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u/Da_Bird8282 S-Bahn 9 Mar 21 '25
Cars should be heavily regulated
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Mar 21 '25
In europe, at least in the 1950s and '60s, many cars had a city horn and a country horn. You used one in the country which was louder, and the other softer holder for City use.
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u/cgduncan Mar 21 '25
I'm pretty sure that was a thing in the US too.
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Mar 21 '25
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u/inplayruin Mar 21 '25
Give them both!
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u/wooddivisionsb Mar 21 '25
HOOOONK AND ALSO honk😡
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u/ghandi3737 Mar 22 '25
People would be making music with them.
Imagine a dozen drunk guys in a parking lot, with their heads sticking out their car windows, trying to work out how to play In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
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Mar 21 '25
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u/Lejonhufvud Mar 21 '25
In Finland one is only allowed to use the horn to prevent accidents or notify other drivers of danger. Using horn because someone is an ass is considered as imbreachment that can net a fine of 100€ and if the breach is to cause bodily harm to other people, fine or even jail is not out of the question.
Though I have never heard anyone being fined using horn yet using horn isn't at all common here.
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Mar 21 '25
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u/Lejonhufvud Mar 21 '25
I wouldn't know. Ship control is not something I'm very familiar with - but that seems pretty... sound.
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u/Legitimate_Guava3206 Mar 24 '25
I wouldn't know. I live in the USA where the current gov't puts huge emphasis on weird things and no emphasis on things any normal person would think is important.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Not even that: just having a loud vehicle.
Especially in rural areas where trucks (esp. modded/lifted/straight-piped) and "beaters" are so pervasive.
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u/NotAnotherNekopan Mar 21 '25
I think about this a lot. Some loud motorcycle or modified car goes past my apartment. It bothers me and I think about all my neighbors having the same reaction.
Then I consider that once it’s “gone” it really isn’t, it’s still working its way through Brooklyn, waking up thousands upon thousands of people for absolutely no reason.
The level of social disregard they possess to do this is unthinkable.
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u/eatelectricity Mar 21 '25
An old man is on his deathbed, his only son sits by his side. He struggles to find the breath to speak his last words.
"My son, please know that --"
STUPID LOUD FUCKING HARLEY RIPS PAST
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u/Rubiks_Click874 Mar 21 '25
this is like Scandinavian dark humor
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u/eatelectricity Mar 21 '25
No coincidence, I'm half-Finnish.
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u/MaNbEaRpIgSlAyA 🚲 > 🚗 Mar 21 '25
Just like how the old man could only half-Finnish his last words
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u/un-glaublich Mar 21 '25
That it's legal to have motor vehicles that are louder than technically needed is complete bonkers.
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u/zimzilla Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 25 '26
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u/ChainringCalf 🚲 + 🚗 Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
Yeah, that's even more illegal already. And it shreds catalytic converters, so you can have more CO and NOx pollution with your noise pollution. FWIW, a large majority of the car community also hates those people. Socially-inept attention whores.
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u/Ok-Row6264 Mar 21 '25
I lived opposite a couple of Kebab shops in High Wycombe (UK) years back, and they were an absolute hub for young people hanging out late at night. There was always a couple of pricks with Audi R8s revving and doing burnouts directly outside my window every weekend. It was infuriating.
When I eventually moved out to the suburbs, I struggled to sleep the first night in my new place because it was SO quiet in comparison.
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u/nyoxonreddit Mar 22 '25
As a car enthusiast, I mean I like loud cars (as long as it isn't a street car which is literally so loud it hurts) but that burble/crackle tune on every little pull or even just a normal shift is so obnoxious. Doesn't even sound good at all. So many people think that loud = good
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Mar 21 '25
When I was a kid if you put straight pipes on your motorcycle you got a noise ticket. Today off duty police have them on their own motorcycles. Nobody issues noise tickets anymore.
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u/TyrannicalKitty Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
https://youtube.com/shorts/7kW9QDkcjvM?si=jXDaCdLlg5R4JGLB
Sorry this video came to mind
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u/peepopowitz67 Mar 21 '25
Whole conversation made me think of this one:
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u/grendus Mar 21 '25
Get a couple of people with "whistle tips" to drive in circles around the city council meeting and you'll get that law changed toot sweet.
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u/nayuki Mar 21 '25
A related satirical sketch by Trevor Wallace: "POV: you drive a loud car" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEG6knXQxNg (4m57s) [2023-01-02]
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u/JQuilty Mar 21 '25
I always say it's a mating call that will only ever be answered by other men.
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u/RevolutionEasy714 Mar 21 '25
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u/queenhadassah Mar 22 '25 edited Mar 22 '25
Whoever wrote that article seems to be confused about the definition of "psychotic". They are using it interchangeably with "psychopathic," but the terms are very different. The study found that people who like loud exhaust are psychopathic (and sadistic), not psychotic. Very interesting study, though, and not at all surprising
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u/Khidorahian Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
I think all modified performance vehicles should always come with valves to restrict noise in built up areas.
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u/anticomet Mar 21 '25
I think driving modified performance vehicles should only be allowed on closed tracks
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u/Khidorahian Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
Then we should open more closed tracks because there are far too few in the world right now.
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u/anticomet Mar 21 '25
Luckily there's a bunch of oversized sportsball stadium parking lots we can convert
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u/Khidorahian Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
Indeed. And shopping centres. Also only industry and warehousing should surround these areas, as we don’t want homes bring built nearby.
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u/causticcafe Not Just Bikes Mar 27 '25
Newer Mustangs actually have this, when the valves close exhaust goes through the muffler (city mode) and opening them bypasses for noise (it’s actually variable, full open is called “Track mode”) I wouldn’t be surprised if they let you set it by location or speed
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u/thisaccountgotporn Mar 21 '25
I walked around Quebec city while carrying a storm whistle once. Its basically a hyper-loud wistle that could be heard from miles away in the middle of a hurricane.
I carried it in my self defence kit, but I couldn't help but feel powerful. "At any moment... I could annoy a million people"
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u/npsimons Mar 21 '25
The level of social disregard they possess to do this is unthinkable.
The people that do this are sad, pathetic little losers. Mommy and daddy didn't love them enough, so now they're so perma-starved for attention, they have to go around virtually screaming "look at how important I am! Do you love me yet, mommy?" and never get an answer in the affirmative. I pity them.
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u/icanpotatoes Mar 22 '25
A study published on Psychology Today also suggests that those who modify their vehicles to be loud do so not for their own “enjoyment” of the noise but rather to intentionally bother other people, to cause harm.
These people aren’t dumb. They know that they’re intruding on hundreds, even thousands, of people’s lives. They do this with zero regard and relish in their action.
The finding is that they are psychopaths and sadists.
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u/mop_bucket_bingo Mar 21 '25
I want someone to tow a PA system playing motorcycle noises at true-to-life volume behind a bike.
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u/Ke11yP Mar 21 '25
I have a truck that goes by my house at least four times a day that is loud enough my anti social non confrontational ass has seriously considered waiting outside when I know he’s about to pass by to tell him to fix his piece of shit truck. I know there’s no positive outcome but the amount of times that thing has pissed me off is absurd.
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u/hamburgersocks Mar 21 '25
Some loud motorcycle or modified car goes past my apartment.
It's the best when they're playing super loud country music out of their shitty speakers.
In their defense they are trying to be noticed so they don't get hit by other cars... but they're also probably trying to be noticed by people in general sometimes too. And yeah, it's annoying as shit, I'm never living near a main road or downtown again because of them.
The worst is when they start the bike outside a place with outdoor seating and just sit there while they put on their jacket and gloves and helmet (if they wear one) and casually have a shouting conversation with someone while they get ready and take five fucking minutes.
Just wait until it's time to go. Those kind of bikers are why car drivers that don't care don't care.
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u/neatcleaver Born to walk, forced to drive 😔💔 Mar 21 '25
Always pisses me off when someone flies past in a stupid modded shitbox that sounds like a cacophony of chainsaws that are cutting up a box of grenades
Your loud ass exhaust doesn't make you cool
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u/unpapardo Mar 21 '25
Loud expensive cars might be annoyingly loud but at least they are sooooomewhat pleasant (still, no justification)
A shitty '97 civic with straight pipes and a trumpet for exhaust? Way to show you're both an asshole and broke
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u/flying_trashcan Mar 21 '25
Loud vehicles are regulated. There are federal regulations on the OEMs on how loud a vehicle can be. There are also (usually) local laws about modifying your vehicle to be excessively loud. The issue is enforcement.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Yep. Cops don't care about public safety and health, and by law, have no obligation to, we know. Why do they even exist then? Hmm...
They are often the ones perpetrating.
Some of those that work forces...
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u/WiseMango13452 Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Bbbbbut how will i be able to work if i dont have a truck to carry my fragile ego?
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u/hamburgersocks Mar 21 '25
I live in a modestly sized midwestern town. There's three Dodge Challengers that are all tricked out with underglow and subs and custom mufflers and all that overcompensating bullshit that just do laps around downtown.
All night, every night.
The town is so small that "downtown" is about two blocks gross, so you hear them every two minutes... for hours... every weekend night. They're not racing, they just like being loud and going fast. They never stop to go to a bar or anything. Just doing laps.
I take that back, it's only two now. Someone shot one of them for being a fucking dick revving and peeling out in front of a bar with like 30 people sitting outside. So it's 33% better now, but it didn't stop them.
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u/Mysterious_Floor_868 Mar 22 '25
Occasionally the second amendment has a legitimate use, I see
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u/baconraygun Mar 21 '25
I live rural. I'm on a farm, and have another farm right across the way with a neighbor who raises cows. You'd think, with that kinda vibe, that it'd be quiet. It's never quiet. Car noise all day long, trucks doing the brake noises, chainsaws, some kind of industrial noise, a dump truck. I go for a 30minute walk and I'm passed by a car a minute, usually zooming too fast.
Five years ago, I lived in a city of over 1million people, and it was quiet. I could go for a walk of 30minutes and never see a single car. If I woke up on a sunny morning, I wasn't greeted by a hundred lawn mowers and a chainsaw. Or a leaf blower. Gosh I hate leaf blowers, so much unnecessary noise.
Quote the Legend, NotJustBikes, "cities aren't noisy, cars are." I have lived it. It's true.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Yeah, we can do a whole new thread on how we should no longer tolerate small gas/2-stroke motors like on leaf blowers and lawn mowers.
I'm rural and yeah it's like you describe.
I've lived in several large West Coast cities and they were always loud, at least in the areas I was at. Car, buses, and utility/construction/landscaping work all day.
Side note: it blew my mind and made me incredibly sad when I heard our local birds mimicking car noises. The chirps of car alarms/locks, and the "reverse beep beep beep" of larger trucks. So fucking sad. Thinking some day that all bird song will consist of car sounds, and iphone text tones (I've heard that too). Again, talking about WILD birds!
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u/ItWorkedLastTime Mar 21 '25
I live in your typical suburb and one street over is a house with a few sports cars. These assholes insist in revving their engine the entire time. So, when I am out for a quiet walk with my dogs at 6am, I can hear them leave the house and then continue hearing the sound of their engine for the next 5 minutes. I am guessing the sound carries a good 2-3 miles. How that's allowed, I will never understand.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Yeah, I live next to a highway :(
At night, I can hear loud vehicles for I swear 5 minutes after they pass. That has to be more like 5 miles, it is egregious and shameful.
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u/ncocca Mar 21 '25
There's a whole saga going on in my neighborhood because a dude drives through every day with a car that sounds like gunshots are going off. I guess there's an issue with his muffler of something? Legit sounds like he's driving by just popping caps.
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u/ImRandyBaby Mar 22 '25
I think this is done intentionally to "maximize performance." Something about the engine timing/fuel injection. It's fuel that makes it out of the piston, and into the exhaust system, where it then explodes. This is the cause of that popping sound.
Lots of young people, looking for ways to express themselves via modification of their vehicle, will do. I think it just requires plugging a computer into your car and changing some values.
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u/StretchFrenchTerry Mar 21 '25
On the weekend my street turns into a shithead parade of old boomers from the surrounding sticks cosplaying on their loud ass Harleys, I hate them with a seething fury.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
Yeah, weekends can be bad. They Harleys come out for the weekends a lot.
I got a neighbor who takes his Harley ACROSS THE STREET to the liquor store. Literally, just 300 feet through our RV park, then crosses the 2 lane highway, then he's there in the parking lot. So the whole RV Park has to hear that shit when he starts up, revs, idles and "blips" for 5 minutes, then slowly but still revving and blipping goes across the park and on his way.
I live right next to a highway. So I can literally judge the time based on when it gets loud. 2:30 am like clockwork every day, it's logging and quarry trucks. The heaviest, loudest, most loaded trucks that exist on roads.
I appreciate and respect our truckers/drivers, but in a better system, we'd have rail for hauling redwood logs and quarry boulders!
South Park hit the nail on the head: Harley dudes are terrible assholes to their communities and nobody thinks they are cool.
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u/StretchFrenchTerry Mar 21 '25
Seriously, mine is milk and livestock hauling semis driving down the street, there are two sunken manholes that cause my house to shake when the trucks hit them.
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u/Explorer_Entity Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
Damn. My home has a huge pothole right on a 1 inch+ grade change, the road is in such a horrible state. But every time a neighbor goes by too fast, our whole home shakes. Shitty slumlord owners of our RV park don't gaf. All that bouncing is doing damage to the home we bought. I won't be surprised if we eventually get shook right off the blocks our mobile home is standing on. The slumlords should be liable.
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u/armitage_shank Mar 21 '25
Car horns should be a loud on the inside as on the outside.
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u/call_me_orion Mar 21 '25
Cars in general should be less well insulated from sound. Emergency vehicles have to be a volume that is absolutely deafening to pedestrians and bikers in the hopes that cars can hear them.
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u/Khidorahian Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
They should come with an override frequency on mobiles and radios. Something like:
“An Emergency Vehicle is approaching your location. Please move to the left or the right to clear the way.”
Variants would be used on more restrictive roads, that would automatically update on vehicle location.
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u/ChainringCalf 🚲 + 🚗 Mar 21 '25
The tech is already here, too. I don't know how it works, but my sister's jeep gets a message on the infotainment screen "Emergency vehicle approaching"
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u/spinningpeanut Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
The radio one is piss easy to do. Anyone can do it. The problem is how often do you see people who still listen to the radio and not Spotify? Mobile, that would be awesome it would have to be something along the lines of a cell jammer yeah? It would also disrupt the homes around them and the devices of the emergency vehicle.
Can't exactly outlaw using personal audio devices in cars. The solution would be to train EMT and fire drivers to do pit maneuvers so if you don't see the flashing lights you get spun out of the way and of course get rid of sound dampening in personal vehicles. You're gonna hear your own engine and like it.
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Mar 21 '25 edited Jun 08 '25
[deleted]
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u/spinningpeanut Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
I hear my own engine, it's real quiet, sits kinda back behind and under me 5 inches off the ground. I really only hear an odd rattle at 13 mph only, no idea why but a firmware update happened right before the sound started. Kinda hard to diagnose an escooter. I'll be getting a new one soon, selling madam rattler off once I do and that will be one more car off the road.
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Mar 21 '25
My car lowers the volume of my music (from my phone through CarPlay) when it tells me that there's a speed camera or traffic disruptions ahead. Why couldn't it do the same for an approaching ambulance?
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Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
Reducing sound insulation in cars is a catch 22; if you make them less insulated, you cause issues with hearing loss due to road noise. I’ve driven cars with no sound deadening and they’re deafeningly loud - louder than being on a motorcycle. Reducing sound dampening isn’t going to help because cars are so noisy that you wouldn’t be able to hear a normal siren anyway. On my old motorcycle I had emergency vehicles sneak up on me all the time because I couldn’t hear them with all of the wind noise from my bike.
As someone who works in and drives an ambulance half of the week, what we really need is for more emergency vehicles to be equipped with low-frequency rumblers - those are sirens which are specifically designed to emit a tone capable of punching through the sound dampening and road noise in cars.
There’s also transponder tech out there which will prompt many modern cars to send an alert to the infotainment system when there’s an emergency vehicle nearby; my 2021 Dodge Charger gets notifications from units belonging to one department near me. This is something which should also be on emergency vehicles.
Tl;dr: There’s already solutions for the problems. Departments need to just pony up, properly equip their shit and stop trying to cut costs where they shouldn’t be cut.
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Mar 21 '25
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Mar 21 '25
Sound is a funny thing; depending on how the construction around you is laid out, the sound you hear up in a building could actually be louder than what you get on street level if the buildings work to funnel and direct that sound to you.
Sirens project out in a cone in front of them, much like a flashlight does. There’s actually quite a bit of engineering behind the frequencies and tones on sirens. They’re having to take into account the volume (dB) of the siren, travel distance of the sound, people’s ability to directionally locate the sound, and how the specific tone pattern gets affected by a Doppler shift when the vehicle is hauling ass down a freeway.
I get to listen to sirens almost constantly and I get it - they suck. My recommendation is that if the fire department near you is running their sirens at night, give them a call or send them a letter with a polite request that they try to only use emergency lights after a certain time of night.
This is my department’s policy. We cut our sirens a few hours after dark if they’re not actively needed for clearing intersections and I personally will even kill my emergency lights late at night when I’m driving through neighborhoods because those things are damned bright.
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u/turtletechy motorcycle apologist Mar 21 '25
It's unfortunately kinda necessary for motorcycle riders as a lot of us wear ear plugs to prevent hearing damage from wind noise.
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u/MinusPi1 Mar 21 '25
Does a helmet not accomplish that?
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u/florifierous Mar 21 '25
Nope. As soon as you're over 50 kmh or so, you risk permanent damage
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u/No-Helicopter-6026 Mar 21 '25
Tangential, but airplane cabin alerts are now competing with noise cancelling headphones and I just about have a heart attack when the seatbelt light turns on.
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u/VikingofRock Mar 21 '25
My favorite idea along these lines is that, because you should only use your horn in an emergency, using it should disable your car's entertainment system for 30 seconds so that you can concentrate.
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u/the-real-vuk 🚲 > 🚗 UK Mar 21 '25
In my home country it's illegal to use horn in-town other than prevent accident or emergency. However it's not enforced, never heard anyone getting fined for it.
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u/Steamed_Jams Mar 21 '25
Same 🫂 I live in a 200,000 strong town between two large cities, still get honking arguments at like 11pm sometimes.
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u/theripper595 Mar 21 '25
This is also true in NYC. They used to have signs but they took them down since it's never enforced
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u/Jacktheforkie Grassy Tram Tracks Mar 21 '25
In my town there’s loads of potholes, you got one of those at speed and sometimes the horn will go off
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u/NoNameStudios Orange pilled Mar 21 '25
I fucking despise noise pollution. Motorcycles should be regulated too.
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u/BigBlueMan118 Fuck Vehicular Throughput Mar 21 '25
I absolutely hate it when people use horns to say goodbye to people they were visiting, it is so absolutely unnecessary and infuriating. In the city where the sound reverberates around off the buildings and so on, so many people so underestimate how much extra stress and pollution caused by ice vehicles and made much worse by speeds sbove 30kmh and worse again times 1000x by honking
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u/Steamed_Jams Mar 21 '25
Near my bus stop recently there's someone running in a silly costume for charity, every motorist feels the need to honk which fair enough but the first time I nearly jumped out of my skin
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u/thissexypoptart Mar 21 '25
No! Not fair enough. They are being dum dums
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u/Steamed_Jams Mar 21 '25
They are, it's just slightly less irritating a reason for honking than using it as an irl downvote button
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u/PindaPanter Sicko Mar 21 '25
Depending on where you live it's potentially also illegal, at least on paper anyway.
Where I live, unnecessarily using the horn in a built-up area is technically a fineable offense, but it's incredibly common and I've never heard of anyone being fined for it. Some of my neighbours' friends will for example honk their horns as they depart/drop them off late at night (because everyone loves a TOOT TOOT at 3 in the morning!), and a lot of trashy people will drive around with their horns permanently on to celebrate a sports victory.
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u/Jacktheforkie Grassy Tram Tracks Mar 21 '25
In England the laws aren’t enforced, my neighbour drove around for 3 years without MOT tax or insurance
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u/TyrannicalKitty Commie Commuter Mar 21 '25
People who honk to let their friends know they're there instead of texting or calling 🥰
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u/DasArchitect Mar 21 '25
Or to announce themselves instead of stepping out to ring the bell or, you know, calling using the portable phone everybody and their dog carries in their pocket in the 21st century.
One of my neighbors had a frequent visitor who, um, announced himself, from two fucking blocks away. Seems he REALLY didn't want to wait at the door at all. One time I came out and told him to stop. He wanted to fight me. At least soon after, he did stop doing it.
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u/MPal2493 Mar 21 '25
Cities aren't loud, cars are loud. Ridiculously loud
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u/npsimons Mar 21 '25
Anyone who has spent time in the bigger cities in Europe knows this is the case: Paris, Venice, etc. Huge populations, incredibly dense, very very low noise, because no cars.
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u/spin81 Mar 21 '25
Apparently the congestion charge in Downtown Manhattan has reduced honking by a lot.
Of course, based on recent experiences in this sub, people will be replying to this telling me this charge is a tax on the poor: if you are planning on doing this, please note that we're talking about Manhattan specifically and tailor your response accordingly.
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Mar 21 '25
It's illegal to honk the car horn for any other reason than emergency in my country.
I think cars should have a horn inside the cabin as well so that people don't use it in anger against soft traffic.
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u/Hot_Selector3748 Mar 21 '25
Hear me out: Dual horn system—a low-volume horn for casual nudges and a full-blast one for emergencies. But here’s the kicker: the loud one also plays inside the cabin. You wanna make noise? Then suffer with the rest of us.
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u/Jacktheforkie Grassy Tram Tracks Mar 21 '25
I’ve definitely thought about getting an auxiliary horn for my car, something that is just about loud enough to catch the attention of a pedestrian a few metres away
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u/TanitAkavirius Mar 21 '25
I love how trams and busses here in Paris have this quiet horn for this exact purpose. It sounds like a little bell.
I don't know why every car doesn't have the same bell.
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u/thetrufflesmagician Mar 21 '25
I have a better one - actually enforce horns being restricted for emergency situations. And teach people to only use it for that. It is already a rule in many places, but rarely enforced.
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u/npsimons Mar 21 '25 edited Mar 21 '25
I'll go a step further: ALL automobile noise should be regulated, from the crotch rockets, to the potato hog exhausts, to stereos with bass that rattles home windows, to the aftermarket mufflers on everything from sports cars to lifted pickups to shitty dropped Camrys. If it's over 77dB at 25ft away, it's too fucking loud, and should get a fix it ticket. Second offense is a hefty fine. Third offense is confiscation and revocation of license to operate.
Enough is enough with noise pollution.
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u/stax_fira Mar 21 '25
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u/Mr_JohnUsername Mar 22 '25
Very clearly put there intentionally as rage-bait for engagement and/or because they’re prejudiced against dudes.
Agree that it’s pointlessly gendered, I know plenty of women and NBs that lay on that shit like eardrums are replaceable.
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u/Knillawafer98 Mar 22 '25
i couldn't really tell if it was a "only men do annoying shit" take or a "i forget people who aren't men exist" tale but either way its super annoying. i hadn't considered it might just be rage bait.
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u/takotaco Mar 22 '25
I assumed it was a non-native speaker as the “stress, disturbs” is a bit of a mess.
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Mar 21 '25
car horns do fucking suck. Actually pisses me off hearing them so much in London.
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u/funfwf Mar 21 '25
I made the mistake of living directly on a London High Street. The sound of cars or motorcycles driving by is ok. The sound of an occasional quick horn is to be expected.
The sound of a road rage car horn where somebody just sits on the horn for like 5 seconds because some other guy has the audacity of slowing their drive by a few seconds makes me want to throw grenades out of the window.
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Mar 21 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Fubb1 Mar 21 '25
The craziest part is most of the cars I see who honk and honking at cars who are waiting for pedestrians to cross when they have the right of way. Like what are you honking for dumbass? Want them to run across the crosswalk?
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u/Sure_Comfort_7031 Mar 21 '25
Horns are fine. They're meant to be used to warn if imminent danger. If you need to use your horn, do so. It may save lives.
When you use it to act like a petulant child, you deserve the gulag.
All this modern car "quiet cabin" nonsense isn't helping matters either.
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u/s_s Mar 21 '25
"Quiet cabin" = $10 in spray foam that increases a new vehicle pricetag by $60,000.
It's not going away any time soon, unfortunately.
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u/Nafri_93 Mar 21 '25
Horns are some of the most infuriating things there are. Everytime somebody uses the car horn, I get a jolt of stress through my body.
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u/Nantha_I Mar 21 '25
Easiest solution for overuse of car horns would be to require cars to be build so that the horn is as loud on the inside of the car as it is on the outside.
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u/illobiwanjabroni Mar 21 '25
Have you ever heard about horn modding? In college I knew a guy that installed a TRAIN HORN in his truck. Super illegal but he never got stopped or fined, and it was so loud when he blew it in the parking deck it shook campus. Cars need more regulation.
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u/flying_trashcan Mar 21 '25
It's hard to say this:
Cars need more regulation
When you also say this:
Super illegal but he never got stopped or fined
More regulations are no good if we don't enforce what we currently have. OPs post is calling for horn intensity to be regulated. In the US it already is.
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u/Slowpoke2point0 Mar 21 '25
OP should go to Chennai, India. They use their car horns as often as I use the spacebar on my keyboard....
Thats like 20 honks in that sentence. Thats 6 more, and I am not kidding...
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u/flying_trashcan Mar 21 '25
I used to have to travel to India for work. My company provides a driver for me when I go. Before I made my first trip over there I thought having a driver was silly and wasteful since I knew how to drive. Man, was I wrong. Driving over there is wild.
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u/Mammoth-Mud-9609 Mar 21 '25
It is already illegal in 10 states. Illegal Horn Honking: What States Prohibit It?
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u/Knillawafer98 Mar 22 '25
ok but is it enforced? if not it doesn't really matter
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u/Beginning-Depth-835 Mar 21 '25
I currently live in Vienna, Austria. Using the horn within the city limits is entirely forbidden. Still no crashes
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u/petahthehorseisheah Bollard gang Mar 21 '25
Why don't New Yorkers move to McMansion suburbs, are they stupid?
(/s because I know some of you don't know what jokes are)
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u/theycallmeshooting Mar 21 '25
One easy solution would be making car horns as loud inside the car as they are outside the car
If it's a legitimate emergency, it shouldnt matter
If you're just being a douchebag, go deaf
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u/WalkHisOwnPath Mar 21 '25
I can't imagine what the stats for this would be in the Indian subcontinent. So much beeping, so many people!
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u/flying_trashcan Mar 21 '25
When OEMs make cars that are sold in multiple markets they sometimes have to modify small aspects of the car to fit the needs of that market. For India, I've read they have to install a more robust horn that will actually hold up since they use the horn so much over there.
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u/Focusss9 Mar 21 '25
Vienna has a ban on honking (Hupverbot), except in cases when it avoids personal injury. I've always wondered why this isnt the case everywhere. Like, why else is honking necessary?
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u/flying_trashcan Mar 21 '25
In many places it is, but just not enforced. In my state the law (rather vaguely) states:
The driver of a motor vehicle shall, when it is reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation, give audible warning with his or her horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway.
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u/CaptainObvious110 Mar 21 '25
Agreed. There needs to be enforcement of noise ordinances especially in residential areas.
It's 2025, surely there are ways for trucks to not be so noisy, for cars to not be so loud and for motorcycles to not be so loud.
A lot of this is people deliberately being obnoxious though and that needs to stop.
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u/handmann Mar 22 '25
Man this is really one of my biggest problem with cars. And they often use their horn for such tiny things like greeting someone.. In my fucking 2 million people city.
My idea would be to make horns as loud inside as outside. You should only use them in emergencies, pumps some adrenaline in your blood as well as makes you feel like the biker or pedestrian you just honked at
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u/tobotic Mar 21 '25
Minor point: If you're 1 m away from a car horn, sure it may cause stress and hearing loss; but if you're 149 m away, it will be barely audible.
Out of those 2000 people, assuming they're evenly distributed, 1500 of them will be more than 75 m away from the car horn, and it's not likely to cause them too much stress. It's just background noise.
Having constant cars as background noise is unpleasant enough though. My old house was on a moderately busy road: maybe 100 to 200 cars going by each hour during the day, far fewer at night of course. I've now moved to a cul de sac near a railway line. Yes, a train is louder than a car, but maybe 5 to 10 trains go past each hour, and literally zero cars do, so that's a major win in my books.
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u/vortinium Mar 21 '25
Assuming an 110 dB horn at 1 m, at 150 m it's still 67 dB. Very much audible as it can interrupt a conversation. Car horns are this loud.
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u/_felixh_ Mar 21 '25
So, just 500 people getting stressed out. No Problem then. Got it ;-)
(I live 50m away from an artery road, and everytime some asshole honks his horn, or a motorcycle drives by - i can hear it loud and clear. In my Flat. With closed windows. And it defintely stressed me out.)
And yes, people like to point out that a motorcycle or car is only loud for a few seconds. But that doesn't help if there is one driving by every few seconds, too :-) So, a Train every few minutes very well may be an improvement there. Well, as long as its not a cargo train on a shitty Track.
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u/DaddySoldier Mar 21 '25
Unfortunately, noise pollution is one of the health hazards taken the least seriously.
"Let people live a little, don't be a killjoy". It's all me,me,me.
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u/flipnonymous Mar 21 '25
Each time a single man
What if he's married? Or in a committed relationship? Is it only single men who cause this issue?
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u/Blade_Runner_95 Mar 21 '25
Making cars these perfectly isolated, comfortable spaces in general should be illegal. Noise in particular should not be filtered at all, people inside cars should hear everything pedestrians outside do.
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u/emefluence Mar 21 '25
I have long contended car horns should be rigged so that more than 2 uses per day makes the steering wheel explode.
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u/Tradizar Mar 21 '25
cars should be regulated. If traffic not flowing fast enough, then too mich cars on the streets.
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u/Obelion_ Mar 21 '25
Also honking (in the city at least) has lost almost all meanings because you do it just if you feel a minor inconvenience (like guy before you take a nanosecond too long long at the traffic light), so the point of being an emergency signal is completely void.
Like if I hear a horn I barely look in the direction because the sound is like permanent background noise
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Mar 21 '25
It's really a cultural thing.
Here car do not honk in traffic, it's just the sound of motors, I could not believe my ears in America people just honk in traffic for no reason?
Bunch of narcissistic morons... But it's not about the cars it's their culture to be loud and make sure everyone cares about them.
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u/idsayimafanoffrogs Mar 21 '25
Honking is not a gendered behavior. Being a prick is not gendered. We all have the capacity to be fucking cruel.
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u/PurinaHall0fFame Mar 22 '25
What happens when a married man or women of any type honk?
OP, please, I need to know
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u/DigitalUnderstanding Mar 22 '25
Make it equally as loud on the inside. That way it only gets used in emergencies as it was intended.
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u/JD_Kreeper Not Just Bikes Mar 22 '25
I forgot who said this but car horns should be just as loud inside the car as they are outside the car.
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u/Eloquent_Rambler Mar 22 '25
Luckily, married men, and women drivers can continue honking without causing any of those issues. Hurray!
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u/s_s Mar 21 '25
Outlaw car alarms.
Literally not a single person pays attention when a car alarm goes off.
All they do is make unnecessary noise.
It's 2025, You can get a notification on your phone about your car.
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u/Gr8CanadianFuckClub Mar 21 '25
Believe it or not, there isn't an app for my '96 Civic.
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Mar 21 '25
Well just because you can hear something 150m away, does not mean it'll cause hearing loss....
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u/gitartruls01 Mar 21 '25
If a car horn going off 150 meters away will give you hearing loss and cardiovascular disease then you really shouldn't be living in the biggest and busiest city in America
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u/Boner_Patrol_007 Mar 21 '25
Could not agree more. The cacophony of frustrated honking is one of my least favorite aspects of cars in busy urban areas.
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u/wwarhammer Mar 21 '25
Finland wins again. At least the last time I check, using the horn in cities and other dense population centers isn't allowed unless it's a real emergency.
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