r/mildlyinfuriating • u/BiteInfamous • 10h ago

I'm slightly vexed Taxi driver wearing noise cancelling headphones while driving in the city

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Look I’m PMSing so I’m admittedly in a very nit picky time of my life. But. Don’t love weaving in and out of traffic in a major city while the taxi driver has noice cancelling headphones on. The sound is loud enough I can hear whatever (moderately funny) comedy show he’s listening to in the backseat. This is ill advised, yes?

ETA thanks to everyone who taught me about transparent mode today :)

ETA2 : Okay, I’m the asshole, comments have shown me there’s lots that could be going on with the driver to make him need to use these and there’s way he could do so safely. Mea culpa. That’ll teach me to knee jerk react.

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u/gigayoink 9h ago

We don't have to choose between "hearing has absolutely zero impact on driver safety" and "hearing is so important we should ban everyone who can't from the road".

We're allowed to ask every individual to be as safe as they're reasonably able to be, like the several states that allow deaf drivers while banning headphones.

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u/blue60007 9h ago

I think this is a good way to put it.

It's a marginal benefit for those that can hear, so why not use it.

I do think it's pretty marginal though, you aren't going to inherently unsafe driver because you can't hear for whatever reason.

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u/afops 7h ago

But it still suggests that drivers not just *can* but also *should* get information from their ears while driving, to increase safety. What is that information more specifically?

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u/gigayoink 7h ago

Presumably emergency responders, motorcycles, and the range of alerts from other drivers via honking.