I was wondering, is it is legal to wear earbuds/headphones to listen to music while driving during competitions?
Im unsure of the legality of music but I know alot of Event Partners are eerie of the headphones being used to communicate to someone on the sideline as that isnt legal.
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It is legal as long as the headset is wired to a device not capable of wireless communication. So smartphone must be in airplane mode.
That said, why would you not want to listen to teammates or alliance partners or referee?
As indicated earlier, be prepared for questions from referee crew and EP.
but… why? that seems like a bad idea while driving, it would certainly distract me.
Who cares if it’s legal? It’s a bad idea – don’t do it.
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Teens are not clued in on common sense sometimes… I know I was not at their age 
For some people it might help them concentrate better, I know sometimes I like to wear earbuds during driver skills if an event is particularly loud, it helps to tune out the other distractions and get in the zone.
Gotta get your Baby Driver on sometimes
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OMG YES!!! I thought I was the only person who referenced that on the daily!
Sometimes, like Baby, it’s easier to just get into the zone (no pun intended) with your killer track playing. Plus, with Sony’s new headphone line with “Transparency,” the music can be in the background while still hearing your teammates.
The speakers are usually blaring music that’s a lot louder and a lot worse than your music probably is 
If the refs give you a warning it could be an issue- maybe only have the music in one ear? It doesn’t seem like the greatest plan to me but I’m not sure why it’d be illegal.
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Personally, I think listening to music while driving is a good thing for some people. You just have to have the music playing softly enough so that you can hear your partners, which isn’t too difficult. It can help to calm nerves for drivers who don’t yet have a good way to deal with the stress of elimination rounds. (Which BO1 certainly isn’t helping)
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Your refs may find it too much of an inconvenience and delay to have to check your sound source every match.
Not so much YOUR phone, as EVERYONE’s phone because once they let you start wearing headphones they have to let everyone else where headphones, and have to check EVERYONE’s headphones and devices to ensure that they are incapable of receiving transmissions.
There might not be a specific rule saying “no headphones”, but there is a rule saying that you have to be ready to start the match in a reasonable period of time… the refs will be entirely within their rights to say that the most efficient way to ensure that no one is listening to a remote audio transmission is to be able to see everyone’s ear’s. As an Event Partner I expect the refs to be able to quickly and efficiently enforce the game rules, not to quickly and efficiently analyze audio devices.
So if I were your Ref… I’d say “No Headphones or Ear Buds.” Exceptions, of course, for those who are hard of hearing, or can present a Q&A saying that headphones are legal AND specifying an efficient means of ensuring that they cannot receive a wireless signal.
So “No.” Not without a Q&A stating both that they are legal… AND how to confirm that they are legal quickly and efficiently… and no, showing an icon that says “Airplane Mode” really isn’t sufficient… there are some pretty clever programmers out there and cell phones can be reprogrammed.
Jason
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This would be a good thing to ask in the Driver’s Meeting. And Q&A. It’s kind of a gray area that isn’t quite illegal, but may be an inconvenience.
As for the wireless transmission issue, why not just get an ancient iPod or MP3 player? Some display the track that’s playing, and cone with a handy belt clip.
Although I don’t really think that many teams would try to bypass the rules in this way as opposed to someone shouting from the crowd, (which is impossible to control) I guess that there’s the possibility, which warrants this discussion.
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Signaling from the crowd can be penalized. I’ve seen warnings issued for it.
you could use wireless earbuds and put a wig with long hair on that covers your ears so nobody could see them.
There are other issues as well:
- Referees should not have to worry about whether warnings or other statements are heard clearly.
- There should be no worries about safety considerations. Not too long ago there was a girl at a nearby school wearing earphones against the rules at a track meet and she got hurt.
- Many people consider it rude when you’re in a situation with them and you’re wearing earphones. It sends a message that you don’t care what people are saying to you, even if that isn’t true.
Signaling from the crowd or signaling to the crowd? I thought there was a discussion about it being uncontrollable, and incredibly annoying, but no way to monitor it.
Anyway, back on topic, there can definitely be issues with headphones, and it will probably vary from event to event until clarified (probably vaguely) on the Q&A.
There was a discussion. If a member of the audience is acting like a member of the drive team and the drive team is following the instructions, then you have a clear violation of rules of drive team members outside the alliance station, adults on a drive team, too many drive team members… really, it is not that hard. Once you explain to the team why they have been warned, the behavior goes away. I had a similar situation at a soccer game where a spectator was disruptive to the benefit of my team. Ref made it clear it was my team’s problem and to resolve it. I did.
I think another emerging wireless communication tool is the smart watches out there.
Hopefully that class of wireless devices does not cause signal interference at the alliance station…
There was a team at the US open last year that was plainly obvious that a mentor was coaching the team from farther away. You could watch the adult talking into his headphones, and one of the students had headphones as well. They were warned multiple times, however never penalized.