Originally Posted by 50PlusCycling

As a former police officer and traffic homicide investigator, I think wearing earphones is a great way to shorten your life. In most places riding while wearing earphones is illegal, and this for good reason. I am especially against it because my brother was wearing earphones on a bike ride, and was hit and killed by a car. Had he not been wearing them, he might have heard the car coming.

Of course there are fools out there who say it's no ones business if you want to wear earphones while riding, that is,until you manage to get yourself hurt or killed. Then it becomes the business of lawyers, insurance companies, law enforcement, and your family when they come to visit you in the hospital or in the morgue.

What it is about people that they must be entertained at all times? Have they really become that infantile? Perhaps instead of carrying phones to stare at every two or three minutes, and listening to a constant barrage of music, we can simply implant devices into our brains.

One thing I like about riding my bike is that I get to unplug for little while. "Silence is Golden," especially today when you are bombarded constantly by audio and video information, listening to prepackaged music, listening to propaganda and advertisements disguised as news and entertainment.

How about getting on your bike, and listening to nothing? You might find the sounds of nature relaxing. You might enjoy the sound of the chain turning the gears, and your tires on the pavement, and you might hear the tires of a car as it swerves out of its lane because its driver is distractied by a text message or email.