Silliness of cyclist noise ordinance

Reading about the noise ordinance in Boston against motorcyclists, the thought occurred to me that there should then be noise ordinances against the Little League and their parents here in Dalton.

[Harley Mentality]

Grow up. Some of your biker buddies are acting like jerks and people have had enough. I was at an outdoor event last week in Vermont and a bunch of harley jerks drove by and their tampered with pipes were so loud that you could not talk to the person near you until they were gone. How can you compaerwe these people with kids at play or an ice cream cart? What if cars all pulled of their mufflers? Please don't insult anyone with the safety issue nonsense. If safty is an issue why are these people riding two abreast and wearing illegal helmets? I must however congradulate the advertising department at Harley Davidson for spreading Harley mentality. Nothing like dressing like a slob and having a brand name as a tattoo. Once again...GROW UP.

[Truly Offended]

Just like the people offended by loud exhaust pipes, I’m not immune to annoying noise either. The growling bellies of millions who go to bed hungry every night offends me. So do the shrieks of greed that reverberate from the offices of CEOs at major corporations. The repetitive crash of broken politic promises offends me, as do the screams of terror swallowed up by the Mississippi river. The sighs of loneliness from our forgotten elderly and the groans of despair from the homeless do too. The sobs of the sick who can’t afford basic health care offend me and so do the howls of people who will never be able to afford to educate their children. But I think the most offensive sound of all is the earsplitting silence produced when fear meets apathy. Maybe I’m just listening too hard, or maybe the 4 second roar of a biker enjoying himself is muffled by all those other truly offensive sounds.

[Katherine]

Motorcyclists with modified pipes loud enough to make children cry should NOT be ignored.
The rider should be stopped immediately by an Officer of the Law, his bike impounded on site..

The sound of children playing baseball cannot be compared with the sound of some of the modified motocylcle pipes on the road each Spring, Summer and Fall.

These guys do not just "stimulate your eardrums for a moment". Some of them are so loud that they rattle your entire body, make people cry and think of ways to get even..
I would like to know if any returning War Veterans or other American Citizens suffering PTSD are negatively affected by bikes that do not meet the code for sound..
I agree that the "Ding Dong" Ice Cream Truck is also intrusive, should be put out of business and Laws should be written to ban their "service":

The presence of Ice Cream Trucks in communities contradicts the warnings from law enforcement to keep children away from strangers in vehicles.
Children are lured to vehicles with seductive music, and set up to be seduced with pleasure foods to return again and again to strangers in vehicles...

[Frank]

I happen to be with a screamer! We have been told to tone it down during sex BECAUSE WE ARE LOUD.
I have added sound proof sheetrock to the walls and ceilng and were still getting complaints! No matter what we do someone will complain about the
issue.

[No way--]

Did Ms Peirce actually compare the sounds of little league to the purposeful and intrusive noise of a motorcycle?! What nonsense!

Loud motorcycles don't "stimulate your eardrums." They knock you out of bed, disrupt your summer BBQ, and otherwise create unnecessary noise and disruption. Loud motorcycles create pointless noise for the selfish amusement of the driver, and imposed on everyone else.

Quiet motorcycles are great! I have an 1800cc Stratoliner, and use it during the summer. Loud motorcyles are ridiculus, and give the rest of us a bad name. They should be pulled over and ticketed.

[NevadaSam]

Frank wrote:

I happen to be with a screamer! We have been told to tone it down during sex BECAUSE WE ARE LOUD.
I have added sound proof sheetrock to the walls and ceilng and were still getting complaints! No matter what we do someone will complain about the
issue.

Your boyfriend help you mud the sheetrock?

[Katherine]

No way-- wrote:

Did Ms Peirce actually compare the sounds of little league to the purposeful and intrusive noise of a motorcycle?! What nonsense!
Loud motorcycles don't "stimulate your eardrums." They knock you out of bed, disrupt your summer BBQ, and otherwise create unnecessary noise and disruption. Loud motorcycles create pointless noise for the selfish amusement of the driver, and imposed on everyone else.
Quiet motorcycles are great! I have an 1800cc Stratoliner, and use it during the summer. Loud motorcyles are ridiculus, and give the rest of us a bad name. They should be pulled over and ticketed.

Thanks..
What can be done to stop them and why don't they see that what they are doing with modified pipes that don't meet the code for sound is wrong?
The bikers say that they use sound as a display of their freedom and to show gratitude to America for their freedom.
Why do they need to scream down they street hurting other people to express that?

[reganrollingover]

Until people drive without using cell phones and being fully aware of motorcycles around them the cyclist have a legitimate concern. Loud pipe save lives, just like sirens on police cars and ambulances. Katherine the Great needs to get over herself.

[Katherine]

reganrollingover wrote:

Until people drive without using cell phones and being fully aware of motorcycles around them the cyclist have a legitimate concern. Loud pipe save lives, just like sirens on police cars and ambulances. Katherine the Great needs to get over herself.

Sirens are used in abundance because of people eating and drinking themselves into oblivion, instead of living conservatively..
I agree, on the Highway loud pipes can inform other drivers of a motorcycle riders presence, keeping them safe.
In the Inner Cities they are uncalled for..
Drivers speeding and tailing is the cause of most accidents..
This is not about Katherine, this is about the General Public who is tired of being assualted by disrespectful motorcyclists..

[Frank]

NevadaSam wrote:

<quoted text>
Your boyfriend help you mud the sheetrock?

Boyfriend? I happen to share the same mattress with two woman. My girlfriend and your ol' lady who likes the karma sumatra positions I taught her. Get ready for some great sex! Thanks to me.

[Just A Rider]

With the condition our state is in I find it insane to be worried about how loud someones motorcycle is, come on people lets get back on track...

[PROGRESSIVE]

I am sure the writter was making an attempt at toung in cheek humor, but it was more like toung in armpit humor, I have a neighbor who reves up his hog at 5:30 am to got to work, the whole neighborhood is then awakend and everyone on his route to work is awake to. but he does not care because he is the armpit that te writter was talking about.

[NoBoomers]

"Guys on bikes just go by, and stimulate your eardrums for a moment."

Yeah, sure. Of course when motorcycles, cars with illegal mufflers and/or boom car stereo systems go by 20 or 30 times every evening, the noise assault affects your quality of life. Noise affects your health both mental and physical.

See www.NoBoomers.com for more info.

[Michael W Smith]

First, the definition of "Noise" is UNWANTED SOUND. Children at play or a evening baseball game is usually sounds of a social event. Now, the UNWANTED NOISE from loud motorcycles comes from the deep LOW FREQUENCY noise that is below 250 Hertz and as low as below 20Hz. This is called infrasound and it carries much farther than higher frequencies such as children at play. Motorcycle noise shakes windows and shatters nerves of innocent lives. Furthermore, wanted sounds are a pleasure to being but noise is harmful to our health - regardless the duration. A single passing loud motorcycle can cause severe pain for some - recent national study reveals that over 30 million people are hyper-sensitive to noise - mostly the lower frequencies like loud car stereos and loud exhaust systems. If you like loud low frequency noise then keep it to yourself - we do not want to hear it... It disrupts our lives and OUR RIGHTS!!!!

[springs]

Many folks across the country are fed up with the loud bikers who achieve their acoustical assaults by using illegal mufflers. Since 1983, all new motorcycles sold in the U.S. are required to have an Environmental Protection Agency noise compliance label attached to the chassis and a matching label stamped into the muffler. It's a violation of federal law to replace the legal muffler with an illegal one or to modify (tamper with) the legal muffler to make more noise. The residents of Denver and Green Bay have enjoyed an improvement in the quality of their lives as a result of a reduction in the loud motorcycle incidents. More cities are considering adopting the EPA label system, as federal law provides for, including New York and Portland, Maine. Loud bikers have offended many and motorcycling is not going to be the same as a result of their illegal behavior. This is why groups like Noiseoff and Maine Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles have been formed.

[gladius]

NoBoomers wrote:

"Guys on bikes just go by, and stimulate your eardrums for a moment."
Yeah, sure. Of course when motorcycles, cars with illegal mufflers and/or boom car stereo systems go by 20 or 30 times every evening, the noise assault affects your quality of life. Noise affects your health both mental and physical.
See www.NoBoomers.com for more info.

Good organization. Heard they are working on a new film, "The Silence of the Hawgs".

[Loud mufflers are illegal]

Loud motorcycle riders are simply inconsiderate self centered people who don't care for a minute that their loud mufflers are illegal by many federal, state, and local laws.
Any locality wishing to protect its citizens from this intrusive and harmful noise can simply adopt the EPA label match up program which is based on long standing federal laws.
It is well explained here: www.noiseoff.org/pipes .
Motorcyclists continue to use the lame old and disproven excuse for loud mufflers "loud pipes save lives" when what is really true is that "loud pipes ruin lives".
www.motorcyclecruiser.com/newsandupdates/harl...
Some motorcyclists profess to believe that "loud pipes save lives," although research tends to contradict that popular axiom.
www.virginiawind.com/byways/loud_pipes_save_l...
"Loud Pipes Save Lives" or The Madness Behind the Myth
www.motorbyte.com/mmm/pages/safety/safety40.h...
Pat Hahn of the state of Minnesota's Motorcycle Safety Center says he understands individual expression. But he says the idea that loud pipes save lives is a myth. Hahn says there's a problem with the safety theory because the pipes direct the sound backwards.
www.noiseoff.org/pipes/section.07.01.php
The EPA also considered the issue of "noise visibility" as popularized by the slogan, "loud pipes save lives". This is the theory that a small group of motorcyclists believes that they are making themselves more conspicuous to other motorists in traffic by modifying their motorcycle exhaust systems to produce an excessive level of exhaust noise. The EPA concluded that the proposed noise emissions regulations would have no effect on rider safety.
www.lowertheboom.org/links/v02_loud_pipes.htm...
Riders who believe that an ear-shattering exhaust note actually increases safety are either kidding themselves or rationalizing self-indulgent behavior. It's rooted in physics. The pressure wave emitted from an exhaust pipe is pointed away from and behind the motorcycle.

[collinsfriend]

Truly Offended wrote:

Just like the people offended by loud exhaust pipes, I’m not immune to annoying noise either. The growling bellies of millions who go to bed hungry every night offends me. So do the shrieks of greed that reverberate from the offices of CEOs at major corporations. The repetitive crash of broken politic promises offends me, as do the screams of terror swallowed up by the Mississippi river. The sighs of loneliness from our forgotten elderly and the groans of despair from the homeless do too. The sobs of the sick who can’t afford basic health care offend me and so do the howls of people who will never be able to afford to educate their children. But I think the most offensive sound of all is the earsplitting silence produced when fear meets apathy. Maybe I’m just listening too hard, or maybe the 4 second roar of a biker enjoying himself is muffled by all those other truly offensive sounds.

A brilliant and important post. Cuts right to the reality. How about also the shrieks of people at children (mine are grown so I'm not ax grinding here)who are playing ball in the street like we used to do with parents looking on smiling-now overstressed, crotchey before their time adults, who can't tolerate anything outside of their narrow little worlds of ill-percieved perfection. Has to have an HOA to peck at their neighbors because they don't have "time" to look for all the flaws they know they'd find-then complain about big government out of the other side of their mouths

[collinsfriend]

Several times back in the days when I thought motorcycles were crazy I did not hit a few riders because of their loud pipes. I used to not like them either-but figured we ALL do annoying things and we need to live and let live. After all, a local resort decided to have outdoor rock concerts every weekend Fri,Sat sometimes Sun until 10:00pm. Everyone has to hear it, like it or not for several miles,the traffic is terrible on the small hiway, backing up for a mile or two. We have to see and hear that too, and live in it if we have to go somewhere. That being said.I started to ride a motorcycle and now I bought one with loud pipes. They really don't get loud unless deliberately revved up-I suppose a semitruck style airhorn could suffice and I'm sure cities are going to like hearing semihorns all day and night.Many riders already have installed them. That brings me to jake brakes-their se should also be curtailed, they aren't needed except for very long grades which are not as frequent as they are used. Much louder than any motorcyle. If I have to remove my pipes someday-I'll get a semihorn for sure-might anyway. In CA they are trying to get a law passed to require noisemakers on electric cars because people are complaining they can't tell they are coming and they are much larger than motorcycles. People are just fickle and ignorant.

[collinsfriend]

One day I timed the first sounds heard from a vehicle to it's arrival to me. I live over a highway so it was an easy thing to do. CAR TIRE'S road noise was the first audible, other noises including motorcycle's with aftermarket pipes were not audible as soon. Siren's were the onl thing before car tire noise. I didn't realize how tire road noise travels. It makes me consider that for every loud exhaust there are many more choosing NOT to rev the pipes.