> I admire your desire to adhere to the law, but in the DC area I never see traffic enforcement applied to cyclists and I rarely see it applied to cars, so I doubt an officer is going to nail you for having some earbuds.
In DC cops occasionally like to sit in the 15th Street Cycletrack and write tickets for running red lights. I'm sure if they found any violation of the law, they would also throw in another ticket.
For those not aware, 15th St. abuts the White House and, because of the many roads that are permanently blocked off, it is not possible for there to be car / bike conflicts for a stretch of this street from New York Avenue to the Ellipse where the bike lanes end (though bike / pedestrian conflicts can happen), except with emergency vehicles and the like. The markings on the road make it unclear whether or not bikes must stop at red lights or just when pedestrians are present.
Because of this, the vast majority of cyclists on this stretch of road ignore red lights and treat them as yields since it is perfectly safe to do so. You will almost never see any bike stopped unless there are pedestrians crossing the street or the bike is turning.
As for why you rarely see traffic enforcement, at least in DC there is no traffic enforcement division. Virginia has traffic enforcement (don't go over 80 MPH in Virginia on any road; it is automatically reckless driving, which is a misdemeanor. This applies even if the speed limit were 79 MPH).
Even without traffic enforcement of any kind, contributory negligence makes wearing headphones risky from a liability standpoint. Any minor law violation or safety hazard by a bicyclist can be used as a defense by a driver in court and end up with no damages awarded.
The saner comparative negligence standard does not apply in DC, MD, or VA.