent most of her time in the bike lane and looked like she wove a rug as she sped down the street. Needless to say I felt relief as she turned right while I continued straight.

Driving while you are playing with your phone is what is known as "distracted driving" and can result in citations and fines. The only problem is that the police have to catch you. Sure I could have followed the woman last night and called the police. Unfortunately that never works out very well. Eventually this person will cause an accident. It is not a question of "If" but "When."

Please don't drive and play with your phone at the same time. Last night nobody happened to be in the bike lane due to the late hour and cold weather. However I often use that bike lane on my daily rides and would hate to wind up being a hood ornament to a distracted driver.