Originally Posted by
Savagewolf
People wearing IPods don't concern me at all. I don't wear them myself if I'm riding as I don't like having something in or on my ear as I ride, but if others don't mind it that's fine.
Not everyone using an IPod is blasting it so loud they can't hear anything else. Not everyone using an Ipod puts it in both ears. Not everyone who doesn't use an IPod can hear, either. Is it wrong for someone deaf to ride a bike?
Going into it further, just because you don't use an IPod doesn't mean that you won't miss some things. I've encountered many a cyclist who was unaware of me sneaking up behind them. I've been a zone myself where a cyclist rides up behind me and I didn't know they were there, and that's with me with nearly perfect hearing and no IPod or other device in.
I really don't care what people are doing while riding as long as they are safe around me. I would have been happy if the guy that swerved in front of me without looking after I said passing and began to pass had held his line while listening to his ipod instead, but he didn't. I knew I was on a busy path and was expecting people to do stupid things, so it wasn't too surprising when it happened.
Deaf riders wouldn't bother me either if they could ride safely. I wouldn't expect them to endanger others around them by not looking before changing lanes or making it hard for them to see though.
ipods aren't the only dangerous distraction out there either, I bet most of us saw this story yesterday about the damages caused by a distracted driver:
http://www.examiner.com/article/text...ving-off-cliff