It's a bad idea to ride with earphones, irrespective of the legality. On a bike you need all the information you can get to avoid other road users killing you. It's bad enough that your helmet will muffle some of the other sounds around you: putting on music masks these sounds and makes things even worse. A good rider will use all his or her senses to ride defensively and stay out of trouble, so being able to hear other vehicles is part of the picture. You only need to have neglected to check behind in the mirrors or over your shoulder with a "lifesaver" and bang, you've had it - quite often you can get an early warning and can HEAR something approaching that's either too fast or too close to you (or...worst case scenario..both...and they haven't seen you). Every millisecond of advance warning helps keep you alive.
I used to do a lot of serious cycle racing, and in training I once tried using a Walkman (yes, a long time ago!) to help the miles pass...I used it for 10 minutes and realised it was too damn dangerous. That combination of masking road sounds and having music delivered right inside your head is a potentially lethal combination. Since then, I never even considered riding my pushbike or motorcycle with earphones....maybe that's why after 35 years of riding bikes I'm still alive. By the way, on a low powered machine like a scooter its even more important to be able to know what's coming at you, as you simply don't have the power to speed up and get out of the way.
Rant over...boring answer I know...but being dead can't be much fun can it?
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