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According to theage.com.au, Australian Police are warning cyclists to never listen to an iPod while riding unless they have a death wish.

"If you're a cyclist and you want to stay alive, I wouldn't wear an iPod under any circumstances," said Assistant Traffic Commissioner Noel Ashby. Australian Police are seeing increasing numbers of people using iPods on bikes, while walking and even while driving a car.

This article in The Age comes after a 32 year-old Australian woman was recently knocked off her bicycle and killed in London. Apparently the woman was listening to her iPod at a high volume level and was unable to hear the sounds of traffic around her. Another friend of the woman said she may still be alive if she hadn't been listening to her iPod.

Digg.com user Rockintom99 found out first hand that bikes and music players don't mix. "I used to ride my bike to school, and i took my mp3 cd player one day. I was changing the song, and ended up in a ditch, and lost my bike key. Bad times." At least he was able to walk away.

The Age article doesn't mention the new trend of cyclists and runners using cell phones. Many organized triathlons ban all headphone devices and cell phones to protect other participants.