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Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

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Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#281

Post by mr_mitm »

eigenspace wrote: post #126
0x3f wrote: post #116

Do horns and bells really prevent accidents? In order for e.g. a horn to work you need enough time that the driver processes the situation and decides the horn will communicate something AND enough time for the pedestrian or whatever to process that and react to it. Generally it's a lot easier just to press the brake, and more importantly be travelling at a speed and in a manner where the brake is sufficient. Structu…

A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they ha…

> I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way,

I got yelled at very rudely the other day for overtaking a pedestrian without ringing my bell. I thought I had plenty of space, rode at an appropriate speed and didn't want to be rude, like you said, but I guess you can never please everyone.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#282

Post by gambiting »

nslsm wrote: post #97
staindk wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People shouldn't really be walking around in public with ANC on. It's not safe. Not a simple problem to solve except maybe to inform people better upon buying/setting up ANC-enabled devices.

The sense of entitlement of cyclists knows no bounds. If cars are liable for running over cyclists then cyclists must be liable for running over pedestrians. I used to live in a city where I would walk everywhere but I had the constant fear of cyclists running over me because they would drive all over the pavements without any regard for pedestrians. Imagine walking and having to look around all the time. I find it a…

>>If cars are liable for running over cyclists then cyclists must be liable for running over pedestrians.

They are though(at least here in the UK) - a guy was convinced of manslaughter for hitting a pedestrian on a bike just last month. In general the rule is that the person in charge of a bigger/heavier vehicle is the responsible party in almost all collisions.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#283

Post by empyrrhicist »

jmull wrote: post #275
eigenspace wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they ha…

Agreed. I saw one recently where the cyclist shouted out something like, "ON YOUR LEFT!" and all it did was startle the crap out of a jogger who spun around into the path of the bicycle. Luckily just a close call. That cyclist's "warnings", with no time for pedestrians to react properly, were really just a game of Russian roulette. (And really rude, as you say).

Shouting that while traveling too fast is indeed incorrect, but a polite "on your left" or bell while traveling an appropriate speed is considered good behavior to avoid surprising pedestrians.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#284

Post by gambiting »

soco wrote: post #131
nslsm wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sense of entitlement of cyclists knows no bounds. If cars are liable for running over cyclists then cyclists must be liable for running over pedestrians. I used to live in a city where I would walk everywhere but I had the constant fear of cyclists running over me because they would drive all over the pavements without any regard for pedestrians. Imagine walking and having to look around all the time. I find it a…

And when you must walk with your small dog on a section of road where suddenly high speed e-cyclists zoom past you, now that's constant terror. At times you really get killer ideas.

On the other hand, I hate it when I'm on my bike on a bike path, and someone walks their dog, leash fully extended across the bike path, they are looking down on their phone and wearing headphones. Absolute selfishness.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#285

Post by prmoustache »

jwr wrote: post #203
eigenspace wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they ha…

> A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" This. I only use the bell on bike paths, too. Sometimes it feels like a game of pac-man, where baddies will wander into my path from all directions and in all kinds of ways. Cars doing a right turn, zombies staring into phones, people walking backwards (!), zombies staring into phones walking ba…

That is an issue on bike paths that are build inside a sidewalk, the cycling path is usually build using a smoother surface than the one designed for pedestrians. Plus it sometimes has a brighter paint.

I am pretty sure most people don't realize it but they are inconciously attracted to it. It just feels better walking on it.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#286

Post by empyrrhicist »

noio wrote: post #190
i_am_proteus wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bicycle bells are mostly for warning pedestrians when approaching from behind and passing on shared-use trails. I ride on shared infrastructure and cannot afford to build new infrastructure when my town will not. Not warning a pedestrian when approaching from behind introduces the possibility of collision if the pedestrian makes a sudden change in his walking course. I typically use this etiquette: Passing a single p…

I wonder if you are German? Spending some time in Germany from Holland I notice there is a significant difference in cycling etiquette :) Especially regarding “passing a cyclist” which also touches on the essential difficulty with having only one “ring” sound. Always when Germans pass me on the bike and they ring I get slightly annoyed because I interpret it as a “get out of the way” ring, and I feel like there is en…

What they described is also good etiquette in the Midwestern US.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#287

Post by FridgeSeal »

mr_mitm wrote: post #281
eigenspace wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A horn or bell is mostly for telling other people "hey I'm here, stay out of my way and dont suddenly cross into my path" My opinion as a cyclist is that I should basically only be using my bell on pedestrians when the pedestrians are wandering onto the bike lane. If im cycling through a shared space, I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, but they ha…

> I find it extremely rude to ring the bell, because it feels like I'm telling people to get out of my way, I got yelled at very rudely the other day for overtaking a pedestrian without ringing my bell. I thought I had plenty of space, rode at an appropriate speed and didn't want to be rude, like you said, but I guess you can never please everyone.

It sounds silly, but apart from liking the sound, this is why I really like wheels with loud hubs.

I have a pair of Hunt wheels and they work fantastically, bonus points because they are “always on”, pedestrians are aware of them, but are never surprised.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#288

Post by paulnpace »

red_admiral wrote: post #237

In the scenario presented (London, mostly not segregated bike paths), the solution is for the cyclist to ride in a way they're not endangering pedestrians. There's even a fairly recent UK law ( https://www.gov.uk/government/news/the-highway-code-8-change... ) that more or less says in a collision, the "stronger" road user is at fault unless proven otherwise. That applies to car v. cyclist as much as cyclist v. pedest…

Years ago, SF pedestrians took care of this problem by punching bicyclists until they stopped riding their bicycles on the sidewalk.

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#289

Post by pwlb »

everdrive wrote: post #231

It's hard for me to understand why people choose to walk around in public wearing headphones. I'm aware that it's incredibly common, but you put yourself at risk of theft, accident, and of course the mild hearing loss that accompanies _any_ frequent headphone usage. In the case of both theft and accident, you cannot hear your assailant coming, and miss the queues that would otherwise keep you safe.

Many neurodivergent people are simply overwhelmed by the sound on the streets

Re: Škoda DuoBell: A bicycle bell that penetrates noise-cancelling headphones

#290

Post by stavros »

0x3f wrote: post #262
stavros wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our bike lanes are just a line on the sidewalk and pedestrians routinely walk on them, cross the sidewalk in them without looking, let their toddlers/pets run into them, etc. Also, nobody realizes that a bicycle bell means "someone is coming", so they just ignore it as background noise. I had to mount an airhorn onto my bike. At least people listen to that, though it's so loud I only use it in emergencies.

I would be worried about a horn like this because if they get startled and move into the path of a car on the actual road, or do any other stupid thing that injures them, you're going to have real problems.

Luckily the actual road is many tens of meters away from the bike path, but you're right otherwise.
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