Stop Wearing Headphones While You Drive

One of the fun things about motorcycles is that, without pesky windows in the way, I get a pretty good view into the cars around me on crowded, slow-moving streets. This is also one of the least fun things, because I get to see exactly what drivers are doing behind the wheel — texting, scrolling TikTok, eating gas station sushi, all sorts of horrors. One of the worst offenses, though, is wearing headphones while driving. This is an dangerous form of distracted driving and if you do this, you need to stop immediately.

I started thinking about this again this morning after seeing a Reddit post complaining that modern cars don't offer MagSafe iPhone mounts preinstalled. I'm actually on that poster's side about that, built-in magnetic wireless charging would be fantastic, but their reasons for wanting it are where they lose me: They don't want to run their phone through CarPlay, they want to run it straight to their headphones for better noise cancellation. This is, to be clear, dumb as hell.

That Reddit poster mentioned owning a Miata, and a desire to cancel out wind noise is understandable — it's an absolute must for longer motorcycle trips, where earplugs are a necessity to avoid wind noise headaches — but a Miata keeps the wind off your ears with the finest in modern automotive technology, a device called a "windshield." If it's really that bad, roll up your window. If you truly can't stand the increased road noise of a top-down Miata, maybe ask yourself if this car is the right one for you.

A windshield won't distract you or limit your spatial awareness the way headphones do. In fact, headphones are a measurable impediment to reaction times while driving: A study out of the UK showed marked delays in reaction time to auditory input for drivers wearing headphones compared to drivers using speakers. Headphones can reduce the noise of your engine, of nearby cars, even of ambulance sirens in your vicinity. You're supposed to be paying attention to the world outside your car with as many senses as possible, and cutting one of them off is never a good idea. 

Beyond that, driving with headphones is illegal in many jurisdictions. Particularly so if you're wearing headphones in both ears, as opposed to just one — the latter is something of a standard for rideshare drivers here in Brooklyn, who often have a phone call in one ear and road noise in the other. Driving with headphones is unsafe, rightfully illegal in many places, and yet still far too common. Please stop this. I'm begging you.