It's March, unseasonably warm (record-breakingly warm), and we're having lunch in the backyard. Once again, the primary noise source from the freeway across from our house has been idiots on motorcycles. After an hour outside, if it were true that loud pipes save lives, I'd be particularly in favor of total silence motorcycle exhaust laws if there were a chance that would get these idiots out of the gene pool. As my dad used to say, "Fire a couple warning shots to the head to get their attention." I have to wonder if these fools have an attention to get?
This video makes me miss the good old days from California. One of the reasons motorcyclists kept the lane-splitting privilege in CA was that motorcycle cops were so hard on loud pipes, unridable vehicles (like the ape-hanger comedian in this video), hooligans, and the usual gangbanger biker crowd. Today in Minnesota, the gangbangers are the cops, so noise laws and the rest of the rational restrictions on motorcycles are ignored and will continue to be ignored until bikes get banned altogether.
There is no reason why a motorcycle should be louder than a modern car. No safety advantage comes from the noise, no engineering limitations require the noise, and common sense should motivate a minority not to piss off the majority. I'm not kidding. Motorcycles are a solid 10-25dBSPL louder than the average traffic noise. Idiots.
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