[montzark]

Appliances are least concern in city. To me most noise comes from cars and motorcycles. This area seems really underegulated, basically anyone can annoy a lot of people at once by making exhaust louder to establish I don't even know what?

Semi-joke: Anyone can do it, just drill holes to exhaust before muffler. I thought that maybe I should do that, like annoy so much people that something would be done in regarding this.

[SKCarr]

Working from home last fall, by far the biggest source of noise was leaf blowers. So loud and so constant. It was impossible to work without noise cancelling headphones during the day. The name "The Devil's Hair Dryer" is very appropriate.

[nicolaslem]

And their two-stroke engines are a big source of particulate in the air.

[triceratops]

I have an irrational hatred of leaf blowers. Are they even significantly more efficient than a rake?

[QuercusMax]

They're very effective at blowing around clouds of dust and removing topsoil from yards and gardens here in CA.

[iJohnDoe]

I’m so glad that someone else is aware of this.

Not many people realize that leaf blowers remove a ton of top soil from grass and tree roots. It does a ton of damage to so many plants. All those exposed roots we often see should not be exposed that way.

The commercial lawn and tree trimming in Southern California is almost criminal what they do in the name of “landscape maintenance”.

[QuercusMax]

We rented a house for several years, and the summer we moved in we told the landlord that the sprinkler system wasn't working right, and we wouldn't be using it to water the lawn.

The yard guys our landlord hired proceeded to blow all the topsoil off the yard that summer, and even when I tried to re-seed the lawn, it was impossible because they'd just come by every week and blow everything around. One time we were cooling off a birthday cake outside when the yard guys came and it almost got covered with dust when they arrived unannounced on a day they didn't normally come.

Leaf blowers are awful, noisy, and mostly don't do anything useful - unless you're ACTUALLY moving around fallen leaves.

[stubish]

I don't see the need to label your hatred as irrational. Just about everyone hates them (including leaf blower owners!), and seems quite rational to me.

[jjeaff]

Yes, but the much quieter, battery powered electric ones are lighter and more powerful. Anyone not using electric leaf blowers at this point is just being a cheapskate. And considering the lower or nearly non-existent maintenance, they aren't even being a good cheapskate.

Anyone in a position to do so should require in their lawn care contract that only electric leaf blowers or none at all must be used.

[bradlys]

Much faster than a rake depending on what you use them for. We use them to clear driveways and pathways all the time where I live in the bay area - you'd be spending 30+ minutes for a 1 minute job with a leaf blower.

I prefer the 1 minute of leaf blower versus the 30+ minutes of hearing a rake. Rakes are pretty loud too.

[tayo42]

fortunately places are starting to ban them.

[FriedrichN]

Especially those driving their Honda Civics with the special BRAAAAP exhausts when they accelerate in my street just after the speed bump only to then jump on the squeaky brakes for the stop sign a few meters further. That really annoys me.

[rainbowzootsuit]

"You're supposed to be up cooking breakfast or somebody, so that's like an alarm clock!" —Bubb Rubb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUXow3d3-b0

[sandworm101]

>> just after the speed bump only to then jump on the squeaky brakes for the stop sign a few meters further.

Speed bumps and stops signs annoy me too. Get rid of those, reduce the unnecessary acceleration/braking, and such cars should sail by quietly.

[lillecarl]

https://files.edeva.se/brochures/english/evaluation_lkpg_en....

I wouldn't say stop signs are bad, they're put there for a reason. Speed bumps however force you to slow down way below the allowed speed, then while you're on the pedal you might just accelerat back to whatever speed.

The actibump in Linköping, Sweden solves this by only being in the way if you drive too fast. Used to live next to one of these, worked like a charm.

[burntoutfire]

For some reason the US is completely in love with the stop signs in places. They are very frequently used in places where European countries would just put the "yield" sign.

[drdavid]

My company modeled traffic before I sold it.

Roundabouts (or 'rotaries', depending on where you live) and yield signs could do a whole lot to reduce travel times and increase efficiency by a surprisingly large amount.

The problems are numerous, but mostly the urban areas weren't designed for such, the costs to switch would be large, and the American driver can take up to six years to adjust to a new traffic pattern.

[Mountain_Skies]

My rural county has gone wild for roundabouts. It appears we got a new traffic engineer about five years ago and they've set about to make as many roundabouts as possible. We even have a double roundabout now. I'm surprised by how little controversy it created and how quickly everyone adapted. I can only think of one that hasn't worked out well and that's because traffic from a very close Chick-fil-a ends up back up into the roundabout and clogging it up.

Due to the rural/exurban character of the area, space for roundabouts isn't much of an issue. I suspect lots of other similar counties could do the same with similar results but it takes someone in the planning office to take the chance on doing it. Also it takes money so from a fiscal point of view, it's best to redo intersections when they're already scheduled for being repaved or they're having capacity issues that need to be addressed.

[actually_a_dog]

OTOH, roundabouts with stop signs are just the worst of both worlds. I've seen this distressingly often. Looking at you, Berkeley....

[lillecarl]

I feel bad that my first thought is because it's easier for the cops to fill their ticket quota with stop signs in stupid places people would probably ignore.

[actually_a_dog]

People ignore stop signs everywhere, IME. Best case, they slow way down and yield; worst case, they just blow through it entirely. I've even seen cops roll through stop signs. Nobody actually stops unless they would physically hit something if they didn't, and few use turn signals if they're going to turn. It's maddening as a pedestrian.

[mlok]

I didn't know about actibump thank you. I have long wanted to see solutions like this (although I would have loved it to be low tech : some clever engineering device that would mechanically make a bump if speed is too high) I wish they were more common.

https://dai.ly/x4nt0sd

[ashtonkem]

Are you seriously suggesting make streets more dangerous for pedestrians so that self absorbed <explicative removed> with noisy cars can enjoy them more quietly?

How about we instead regulate the noise cars make and not purposefully disable road safety features. That way we can enjoy quiet roads without asking other people to risk their lives for it.

[andrepd]

Some people don't even realise the tremendous cost cars have on a huge array of things in our lives. This is mostly due to just how ingrained it is in our culture.

[ashtonkem]

I always joke that cars turn people into sociopaths, but sometimes I no longer think it’s a joke.

[b3morales]

You don't need to brake to go over a speed bump if you're already going slowly enough, and there's no reason either way to immediately accelerate up to the end of the street where you're just going to have to slow again, regardless of the signing.

[bradlys]

Speed bumps in the US are frequently built at such an obnoxious level that you have to slow down below the speed limit in order to get past them decently.

In my car - I have to frequently take them at an angle unless I want to scrape (comes from the factory that way) - even then, it's not bullet proof. Especially in parking lots where there are no rules - I've scrapped the middle section of my car because they built them for lifted vehicles.

If the goal is to reduce speed - it kind of works - but it adds the extra layer of obnoxious noise which basically kills any of the benefits IMO. On top of this - you now have people introducing far more brake dust and tire material into your local environment because everyone has to slow down to cross a speed bump and then accelerate again too. If we had speed bumps on my street - I'd be advocating for them to be removed. They're burdensome on the locals due to the noise pollution they create. You want a loud vehicle to get by as fast as possible and with as little throttle as possible. Nothing worse than hearing it crawl over multiple speed bumps.

[ashtonkem]

> Speed bumps in the US are frequently built at such an obnoxious level that you have to slow down below the speed limit in order to get past them decently.

Blame truck and SUV drivers. Speed bumps must be designed to slow the largest vehicle down to a safe speed, thus harming lighter and less off-road capable vehicles more.

[jjeaff]

We have some ridiculously high ones in my neighborhood. In my car, I have to come to a complete stop and then roll over it very slowly to keep from dragging.

In my pickup, I have found that it is much smoother to speed up and hit them faster so that the shocks engage and it causes much less of a bump in the cabin than if I slow down.

[mvid]

The neighborhood I grew up in was obnoxiously “think fo the children” and the speed bumps were labeled to be 5mph. They looked more like a spike than a bump. There is no reasonable way to travel at that speed, so it will make noise.

It was a residential street nowhere close to high traffic, so it basically only punished the residents

[boring_twenties]

I have a car that sits very low from the ground. Speed bumps are uncomfortable at any non-zero speed whatsoever, on top of that, there is always a risk that they will simply bottom out the car. I always take speed bumps at the absolute minimum speed the car will do without stalling.

[murrayhenson]

Agreed!

My wife and I are building a home at the moment and, when it came time to consider appliances, noise of a given appliance was a factor and something we took into consideration. For example, we chose a very quiet vent hood to go over the hob/stovetop since it's an open plan kitchen/living area. Vent hoods can be very noisy (65+ dB) when running maximum.

However, given that there are tractors in fields nearby, dogs, chickens, and other "sounds of rural life" ... we made sure to put in a LOT of insulation and also went for triple-paned windows. While the house isn't yet complete, we hear almost no outside sounds when we are inside.

When we compare that to our current location - on a side street, but a moderately busy one - with sometimes couriers on loud motorcycles, lorries, police/fire vehicles (sirens), and the occasional person with a car that has an exhaust tuned to be loud ...the difference is really quite remarkable.

[andrepd]

It's absurd to me that a person on a motorcycle is allowed to literally inconvenience thousands of people just by passing through a street, so much that one has to pause a conversation for 5-10 seconds while the fucker passes.

[adamcstephens]

Cars are loud even if the owner hasn’t made the exhaust louder. Just the sound of tires on pavement, when multiplied across a dozen or more cars, can be quite loud.

[IshKebab]

This is true, but a motorbike or a chav car is 10 times louder than a Tesla. If it were only the sound of tyres then road noise wouldn't be remotely as bad as it is. I can't wait for the day when petrol motorbikes are banned! (Assuming I am still alive.)

[tyjaksn]

I don’t think it would be fair to ban all motorbikes. It’s only certain types bikes, generally choppers (e.g. Harley Davidsons), crotch rockets and dirt bikes that are loud. Most of the other types are fairly quiet. Although the type of bike probably matters much less than who owns it—-I had a crotch rocket for a while and you couldn’t even hear it a block away.

[elric]

I don't know where you live, but most places have regulations regarding how loud vehicles can be. Maybe that doesn't apply where you are?

[Faaak]

Generally these regulations are not enforced though..

[elric]

They're not? Over here, periodic car inspections are mandatory. New car models can't be sold until they've been checked and found to be compliant with various regulations, presumably including loudness. I guess there will always be "car enthusiasts" who think that LoUD pIpEs sAvE LiVeS (they don't), but I don't see/hear heavily tuned cars anywhere near as often as in the early 2000s.

[buran77]

Many people just revert the modifications in order to pass the regular inspection. And enforcing is hard logistically because the Police should be able to detect and confirm such cases. Which means personnel, training, equipment, and a lot of time taken away from other duties. This won't deter anyone from tearing up the asphalt in an area that appears to have no police around.

[lizknope]

Lots of cars have buttons to set the exhaust modes and adjust baffles and stuff in the engine / exhaust system to make louder pops and crackles.

Some people think it sounds cool.

Some people think it sounds extremely annoying.

Either way it is possible for a lot of these cars to sound quiet during an inspection.

[brnt]

Here that is quite illegal, and would be required to be removed at the yearly inspection, or the vehicle will be suspended.

[bradlys]

These come stock on many performance cars. e.g. Porsche, BMW M, Mercedes AMG, Ford Mustang GT350, etc. all have these.

[jjeaff]

Pipes can give a car a cool sound. But most people like music too. But they sure don't like it blasted at all hours of the day and night at random intervals.

[sokoloff]

We have annual safety inspections here (US-MA). Those also connect up to the OBD2 port (if equipped) to verify no emissions-related fault codes.

In my younger days, I had a heavily modified car that was no problem to get to pass, despite numerous possible non-compliance items.

[Faaak]

In France, for example, car inspections are mandatory. Motorcycle's are not. Here's part of your problem.

[vladvasiliu]

Even for cars, there's also the issue of how the noise measured, compared to the real-world use. And even for motorcycles, that are standards, and even if there's no mandatory regular inspection, police are allowed to control vehicles randomly. But they practically never do it for some reason.

I'm familiar with the measuring method for motorcycles, which basically means that a powerful enough motorcycle will be very quiet when tested because it will be running at very low RPMs (the standard is 3rd gear at 50 Km/h – on my bike that's around 1500-2000 RPM out of 10000).

The noise issue is with people flooring it just to stop at the next light 200 m down the road. And also badly tuned exhausts that pop like crazy.

I'm actually wondering if this hasn't become a fashion for some reason, since I hear more and more cars make that noise. And those cars look pretty expensive, so I don't think they have aftermarket exhausts, if only because changing it is a bit more involved than on motorcycles, and pretty much all newish-looking "fast" cars seem to make that noise.

But I agree, in Paris at least, loud motorcycles are more of a nuisance than cars, if only because there's more of them. Cars do tend to get on my nerves on weekends, though.

[montzark]

And it's just yearly I think? I think modders will just revert mods for inspection and then redo mods after they have passed.

[neolog]

> LoUD pIpEs sAvE LiVeS (they don't)

Where can I learn about this?

[elric]

"Loud pipes save lives" was a popular slogan on bumper stickers on obnoxiously loud cars for a good while. It completely ignores the fact that loud pipes wake people up, which shortens lives, or that it increases stress in people and animals alike.

[jjeaff]

Probably just the fact that pedestrians and other cars can hear you coming if you have loud pipes.

Motorcycles in particular have the danger that if a driver in a vehicle doesn't see them, they can get ran over. Being smaller, they have a tendency to easily hide in blind spots or just not be noticed at all because the driver is expecting another large vehicle.

So many motorcycle riders use flashing headlights and loud pipes to announce their presence.

[jbverschoor]

The only thing that makes noise here is:

- fab in the bathroom

- fridge sometimes, it’s old

- the washing machine

- heating thing when you use warm water

No fans nothing. Loving my m1

[sgt]

What is the "heating thing when you use warm water"? Aren't water heaters quiet since they constantly boil the water?

[rwmj]

"Combi boiler" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankless_water_heating#Combina...). Are these not common elsewhere in the world? We got rid of our old tank and central heating system and replaced it with a combi a few years ago. We simultaneously gained lots of extra space - a whole walk-in cupboard and a lot of loft space - while gaining a new device which requires hundreds of pounds of replacement parts every year. Really the most unreliable of technologies, but also very convenient when it's working.

[moreati]

In the UK most homes don't have a hot water tank. We have a wall mounted gas boiler, that heats water on demand. These are often located in the kitchen.

[bananapear]

New builds in the last 10-15 years now typically have “unvented” systems - you still have the combi boiler unit but instead of heating on demand, it circulates hot water through a coil in a mains-pressurised insulated tank. The advantage of this is that cold and hot water are both at the same pressure, and you don’t have to wait for the combi to kick in once you open the tap.

[lillecarl]

I've never met anyone in Sweden burning anything that isn't wood to heat things in their home (except the district heating, which burns our sorted trash) in a central location. And the people burning wood usually only do it during the winter months when it's really chilly outside, else it's heat pumps or electric.

[KineticLensman]

> These are often located in the kitchen

Also, traditionally, in an 'airing cupboard': a space where washed clothes 'air' before being put in drawers. There is a lot of variation.

[jbverschoor]

Here it’s common to have a combination of hot water and heating. Sometimes with a boiler. But in general it’s on-demand gas heating

[natch]

fab? m1?

For fab, Google says:

> British an expression of agreement to, or acknowledgment of, a command

m1 is a carbine, ok no surprise that makes noise, but in the house?

[atonse]

My guess is fab = fan? (n and b keys next to each other on the keyboard, and our bathroom fan is also loud).

M1 = apple’s new m1 microchip that is the brains of their new machines. It never gets hot since it was designed for phones, so it doesn’t need a fan to cool it like Intel chips.

[jbverschoor]

Yeah. Fan

No fab at home either though

[ketamine__]

Something might be done by me. To your car. ;)