@ Barry: I am still waiting for you to give me an instance where my lack of hearing would cause a problem for someone who is, in fact, obeying the rules of the road. Again, you are setting up tangential, easy points with which I am not arguing. Yes, if I hit a pedestrian I should be liable for their medical damages. Yes the government is inclined to prevent accidents through the use of legislation. I am not arguing with that.

Rather than stating, as a matter of fact, how I am a danger to others with headphones, tell me how I (as an otherwise completely cautious biker) would hit one who was obeying the rules of traffic without hearing? Again, would you support legislation that would ban the deaf from biking? Finally, can you justify a $300 fine for headphone biking – is it that blatantly dangerous for other folks (compared to sidewalk biking and going against a one way street which, was, oddly, ommited from ther proposed legislation as far as I know)?

Thanks for being patient with me, folks. I know I’m a cranky bitch.

“Thank you for your comments regarding Councilman DiCicco’s bicycle registration. Many of you have expressed support for the legislation. However, many of you are righfully (sic) concerned about the proposal, as well. Please remember that this is the beginning of a legislative process and we look forward to working with all of the concerned parties going forward. …We have every expectation that the proposal will change significantly prior to final passage and by working with these stakeholders. ”

This bill probably doesn’t have a leg to stand on. I have never seen such a response to a city council bill in quite some time and it deserves the attention it is getting. I wonder if this wasn’t a poor response to the creation of the bikes lanes on Spruce and Pine Streets and the politicos are using the two hit-and-run deaths as the reason to bring the bill to council.

I haven’t seen any comments (96 comments are a lot to get thru) as to why cyclists zip ahead of traffic. I do it so that traffic knows I am there. It is safer to be in front where drivers know I exist. I get ahead of lousy drivers before they turn into me because they are too lazy to put on their turn signals or have their hands too full with their cells phones to use their signals. I can’t read their minds. I have been hit once in a hit-and-run accident (I was saved by my helmet) because the driver had no regard for my life. I didn’t file a report because the cops don’t give a damn about cyclists. My friend who was on his bike and the victim of a hit-and-run was completely ignored by the cops when he reported his accident. We are on our on out there and have to do whatever it takes to survive and if that involves running the occasional light, then I will do so but at least I will be careful about it. It is more dangerous to be waiting with traffic, having the drivers do whatever they can to cut me off before they are stuck at the next light than for me to get ahead of them and avoid the whole scene all together.

Personally I think drivers hate so see us cyclists get ahead of them and get to where we are going more quickly and efficiently and are pissed that they are stuck in traffic. That’s what really burns their britches more than anything.

I scratch my head when drivers complain about cyclists but never give mention to the inconsiderate taxi drivers out there. Taxis are the menace and the ones that think they own the road. They will go out of their way to screw everybody over and have total disregard for everyone whether they are walking, on a bike or in a car. If city council wants to increase fines, do it to the banzai cab drivers.

I already have registration on a car (anyone in the market for one?) and a scooter. If I have to pay to register a fucking bicycle I damn well better be getting services for it. Every douchebag who parks in a bike lane for even 2 seconds better get towed and better get a $300 fine. Same fine for anyone who drives in one. If you hit a cyclist with your car (or your car door) it should be automatic impoundment and a $1000 fine – i mean, if you can’t use your brakes or your mirrors you shouldn’t be driving a car. Oh, and i’m not riding 10 blocks out of my way on streets with no bike lanes just to get to a street with a bike lane. They should be every 4 or blocks all over town.

Yeah, let’s talk about backdoor taxes on cyclists – that’s gonna work out really well – friggin’ morons.

Deal with it and wait until you get onto the trails or in the park (where they are unlikely to enforce this law) to put on your headphones.

You called my point about auto insurance earlier a straw man but it is not at all–I am giving you a reason for why increasing the chance of an accident affects other users of the roads. Motorists are required to carry insurance so they can pay your medical bills if they smash into you. A biker is not required to carry insurance and as such if you seriously hurt a pedestrian and don’t have the assets to pay their bills, they are screwed. These safety laws make sense.

However, with the first point, I think you might be surprised how much you can tell about how close a car might pass you by listening to it. I don’t have the best hearing (I can’t hear shit in bars, for instance), but when I’m cruising down a one-lane road, you can really tell a lot by the sound of the car whether you can relax and let it go by you or whether you need to tense up, tuck in your elbows, and see how close you can get to that line of parked cars on your right. It’s not foolproof, but just this morning I could hear a car coming up behind me and something subconscious in my brain flashed a warning and sure enough she just barely avoided clipping me as she went by (for what it’s worth, she also rolled down her window and apologized at the next traffic light much to my pleasant surprise).

RE example one: I beg to differ. I can not gauge, with all the other stimuli, how close the car will be when it passes by hearing until it is right beside me. Maybe I just have shit hearing – but I can not differentiate, without looking, between 10 feet back and 4 feet to my left versus 6 back and 6 feet to my left when processing all other stimuli. I simply remain in a single line if I need to deviate from that straight path, I look back before doing so.

RE example two: “especially since most don’t give audible warnings when passing” pretty much negates the bulk of this example. More and more bike no longer possess clicking rear derailleurs and I can not hear someone behind me (in light of wind noise and general city sound pollution) unless they say something. Again, straight line – and look if I intend on deviating.

RE example 3: if I can’t see, I slow/stop until I can.

It’s not like I don’t care if I get hurt, I am just confident that I can bike without hearing every little sound. Maybe I’ll change my mind if I have even a close call due to headphones (though so far / so good after decades of biking and with 5/6 days a week of biking numerous miles in Philly in the last 5 years). However, even if it becomes apparent that I am safer without headphones, that is a decision for me to make – not the government at any level. And for them to pose a staggering $300 fine when without assuming the cost of my medical bills (in the form of singer payer health care – looks like we won’t even get a decent public option) is downright insulting.

- It’s possible for an experienced biker to gauge how close a car might come when it passes you from behind based on engine noise. This can help you avoid being sideswiped if it sounds to close. You wouldn’t get as good a read on that with headphones.

- When I’m biking, especially in a bike lane, and I hear another biker coming up behind me. I know to stay to give them room to pass. I probably wouldn’t be able to hear a biker without headphones (especially since most don’t give audible warnings when passing).

- There are tons of blind corners in Center City, many of which aren’t fourway stops, where it’s difficult to see whether oncoming traffic is coming. This is especially true when cars or delivery trucks are illegally parked on a crosswalk (I live on a very narrow street off of 4th, and it’s really difficult to see the traffic coming down 4th as I leave). I always try to inch out and see as much of the road as I can, but if a car is coming, the engine noise gives me an extra bit of warning that I’d miss with headphones.

I really don’t know why you’re so defensive about it (other than the fact that I assume you regularly bike with headphones). I used to do it myself, but then I realized how many close calls I had that I could probably avoid without the headphones, so I stopped wearing them.