Noise Sensitivity: Blog about those trucks going beep beep b

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Having been woken up by a truck backing up and going "beep beep beep," I Googled the issue and I found this:

https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/communi ... ep.101931/

It's from some discussion site for pilots, from 2017. I was just relieved to read anyone else discussing this. Especially the part about how the trucks seem to back up more often than they go forward. The writer suggests that with modern technology, there are better solutions that don't involve bombarding countless people who are in no danger with constant piercing alarms designed to make them agitated. Unfortunately, some people in the website's comments are very dismissive, saying it's just an "inconvenience" and we've just got to live with this horrid noise forever because it's the only solution.

It's a terrible sound. Piercing.

It's the second worst possible outcome of a truck backing up.

Someone getting squished would of course be worse.

Have you heard Amazon trucks back up? Those are even worse.

I think they're deliberately being obnoxious though. It's like people who take out their mufflers just to get attention, even if that attention is a lot of middle fingers.

Speaking from experience, people straight-pipe their cars for themselves, not for other people. There's few experiences more viscerally enjoyable than driving a straight-piped car with no sound-deadening and no stereo, especially when you can see fireballs spitting out the exhaust.

The idea that it's for other people is nothing more than a dumb meme spread among people who don't actually get it. Because they don't get it they can't offer any worthwhile insights, hence the lack of informed insight within the meme.

Nonetheless, there's also few experiences more viscerally deplorable than having to stand on the sidewalk as your body vibrates and slowly liquefies from the horrific rumbling suggestive of an earthquake or dangerously low-flying plane. It's one of the most inconsiderate things a person can do.

You're entitled to not like it, but the whole pretending like it's for attention is just an admission of not understanding the appeal.

So long as one isn't breaking the law it's really not their problem what the small minority of people who hate it think. Most people don't love or hate loud exhausts. They're not as fond of them as I am and they're not as bothered by them as you are. That majority is who's opinion ultimately matters when deciding what the limit ought to be.

The limit can't be too low because that just punishes people who can't afford to fix exhaust leaks and similar. My car wasn't straight piped because I chose to, it was straight piped because the exhaust and cat had separated. It stayed that way for ages because I could never prioritize fixing it over my necessities. Prioritizing the feelings of people who hate loud cars is a luxury that I couldn't afford and feel no obligation to consider.

Some limit has to exist otherwise a few people will start making things as loud as humanly possible.

I wouldn't say I was "pretending", maybe I was making an assumption I shouldn't have made. And yes, I'll admit I don't understand the appeal, but appeal for one person is not worth misery for everyone else.

I'm very skeptical of your claim that people who hate it are a "small minority". I complain about this pretty regularly and I've never had anyone try to defend it. Anyway, you seem to be suggesting no one should care about small minorities. Autistic people are a small minority, so why should anyone else care about our problems? Babies are a small minority--why do we work so hard for them?

I understand that some people can't afford to fix it--although that is itself a problem. I'm mainly focused on the people who choose to do it.

Regarding pretending, you're not the only person I've seen offer that take and I've encountered people who insist on offering it even after being informed otherwise. Pretend seems like an appropriate word to describe the belief after the person has been informed of the actual motive.

It's rare for a small minority to effectively prioritize their issues. This is especially true when valid reasons exist to not give attention to those issues, like this specific one.

Some people hate bright colours but we wouldn't ban bright colours to accommodate those people's sensitivities, we'd tell them it's a them issue.

As for people not defending it, if you start by smearing anyone who enjoys loud exhausts as an as*hole it's possible people who might otherwise defend that cause choose to not engage with the judgment person who just insisted they're an as*hole. Why would they? What benefit will come from engaging with someone who's already decided you're an as*hole who needs to be punished?

I don't really think this discussion is going anywhere but some final thoughts:

Yes, pretending is an appropriate word for people who continue to disagree after being informed of the actual motive. This isn't what I was doing.

A valid reason not to ban bright colors is that they just exist and it's impossible to get rid of them. I don't consider "but I like it" to be a valid reason. No one ever got out of prison because they liked murdering people. (Yes, I know that's a very exaggerated analogy, and I'm not likening anyone to murderers. The analogy is that the harm you cause others exceeds the enjoyment you get for yourself.)

Lastly, I know this isn't a refutation to what you said, and it's not meant as a criticism, but I can't help mentioning it: you're arguing that no one would do the exact thing you're doing right now. More to the point, I never said I called anyone an as*hole (I don't), and the people I talk with tend to be reasonable (that is, argumentative) people who I trust will tell me if they disagree with me. That way we can have constructive debates that we all gain something from, rather like we're doing right now.

I'll let you have the last word if you want, but thanks for engaging with me. This is the kind of intelligent debate I was denied as a child because it drove my mom crazy.

Yes, that's me preemptively conceding that I'm much more difficult to use shame effectively against because I know I'm a highly disagreeable person and have made peace with that aspect of my personality.

Hopefully you don't feel I'm saying you personally framed it as though people who enjoy or drive loud cars are as*holes, because this isn't my first rodeo and I'm not only basing my observations on this one discussion. There's certain tropes that get dragged out regularly (overcompensation, motivated by desire for positive attention, etc) that almost always seem to come from people who've never actually engaged with car enthusiasts outside of maybe a few hostile exchanges.

Ironically people will say those things even when the obnoxious car they're complaining out is a loud subcompact that impresses no one except maybe a handful of fans of that specific brand. No one's impressed by a loud Geo Metro and no one expects to impress anyone in a loud Geo Metro, but you can rev the s**t out of that little 3 cylinder so it's fun from a driver engagement perspective (not to mention it sounds like half a Porsche 911 engine).

Personally, a part of the reason I favour making cars louder and less comfortable is specifically to increase the (mental) cost of operating them. The less driving is like sitting on your couch, the more people are likely to make an effort to limit overuse.

Although I will concede personal preference is a factor too, because driving something that's not entirely comfortable feels more engaging and makes it easier to stay focused on operating the car. One shouldn't be so relaxed that their mind can wander from the very important and possibly high stakes thing they're doing.




I'd say the harm of being exposed to some noise you dislike falls much closer to the harm caused by feeling like your eyes are being overstimulated rather than... you know, murder.

If someone's car is loud enough it's causing actual damage rather than just annoying you, they're probably going to be deaf within a few hours of driving it anyways so that problem should limit itself.

As a society there's a degree of give and take when it comes to tolerating behaviour we find annoying. I believe current regulations are a good balance. No one's allowed to drive something as loud as a race car, but putting up with a handful of cars that are as loud as bikes doesn't seem like too much to ask. Loud cars and loud bikes combined rarely represent more than a percentage or two of the total volume of cars and bikes, and loud bikes by far outnumber loud cars.

If the goal is to crack down on loud vehicles, I'd start with bikes and just keep custom cars within that range, whatever it's set to be.

I can't argue with that. (Well, I can, but not without becoming an internet troll.)



I can't argue with that either, other than to say that obviously hearing a brain-melting noise isn't comparable to murder, but having to hear it all the time has a not insignificant effect on me. Enough that if you're in a place where a lot of people will hear it, I really think it will do more harm than good.

Dammit! I can't stop myself! Alright, I'm actually done now.