Dangers of Driving With Headphones

New York is one of the few states that places some restrictions on the use of headphones while driving. New York’s Vehicle and Traffic Law 375(24)-a provides that no person shall operate an automobile while wearing headphones in both ears. As such, the law allows for the use of one headphone while driving. Although New York bans the use of headphones in both ears while driving, the law is loosely enforced and only involves a $150 fine with no points. Consequently, punishment for failing to comply with the law amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist.

Driving while wearing headphones is a dangerous activity and the consequences may be fatal for those who choose to engage in such a risky activity. Furthermore, the lives of other motorist, bicyclist and pedestrians along their path, are also placed at risk.  The use of sight is important while driving, nearly as important is the ability to hear the sounds within one’s vicinity while driving. The use of headphones while driving is dangerous because they may block critical audio information that our brains rely upon to ensure our survival.

 The  use of headphones may completely impair one’s ability to hear the honking of another vehicle, the sound of a speeding car entering into the vehicle’s blind spot or the sirens from law enforcement or other emergency vehicles. Additionally, often drivers are first alerted of mechanical failures to their vehicle through noises the vehicle makes. This impairment may greatly effect one’s reaction time and lead to a motor vehicle accident that may have been avoidable had the driver maintained the ability to assess important audio cues.

 In many driving situations, we hear danger before, we see it. Therefore, a hearing impairment while driving may greatly impact one’s ability to drive safely. In a 2010 study conducted by the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 107 adults ranging from 62 to 88 years of age and with varying hearing health were instructed to drive on a closed-road circuit while reporting on the various road signs and avoiding the road hazards they encountered. The track was first driven without distraction, then with auditory distractions and then again with visual distraction.

The study found that those with a hearing impairment had a significantly poorer performance in the presence of distractions; they were less likely to avoid road hazards and took longer to complete the course. Results from an early study by Coppin and Peck (1963) indicated that deaf people, as a group, had poorer driving records than non-deaf people. Many headphones are equipped with technology that may cancel all surrounding ambient noise therefore, wearing headphones may place a driver in the same position as a deaf person to assess audio cues while driving.

If you or someone you know has been injured in an accident with a driver wearing headphones, you may be entitled to substantial compensation. In order to take legal action against them, contact a New York car accident lawyer today at 800-946-4616.

 How Headphones Put You In Danger

 Listening to music, talk radio, audiobooks and podcasts are a normal part of driving. This activity is normally benign however, it becomes a reckless and  dangerous enterprise when the audio is listened to through headphones while driving. When a driver wears headphones, the driver may be unable to hear the following:

• Car honks from other motorists
• Bicycle horns and verbal communication from pedestrians
• Speeding vehicles and other noises indicating danger
• Police and First Responder Sirens
• Alarms for railroad crossings and crosswalks

Call Koenig!

Headphones can severely compromise one’s ability to drive safely. For more information about your case if a person using headphones while driving caused you harm, contact a New York car accident lawyer at 1-800-946-4616 today and schedule a free consultation.