Stop the racket
It was a beautiful night downtown. The sun had been shining all day, and with its setting, the evening brought a welcome coolness perfect for walking.
We strolled down Water Street, passing others with the same purpose. Some people paused to chat idly, others looked into shop windows or read menus and debated where to eat or enjoy a nightcap.
Our peaceful evening was perfect until it was rudely interrupted by the brutal roar of motorcycles zooming up and down the street. It’s bad enough when the motorcycles go up suburban streets, but downtown — with the taller buildings, be they stone, cement, glass or wood — the canyon effect meant the unmuffled roar assaulting our eardrums was magnified a hundredfold.
Another evening downtown, and our walking pace matched that of a convertible playing the Muzak equivalent of disco hits. There was a lot of traffic, and no one was going anywhere very fast. And yet, periodically, the convertible driver would crank up the volume to match the reverberation from the motorcycle behind him.
Later that same evening, we watched several cars, one of them twice, traverse Water Street with music blasting.
I have spoken of this with friends, and am at a loss to understand what purpose creating this kind of noise serves. In fact, more and more I am noticing how much noise our ears confront daily, and it can’t be good.
We already know about the warnings from hearing advocates who advise us to keep our radios at reasonable levels in cars and to keep our portable music devices with the earpieces at even more moderate levels to reduce the risk of ear damage.
Perhaps our daily walks should come with similar advisories. But then again, I can control the volume level in my car and also on my ipod. You could also argue that until I open the windows, there’s no real risk to others unless I also insult them with my choice of music.
But motorcyclists do have a choice. I went searching and learned that motorcycles are built to meet noise standards. But after the motorcycle is sold? That’s a different story. Those roaring bikes you hear have been modified by their owners on purpose to create noise exceeding the allowable levels.
The rationale for owners who modify their bikes’ exhaust systems is that loud bikes ensure the riders’ safety. Yet according to one anti-noise advocacy site I checked out, no such study exists to prove such amendments to cycles have saved any life of a motorcyclist.
Interestingly, though we non-riders find the noise both offensive and physically painful, cyclists may not notice the loudness themselves. That’s because while riding, the wind noise they experience — often in excess of 100 decibels — can cause temporary hearing loss, and in many cases, permanent hearing loss. In case you were wondering, that noise level is equal to the use of a chain saw, or spending time in a nightclub blasting music.
The thing is, unlike going to a concert once a year and feeling as if your ears have been stuffed with cotton wool the next day, long-term bike riding can result in permanent damage.
And once your hearing is gone, it is gone forever.
Which explains why the riders who have modified their baffles have no issue with the sound of their bikes. They, unlike those of us holding our ears in pain, simply can’t hear the racket they make.
Three years ago this month, the RNC went looking for decibel meters to measure motorcycle sound levels.
The CBC news story I found noted the provincial Highway Act would need amending to specify the limits in decibels, even though it is already illegal in this province to modify the baffle.
I haven’t found anything to suggest progress on this front, but I would think we are long past due for some effective means to shut down the noisemakers in our midst.