There are a lot of people that ride bicycles in very dangerous situtaions that increase their chances of getting hit/injured/killed. Lots of bike riders (I won't call them all cyclists) get hit by cars and die because of their own stupidity at no fault of the automobile driver. A bike rider got killed here in Louisville recently. They were riding on a very very busy street with lots of parallel parked cars, cars moving in and out of sidestreets - just a very dangerous situation with no margin for error. I've been riding for many many years and there is no way I'd ride down that street. They did. They took their chances. They got killed. Too much risk for me.

With today's car drivers in their sheltered environments surrounded by their music & preocupied by their hand held cell phone/text/'net access devices it's just a more dangerous world out there for anybody riding a bicycle. I like to minimize my risks when riding - I ride on as safe a roads as possible (suburban/rural with low car traffic), at off-peak times (not while everyone is commuting home from work), in full daylight, and without an iPod or similar device. It's all about managing risks. Safe roads at off-peak times in full daylight. No sense being in the right and dead - you're still dead.

I think Pcad has it about right - he listens to music in a way that also allows him to pay attention to traffic and to hear what's going on around him. There is still a risk but he's minimized it. Heck - cycling is a risk. We assume that risk when we ride. That's reality. I don't live in a fantasy world where I am a senseless advocate for cycling rights on all roads all the time in all conditions doing whatever I want on a bike. That's why they give out Darwin Awards. No sense making it more risky than it already is.