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Poll: Regulating Noise From Motorcycles

August 8, 2010 Metro East, Sunday Poll 9 Comments

In January one Illinois town took steps to keep the town quiet:

ALTON – A motorcycle rights and safety promotion group plans to pay for signs to “quiet” motorcycles in Alton, as city officials begin the process to strengthen the city’s anti-noise ordinance.

“We are going to be leaders in this,” said Alton Mayor Tom Hoechst, who campaigned on quieting down motorcycles traveling on city streets and loud car stereos. Telegraph

This week KMOV reporter noted “To date, police have issued 37 tickets to bikers in violation of the ordinance and 133 to motor vehicle drivers.”

The poll this week asks for your thoughts on enforcing noise ordinances.

– Steve Patterson

 

Currently there are "9 comments" on this Article:

  1. JZ71 says:

    Many bikers believe the mantra, “Loud pipes save lives”. If so, EVERY vehicle should have loud exhausts – not. The other half of the equation is just wanting to be noticed, to be non-conformists, if only on the weekend / because real bikers do it. Some people will just never grow up.

    On the ordinance side, I support them, but they end up, many times, being ineffective because it's either not a priority for the police (they're bikers, too, and/or murders and drugs and domestic disputes take up most of their time) and/or they end up in court over legal technicalities. The big thing that seems to be working in Alton is that the city actually worked with riders on a workable solution and got their buy in. Peer pressure will be much more effective than hiring more cops in actually reducing the problem.

     
    • aaronlevi says:

      every vehicle doesn't need loud exhaust, because cars/trucks/vans are much easier to see. i ride a '78 shovelhead. i had stock pipes on it for the first year i owned it and was nearly run off the road 5 or 6 times by people who were too ignorant to check their blindspots. After that I put straight drag pipes on it, and haven't had such an occurrence since. so for me, “loud pipes save lives” is truth.

      also, it sounds pretty badass.

       
      • JZ71 says:

        Your last comment nailed it. I fully expected to get an it's-all-about-me response from a biker. Yes there are a bunch of idiots and inattentive drivers out there – you don't have to look any further than at the mayhem happening on our interstates over the past week. But riding a motorcycle doesn't increase your odds of being hit, it just increases your odds of being injured, since you've chosen to make yourself more vulnerable.

        Bikers deride the cagers for riding around in a steel coccoon. Choosing to mitigate that reality, by creating a bubble of noise around you, has consequences that impacts everyone within earshot, whether they're a potential “threat”, or, more likely, not. Much like secondhand smoke, you do have every right not to wear a helmet and/or be surrounded by airbags – we need more organ donors. But YOUR right ends when it comes to MY right to a relatively quiet existence in my own home, when I'm dining out or when I'm kicking back in a park. It doesn't matter if it's a panhead, a shovelhead, a flathead, a hemi or a Rockford-Fosgate, your rumbling, thumping vehicle is just too loud. However, there is another alternative to loud pipes – it's called a horn! Make the noise only when it's needed. Combined with defensive driving, it's a better, more-civilized solution . . .

         
        • Chris says:

          Amen, JZ71, and what the heck are you doing sitting in a driver's blind spot anyway? I know you can't always get out of that zone, but the first law of driving any vehicle is getting out of people's blind spots.

          The problem with America is summed up so well in these comment sections week after week. Steve proposed the regulation of X, and X's opponents, who are silent about other matters Y and Z, all come out of the woodwork.

          Let's call a spade a spade, many–not all–bikers have loud bikes to be “bad-asses.”

           
        • aaronlevi says:

          not a biker at all. i'm an old skin who rides a motorcycle. and before you attempt to pigeonhole me into your stereotype of what you call “a biker”….my daily driver is a hybrid, i have a master's degree, i'm a clinical social worker, and i manage a therapeutic preschool for victims of abuse.

          i deride no one…especially not for their chosen mode of transportation (unless of course it's an 8mpg suv that transports 1 person 90% of the time). and when i'm in any residential neighborhood, including my own, i know how to gear up so my bike is as quiet as any muffled bike, so i won't be disturbing your precious quiet.

          by the way….there's nowhere for a horn with open triple trees.

          and to Chris below me….as soon as you can teach me how to pass someone without going through their blindspot, or how to avoid all blindspots when in thick traffic…i will be happy to learn from you.

           
          • JZ71 says:

            And you, like 90% of the riders out there, ARE considerate, especially in residential areas. It's that 10% who aren't that give the rest of you a bad name and result in citizen demands for government to “do something”, much like the debate raging in St. Charles County to ban bicyclists. But you've also touched on a critical component of urban living – where does my desire for “precious quiet” butt up against your right for personal expression?! Combine that with the reality that nearly every road and highway is passing someone's home, excessive noise becomes a matter of perception – just ask my mother-in-law in Daytone Beach during Bike Week. 😉

             
          • JZ71 says:

            While not a motorcyclist, I've covered a lot of miles on my bicycle, so I have both a healthy respect for all the other vehicles on the road, as well as acknowledging that there are greater risks by not having that cage around me. Where we obviously disagree is whether or not motorcyclists deserve special rights (to make more noise) than other vehicles on the road. I don't disagree that drag pipes make your presence more obvious on the open road, i.e. increasing your safety. So why limit it just to motorcycles? Why not allow every vehicle under a ton run straight pipes? Under two tons? Heck, let's put strobe lights and sirens on every vehicle smaller than a semi? You can never be too safe, ya know!

             
  2. Brianwittling says:

    Loud pipes are loud. Rider TRAINING saves lives.

    I find it really funny that someone like me who has stock exhausts and quiet bikes rarely has any sort of these proclaimed “incidents” and yet there are some who seem that they have some kind of automotive harassment squad following them, that magically dissapears from the road once illegal exhaust systems are fitted!

    If bikers really believed in the loud pipes to get noticed thing, then why not ride around with your horn button taped down all the time? At least that projects sound where you're GOING, rather than out the back where you've already been.

    On the other hand, I do take the stance of the AMA in fighting any type of motorcycle-only targeting. Noise ordinances should be enforced equally to all road users, wether they be motorcyclists, cagers, or a pedestrian stuck in the 70's carrying a huge boom-box. And I was pleased to see from this article that there were far more CAR drivers cited than motorcyclists.

    But it's precisely because of the “loud pipes” idiots that the AMA and ABATE and others are continuously having to fight outright motorcycle BANS (and waste members funds fighting them) on public roadways, and the general public has a very poor view of all motorcyclists, even if they were on a Honda or other virtually silent bike . It wasn't so long ago that motorcycles were banned from Forest Park ya know…

     
    • aaronlevi says:

      Rider Training does indeed save lives as well. I went through the MSF Beginner Rider's class and learned things that I can honestly say I have already used, which prevented serious accidents and possibly saved my life.

      I should also add, that loud pipes are as much about me hearing them as they are other people. Riding vintage bikes, a key way to keep them running well is to be able to hear the motor. It was amazing what a difference open pipes made to me being able to hear my own bike on the highway, which ulimately has helped me keeping it tuned well. Now does this justify the disturbance caused to other people? Probably not, just adding to the discussion.

       

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