City Eyes Banning Earplugs for Bicyclists

Lakewood ordinances prohibit motorists from wearing headphones while driving, but the law on the books doesn’t apply to bicyclists.

The city of Lakewood is looking to change that. 

Ashley Belzer, the city’s assistant prosecutor and assistant law director, said that a proposed law would require bicyclists to pull out an earplug to focus more on traffic.

The measure would still allow bicyclists to keep one earplug in. 

“Police officers have been seeing (bicyclists) more and more often wearing earplugs in both ears,” she said. “On bicycles, people sometimes don’t follow traffic laws as they would if they were in a car. People get a little more lax on bicycles.”

Law director Kevin Butler said the only law on the books prohibits motorists from wearing earplugs, but not cyclists.

“There’s enough concern out on the road,” he said, noting that a Lakewood police officer approached the law department about the proposed legislation.

The new law would make the first offense a minor misdemeanor, punishable with up to a $150 fine. A second offense committed within one year of the first, would become a fourth-degree misdemeanor.

The proposed ordinance will be introduced to city council at its next meeting on Monday.