[HN Gopher] The Potent Pollution of Noise
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       The Potent Pollution of Noise
        
       Author : tintinnabula
       Score  : 21 points
       Date   : 2024-02-05 20:30 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.noemamag.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.noemamag.com)
        
       | aljgz wrote:
       | We talk about friction of tires on Asphalt, or engine noise.
       | Nobody seems to do something about exhaust modification. This is
       | big win with little effort. The logarithmic scale of DB hides how
       | serious the issue is. A 95db modified exhaust create noise that's
       | equal to 10000 54db cars. One such vehicle passing by downtown at
       | 3am can disrupt the sleep of thousands of people (among hundreds
       | of thousands who are in the range, but most of them might not be
       | that sensitive). IMHO, an exhaust modification that adds more
       | than 10db to the factory provided one should be illegal. It's
       | easy to think of next steps for cars that are made noisy in the
       | factory, but it's incredible that nothing is being done about
       | this.
        
         | wizardforhire wrote:
         | It generally is illegal... but as I mentioned in the post on
         | headlights the laws are rarely if ever enforced...
        
           | wizardforhire wrote:
           | If one were so inclined to be civically active in the US at
           | least, it should be possible to set up an api with local law
           | enforcement that would be able to take in data from always on
           | microphones such as with widely deployed door bell cameras,
           | smart assistants and phones coupled with ai sound recognition
           | and automatically report and triangulate offending sources of
           | noise which would probably go a long way towards making
           | enforcement more plausible. Over a decade ago when I first
           | proposed this I was against its development for obvious
           | privacy concerns. Seeing as how that ship has long sailed it
           | seems that were long over due to have such a background
           | system in place. I mean at this point its no worse than the
           | litany of cameras we see already deployed by municipalities
           | on traffic lights.
        
             | cuddlyogre wrote:
             | The absolute void of interest to enforce the law is the
             | problem here, not finding offenders.
             | 
             | I'm my area, all it would take is a cop to watch the main
             | drag and start enforcing speed limits and state and local
             | noise ordinances and it would stop. But they don't because
             | they are not interested. In part because they or their
             | children partake in the hobby of harassing people in their
             | homes a mile and a half away. Another part is its easier to
             | ticket people late for work because they won't run like the
             | noise makers do.
        
             | endymi0n wrote:
             | Interestingly, France and Germany are getting serious on
             | this. Looking forward to see more of these.
             | 
             | https://www-adac-
             | de.translate.goog/verkehr/recht/verkehrsvor...
        
             | wongarsu wrote:
             | Or maybe we could finance some kind of scheme where law
             | enforcement officers traverse cities, towns and countryside
             | using a variety of transport options, primarily two- and
             | four-wheeled motorized vehicles on a rotating basis. If we
             | then equipped these officers with some kind of method to
             | audibly detect abnormally loud noises, they could
             | proactively investigate such offenses with minimal response
             | times and take appropriate action.
             | 
             | Of course one issue with my plan is that it depends on the
             | cooperation of the dispatched law enforcement officers. If
             | they were to symphonize with the people committing the
             | noise infractions they might simply refuse to punish them.
        
             | pbnjeh wrote:
             | Amongst other things, you have to define a system of
             | calibration that will stand up in court. I've read about
             | speeding tickets getting tossed for lack of same.
             | 
             | That said, for all these communities surviving on /
             | leaching off of ticket revenues, I've wondered why they
             | haven't gone after these noise rats. Or a private entity
             | whose business is selling equipment/systems to law
             | enforcement. Put detectors on squad cars, and sell them a
             | calibration setup. Pass and/or enforce some local noise
             | ordinances, and...Ka-chinge!
             | 
             | I've been tortured by neighborhood subwoofer dicks as well
             | as straight pipe pricks. I'm sorry to be derogatory in
             | tone, here, but those are the mildest words I can bring
             | myself to use for them. A steady rush of tire noise or the
             | like would be welcome by comparison.
             | 
             | I too have serious privacy concerns WRT modern technology.
             | However, seeing as that ship has sailed, stick such
             | systems, with license plate readers, around town, and go
             | after the violators. Triangulation, running video, and
             | repeat logging to confirm the specific offender.
             | 
             | In my county, ostensibly repeat offenders can escalate to
             | having their vehicle impounded. Of course, in real life,
             | nothing is done -- not even a ticket.
             | 
             | People should be given a bit a time to e.g. fix a damaged
             | exhaust. But for those who choose to inflict their noise on
             | others? Better to ruin their lives, than let them ruin
             | ours.
             | 
             | (Can you tell the recent bout of warm weather had left me
             | dealing with this in my neighborhood... :-/ Sorry for being
             | a downer, here. But this is a real, significant stress, and
             | one many friends share. One that is the result of another's
             | willful, selfish choice.)
        
         | ericmcer wrote:
         | If you want to really want to question your fellow human, check
         | out some Reddit threads about loud exhausts. The number of
         | people who steadfastly defend their right to drive a loud car
         | is insane.
        
         | genter wrote:
         | The timbre is also important. Tire and engine noise are closer
         | to white noise, which you can tune out. An aftermarket muffler
         | like what my jackass neighbor has is a single pitch that
         | pierces through anything.
        
       | tayo42 wrote:
       | If you complain about noise you get labeled a Karen, or maybe
       | even a genteifier under the right circumstance lol.
       | 
       | It's like software, the hardest problem to solve isn't technical,
       | it's people problems.
        
         | uoaei wrote:
         | The gentrifier label comes when you complain about things that
         | have been neighborhood fixtures without engaging with your
         | neighbors before deciding that your feelings matter more than
         | theirs.
        
           | tayo42 wrote:
           | We're talking about pollution though.
           | 
           | Noise gets treated differently then other types of pollution,
           | exception being light.
           | 
           | You probably wouldn't get labeled a gentrifier, or really
           | even get push back, if you wanted to clean plastic waste, put
           | up garbage cans, recycle etc...
        
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