Using ear buds or similar ear listening devices while driving or riding a bicycle has been illegal in California for many years. The reason being because neither a driver or bike rider would be able to hear any warning sounds such as emergency vehicle sirens or the warning horns of other vehicles. It is simply not a smart thing to do if you value your well-being and that of others.
I disagree wholeheartedly.
I view wearing of earphones and listening to audiobooks as a personal responsibility, and conduct myself as such. I listen at a level where I can hear ambient sounds, and conduct myself while driving as if I cannot, much the way someone riding a loud motorcycle or even a bicycle SHOULD do. In other words, I drive defensively and am aware of my surroundings.
It is a function of constantly being aware on the road of where you are, where you are going, the conditions around you, the roadway layout, and the other vehicles and pedestrians in your vicinity. I scan my rearview mirror and both side mirrors constantly, probably once every five to fifteen seconds depending on what is going on around me.
Furthermore, it is not illegal to listen to loud music on the car stereo while driving, though I am sure there are limitations on how much sound your vehicle can emit in certain areas.
Bottom line: If you drive safely whether you are listening to an audiobook or not, you are going to drive safely. If your car is dead silent and you drive unsafely or un-defensively, it probably won’t make any difference what you have in or out of your ears.
Note that I do NOT talk on the phone while driving. If I have to take or make a phone call, I pull off the road to do so. Talking on the phone is 100% different than simply listening in the way your brain is engaged. I do believe that cell phones should be disabled while in cars since it is manifestly far more dangerous than nearly any other activity one can do while driving.
By the way, I just put 3500 miles on my car in the last week, got home on Friday afternoon. This was a vacation for me, just went on a road trip...Massachusetts, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and back home again. Just to see the country.
I drive a lot, and I feel that I am safer than 95% of the people I see out there, because I drive as if each and every one of them might do something to ME.
I drive defensively.
While I think that cell phone use while driving is extremely dangerous, texting while driving is a death wish. I passed a minivan in Virginia last week heading south, and the whole family in the vehicle had their heads down, texting.
Including the father. The wife, two kids, and the father. It was appalling. I was doing 77 MPH, and they passed me. All texting.