Cycling with headphones may have contributed to mother’s death – Telegraph.co.uk

Lorry driver Alexander Lamb, of Featherstone, Yorkshire, told the inquest he would have stopped if he had seen a cyclist.

He said: “I couldn’t believe it happened. I didn’t hear anything, feel anything or see anything. If I had seen anything I would have stopped and tried to help.”

Cyclist are banned from wearing headphones in competitive events, but they are not illegal in the UK.

Kevin Clinton, from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: “Hearing is an important sense when cycling as it gives riders warning about the approach of nearby vehicles and an idea of their speed. We advise cyclists not to wear headphones when riding.”

Duncan Dollimore, from Cycling UK, said: “Our view is that wearing headphones is inadvisable, particularly if listening at high volumes or with headphones that completely shut out sound, but the idea that headphone wearing cyclists are any more of a problem than headphone wearing pedestrians is not borne out by any evidence we have seen.”

CORRECTION: As first published, this article suggested that the Coroner ruled that cycling with headphones caused Emily Norton’s death. In fact, he was unable to determine if she was listening to headphones at the time, but said that if she had been, it could have distracted her and contributed to the cause of the accident. The article has been amended accordingly.