First bikebell against noise-canceling headphones

Either you’re talking about using the bell to avoid an imminent collision, like you would use the horn in a car, which is both kind of hard to do (ring a bell while braking hard) and doesn’t fit the “5 seconds” timeframe.

Or you’re talking about just announcing your presence to the headphone user, which doesn’t give you the right to endanger them in any way, so if they don’t hear you and you crash into them, it’s almost entirely your fault for not slowing down and/or making a wider circle around them. If ANC headphones are leading to more collisions, it’s mostly an infrastructure problem and a people problem, not a headphones problem.

Re: First bikebell against noise-canceling headphones

#8

Post by calyth2018 » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:02 PM UTC

Toutouxc wrote: post #7

Interesting idea but I don’t like this: > More pedestrians than ever use ANC headphones. > Car horns get through, but bike bells get blocked. Leading to a rise in cyclist / pedestrian collisions. Either you’re talking about using the bell to avoid an imminent collision, like you would use the horn in a car, which is both kind of hard to do (ring a bell while braking hard) and doesn’t fit the “5 seconds” timeframe. Or…

It is absolutely a people problem just as much as it's an infrastructure problem.

We call them multi-use path (MUP) here. It has a yellow line painted straight down the middle, and people, whether they're walking, running, riding a bike, rollerblading, are expected to stick to their side of the path.

I've lost count on the amount of people on the MUPs wearing something that removes their situational awareness, be it ANC earbuds, or over the ear headphones, etc...

So why did I bring up the lane division? Because on top of people choosing to completely occlude themselves from their surroundings, a subset of them also like to walk/run/etc... abreast, completely taking up the path on both sides. So if you come up behind them, and they're taking up the whole path, you can't get around them without ringing a bell, or asking them. And if they're very engrossed in their conversation, or they're wearing headphones, it's even harder...

The point of a MUP is to share the path. It doesn't give a right for any kind of users to practically occupy the path, and then act very offended when you finally got their attention to get around them.

It has got to the point that I rather bike down the MUPs in the rain, because these users with no etiquette aren't dedicated enough to be out there in the rain.

Re: First bikebell against noise-canceling headphones

#9

Post by stvltvs » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:03 PM UTC

Toutouxc wrote: post #7

Interesting idea but I don’t like this: > More pedestrians than ever use ANC headphones. > Car horns get through, but bike bells get blocked. Leading to a rise in cyclist / pedestrian collisions. Either you’re talking about using the bell to avoid an imminent collision, like you would use the horn in a car, which is both kind of hard to do (ring a bell while braking hard) and doesn’t fit the “5 seconds” timeframe. Or…

The root problem is forcing or allowing cyclists and pedestrians to use the same spaces. Traffic must be segregated by speed.

Re: First bikebell against noise-canceling headphones

#10

Post by rich_sasha » Fri, Apr 17, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

Toutouxc wrote: post #7

Interesting idea but I don’t like this: > More pedestrians than ever use ANC headphones. > Car horns get through, but bike bells get blocked. Leading to a rise in cyclist / pedestrian collisions. Either you’re talking about using the bell to avoid an imminent collision, like you would use the horn in a car, which is both kind of hard to do (ring a bell while braking hard) and doesn’t fit the “5 seconds” timeframe. Or…

There's a third use: alerting pedestrians who are in dedicated cycle lanes and letting them know they need to get out of the way. Not because you'd mow them down otherwise but because someone else might.

Separation of traffic into cars, bikes and legs is great, whenever possible. Just as a car shouldn't mow down a pedestrian in the road, the bike shouldn't mow down the pedestrian in a cycle lane. Doesn't mean the pedestrian shouldn't get out of the way when they're in the wrong lane.