By Francis Hurley

Listening to music is an activity that has been associated with humanity from time immemorial. Research has shown that music has a profound effect on your body and psyche. Music can be used to bring a more positive state of mind, helping to keep depression and anxiety at bay. This helps prevent the stress response from wreaking havoc on the body, and helps keep creativity and optimism levels higher.

Cars, driving and music have had a long association too. Ever since cars graduated from being temperamental, claptrap contraptions, cars have had radios installed on them. Driving while listening to your favorite music is a very enjoyable experience and makes long trips enjoyable, making time pass much more quickly. The explosion of personal music with the invention of the Sony Walkman brought a whole new dimension to listening to music. It also brought new considerations in terms of association with your surrounding environment. Since personal players are used with earbuds or headphones that enable you to lock yourself out from the world, one must be very conscious of the surroundings when a person is using a personal music player in a mobile environment while operating a vehicle.

In fact, in the U.S., and some other countries, it is quite illegal to operate a motor vehicle while having both ears covered with headphones. It could cost you in fines & points on your license. Even if it is not illegal where you are, it is very unsafe. You need to be able to hear emergency vehicle sirens when you are driving. While the law, when it was enacted, covers headphones, this also extends to earphones, or earbuds, as they are also popularly called nowadays. These laws were enacted in the interest of safety as it is obvious that locking yourself out from the world while driving a motorbike, a car or even a bicycle poses a serious danger to yourself and to others. With the advent of thousand-watt music and video systems for cars, some states also have declared loud music while operating a vehicle illegal. Imagine listening to music so loudly that you were not aware that an emergency vehicle was trying to pass you.

Interestingly, there are states that tolerate driving with an earbud in one ear only. This is because the driver will still be able to hear the sounds of traffic around the car and also hear sounds like horns and sirens from emergency vehicles. Take the actual case of a teenage girl who crossed an intersection while listening to her iPod. Having both earpieces on, she was hit by an ambulance (who had right of way) that was responding to a critical call. The girl herself was seriously injured, needing treatment herself, and the ambulance could not also proceed toward responding to the critical call. The irresponsibility of the teenage girl’s action demonstrates why it is very important to be alert and situationally aware when driving. Even minor accidents caused by the distraction of listening too loudly to music can be avoided if we are aware that we are responsible for the safety of others when on the road.

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