I’ve never really particularly liked to listen to music whilst driving. I think a large part of this comes down my first car being a Mini Moke – a go-kart jeep type thing with a canvas roof and loud as hell engine.

I did at some point have a radio system in there but anything more than 20 minutes of listening invariably resulted in headaches.

After I sold my Moke I bought myself a Mini and whilst that cut out a lot of the road and engine noise, I found myself preferring to listen to the sound of the engine – mostly incase anything went wrong (minis tend to have little nothing in the way of precautionary warning systems).

Once again listening to any sort of music in the car served as a distraction and brought on the headaches.

Having driven both of these cars for the better part of a decade, I guess listening to music and driving never really became ingrained into my behind-the-wheel rituals.

Here in Taiwan it’s more out of fearing for my life then listening to the engine that I still continue to shun any sort of music when I’m on the roads.

Well, that and I ride a scooter here rather than drive a car.

I know some people get by with a set of headphones and admittedly I do remember trying this once, but underneath a bulky scooter helmet found the earphones uncomfortable.

Then of course there was that disorienting feeling of if I had to cut the sound quickly to hear something I wouldn’t be able to.

A simple trip down the road in Taiwan on a scooter can bring with it all manner of near-death experiences and I figure why make driving in Taiwan any more dangerous than it has to be.

I’ve seen some scooter whizz past with some kind of on board sound system on them but honestly I dont get the point. Scooter engines are louder than the old 998cc Mini engines and due to the overall lack of security on a scooter, it’s not like you’re ever going to get anything decent hooked up anyway.

That and I’m pretty sure nobody appreciates being blasted with god awful Chinese love ballads at every red light.

Still, there does seem to be a bit of interest in on-board sound for us scooter riders out there… and I suppose apart from the annoyance in being able to hear  crappy tinny music on the road – each to their own.

Of course all that changed when I ran into this guy:

Definitely a step up from earphones under a helmet or tiny speakers DIY mounted on the scooter body – that’s one fella who wasn’t messing around.

Where dose ‘wo ai ni’ CDs at yo? Pump it.

1. Introducing the Hello Kitty electric scooter…
2. My first scooter accident in Taiwan…
3. The 7-11 Taiwan “Open” scooter
4. What to do if your scooter has no onboard clock?
5. How not to tow something on a scooter