caelric

I survived two tours in Iraq, out in Fallujah, Najaf, and Ramadi, on patrols and such. I have pretty good situational awareness, of all kinds of things. I wouldn't have gone out on patrol with an iPod in my ears, and I won't ride a bike with them either.

uke

The day riding to class here approaches anything like a patrol in Fallujah, riding with earphones will be the least of my problems.

Allister

Yes, because bicycling is EXACTLY like desert combat.

Allister

That's ok. Not everyone is up to the challenge of learning how to do it.

genec

Well... there was one strong VC advocate here that compared cycling to piloting a jet plane...

Personally I thought it was a bit much...

caelric

Of course it's not EXACTLY alike, and no where did I say so. If you read it that way, you are being deliberately obtuse.

However, there are similarities. You are moving around, in an area where various people are trying to kill you (whether deliberately, or due to ignorance/unawareness), and situational awareness is important.

If you want to reduce your SA by wearing earbuds, go ahead. But don't argue that they have no ill effect on your SA.

GutterNinja!

It's not that earbuds won't negatively impact your SA, but rather that the impact in cycling tends to be pretty inconsequential. Maybe I haven't mastered the art of triangulating the distance, heading, and bearing, and speed of a passing car with my ears, but to be entirely fair my ears don't tell me a whole heck of a lot while riding. If you change your riding style every time you hear a car, then you probably want to be able to hear the car, but aside from riding on country roads with now and then traffic, I get almost no useful information via my hearing when I'm riding in traffic. Everything revolves around visual cues and awareness.

If I'm not making decisions based on the unintelligible chaos of engine noise in my ears, is it especially important that I'm able to hear it?

vettefrc2000

As defined by Endsley Situation awareness is the perception of environmental elements within a volume of time and space, the comprehension of their meaning, and the projection of their status in the near future.

For a cyclist it could unfold like this:

I am riding in the city. (perception of environmental elements)

During rush hour. (within a volume of time and space)

The city during rush hour (comprehension of their meaning,)

Maneuvering in traffic during rush hour (the projection of their status in the near future)

Means I need to use what I know and have learned from riding during rush hour and use this to not only anticipate what may happen during rush hour but also anticipate what others may do as the situation unfolds.

vettefrc2000

I would contend that it is. If you posses high levels of SA you are using the EXACT same tools.

chipcom 

Riding a bike isn't combat...duh.

chipcom 

Incorrect. Refer to the old 80/20 rule...which applies to cycling...not so much to combat.

AlmostTrick

Is it possible to put just an avatar on ignore?

chipcom 

Gimme a break...really. You don't need to be able to hear a pin drop when riding a bike. Me thinks that you, like others who have never even tried it, don't realize that you can still hear what you NEED to hear just fine when riding with music...unless you got it cranked up, or are easily distracted by music.

Paul Barnard

I'm not going to try to equate motorcycling with bicycling, but I have found what you said to bear true in motorcycling. I wear ear plugs under my helmet. They attenuate the wind noise to the point I feel like it helps me hear other noises.

I-Like-To-Bike

SA means being aware that not all cycling accidents have the same severity effects on the involved cyclists. SA means being aware that one situation of collision with a motor vehicle resulting in catastrophic injuries outweighs 999 situations of skinned knees from falling off a bike on the playground. SA also means being aware that a low number of cycling accidents occurring in a certain situation (such as while cycling in the left lane of high speed highways) does not mean that situation/location is a good location for cycling safety.

And drawing any kind of conclusion about cycling safety/risk situations from raw, incomplete data without serious analysis is being Situationally Obtuse.

I-Like-To-Bike

I prefer to not hear road/wind noise when cycling, I prefer to listen to music or audio books. I have no problem hearing what I need to hear for SA while listening to preferred sounds from my mp3 player.

I can also safely chew gum and drink beverages while cycling too. Sometimes I might even whistle a happy tune while maintaining sufficient awareness of my "situation."

I-Like-To-Bike

I survived numerous dangerous situations of standing in my bathtub while taking a shower. I wouldn't wear an mp3 player in the shower, but I do wear an mp3 player while cycling.

Situational Awareness is my rationale. SA helps me recognize the difference in the situations.

genec

+100... but try to convince folks that their "statistics" are really false, and based on poor cross section analysis.

Paul Barnard

A component of SA is using/doing what works for YOU.

I-Like-To-Bike

The statistics may not be false, but drawing unwarranted conclusions, not supported by the available data, may give a false view of the actual situation. And acting on claims/conclusions about the relative safety of various situations as good SA, when the SA is based on inadequate raw statistics is definitely foolish.

uke

...

gcottay

A combination of an experience base to know what is safe and alertness to aberrations which represent threat.

On an early morning ride down a wide, smooth, almost deserted MUP, an alert rider would notice a human on the grass on one side of the path and a dog on the other. An experienced rider would look carefully for a long lease connecting the two animals.

Basil Moss

Yes, it's a buzzword. But it's true, it does help to keep your mind on what you are doing, on busy roads, or in a city where there's a lot going on around you. Keep looking about at junctions, look where there's a driveway opening onto the road, stuff like that. Or on quiet roads when you are bowling along at 28 mph in a tightly packed chaingang!

About headphones, I rarely use them now because the do reduce the amount I hear, especially in a city with lots of cars whizzing past. In the dark I never use them. Only in the day on boring rides on my own (and there's very few rides I find boring!). But keep it in perspective, people. Cycling is not a wildly dangerous activity, certainly compared to walking, and nobody has told walkers not to wear headphones. Pedestrians get hit by cars too.

San Rensho 

Controlled paranoia. Assume that every car that you encounter wants to kill you and prepare a plan so that the driv r will be unable to carry out his plan. For example, if a car is coming towards you in oncoming traffic, assume that it will turn left in front of you at the last possible moment. Have a plan in mind for going behind the car, in front of the car, or braking, depending on the situation. And your attention should be well up the road. Look ahead and prepare for what is coming, not for where you are now. You should already have that figured out. If things are happening too fast, then pull over and take a break. You can't risk innattention.

This means taking a car's signals as suggestions and not firm rules. Always be ready for the left signalling car going in the same direction as you to suddenly turn to the right instead.

A couple of guides. Intersections are the most dangerous places, so as you approach an intersection take the lane, no exceptions, leaving a car room will only encourage them to pass you or turn right in front of you at an intersectio, both of which are very dangerous.

Do not let a car get next to you. Get in front of the car or in back of it, but next to the car it can turn or push you off the road.

I-Like-To-Bike

You must be a barrel of laughs on a crowded subway car.