Oakland PD's Harleys have a new roar?

How making the cops more deaf will minimize accidents?

Here is a comment from NoiseOff.org; Richard Tur in New York!

"This is outrageous."

Richard

Loud pipes save lives.

Here is your Myth "Loud Pipes Saves Lives" going bust!

http://www.virginiawind.com/byways/loud_pipes_save_live...

Loud pipes increase the chances for you to get in an accident since it deafs you and scare and abuse others in the road.

Ha. Oakland is awesome.

Do loud pipes save lives?

The answer is a firm NO. In some instances a car driver may indeed notice you, such as when you're riding next to a car which has the driver's side window down. Situations like this one are extremely rare. Most dangers to motorcyclists come from the front, where your loud exhaust can't be heard; the sound waves from the exhaust pipe(s) propagate backward. The driver of that car about to make a left turn in front of you (by far the largest cause of motorcycling deaths) simply will not hear you. Think about it: picture yourself in a car, with the windows up, the A/C (or heat) on, and the radio at a comfortable level. Just how much outside noise do you think YOU hear? Especially the noise traveling away from you, where only the few sound waves that bounce back are even capable of being heard in the first place...
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How loud exhaust can actually be dangerous to you

* Noise fatigue and hearing damage.

Research has shown that the biggest cause of driver fatigue on long drives is noise. Noise from your own bike will tire you out faster, dulling your senses and thus increasing the risk of an accident - precisely the thing that you were trying to avoid in the first place.

Also think about your hearing. It doesn't become better as you age, and you will be the closest person to those drag pipes...

* Irritated cagers

Have you ever thought about how annoying the loud pipes are to the car drivers around you? Especially to the ones who have to follow you for miles in dense traffic? While it has never been proven, it is possible that noise from your motorcycle makes the car drivers irritated, angry, more aggressive, and thus more dangerous to you.
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Loud pipes lose rights

Noise coming from customized motorcycle exhausts is one of the major public relations issues. You have to remember that your average legislators and voters do not ride. These people already have a bias against motorcycling, and antagonizing them even further is a bad idea. Organizers of various motorcycling events can already feel the animosity by being turned away from parks and other preferable locations. Right now we, the motorcycle riders, enjoy numerous benefits, such as lower tolls, preferred parking, or the right to use carpool lanes. If we behave irresponsibly we may well lose those benefits. This doesn't even include targeted enforcement: just think how bad it would be if cops started pulling over everyone on two wheels.


To summarize it all, loud pipes are a bad idea. They do nothing for your safety, and annoy the people around you, negatively affecting the public perception of motorcyclists. If you're concerned about safety, take a rider training course, get a louder horn and a set of bright, reflective protective gear, and don't propagate the "loud pipes save lives" myth.

These aren't average riders, these are the police. Being more easily heard is more important for them, because they may have to drive in ways that are more risky and aggressive than your average rider. Plenty of cars don't pay attention, and if having louder pipes offers even a small measure of protection for them, it's worth it.

My Family commonly used to say that "you cannot undress a Saint to dress the other"

The lack of education about (noise); acoustic propagation among the population is staggering dangerous. There are no research that supports your comment!

"The biggest challenge we have Today are ignorance, arrogance and apathy!"

Oakland is a big city. There will always be a lot of noise in big cities. I'm very tolerant of noise, and most other city-goers are as well. In order to be heard over the general din, it makes sense that police officers would invest in louder tailpipes. They may send noise backwards, but believe me, you can hear a good Harley coming toward you a half-mile away.

If noise gets to you so badly that even a minor thing like louder tailpipes get to you, you may want to consider living in a quieter area altogether. Though you may still have to ask the frogs and crickets to shut up so you can sleep; I don't think they're terribly concerned with the noise pollution they produce.

I'm a fan of not getting smashed into by a car that didn't notice me. The way I do that is by doing all I can to let them know I'm there. Helmet color, horn, jacket color and exhaust note all come in to play. I'm not a fan of the stupidly loud exhaust that is so popular among the people who like to burn their back tires off every week, whether they're sport bikes or cruisers. I live in San Francisco, which is a fairly bike- and scooter-friendly city, and I'm lucky to have that. However, it's a city and everyone has their distractions, especially while driving, such as phones, makeup, kids, newspapers, the radio and so on and so on.

I just find interesting how selfish people are when they express their opinion.

If you want to challenge the issue, let me have control of your life where will have the right to blast you with any type of noise as I please at any time I please. You are on the computer and I will be by your side blasting you with a horn or different types of beeps signals. You are at home and I will be by your side blasting your with any type of noise I please. You are just about to fall sleep and you have to get up early next morning to work, I will be by your side blasting you with noise all night! Roaring of Motorcycles in your ears, beep signals, roaring of modified mufflers, you named. Come on you can handle that! You are a type of noise passive tolerant personality!

- How do you feel about that?

If you are tolerant to noise, your might want to check yourself a little as noise pollution is not a matter of justification for being personally tolerant to it or not! Acoustic pollution has to do with a particular man/women produced energy from traffic and other sources invading our habitats. There is no single justification to support Acoustic Pollution but only your lack of education on the subject.

Those of you arguing that a louder talipipe is necessary for cops to get people's attention or to alert them they (the cops) are behind them need to realize if sirens, lights, and loud chirps don't get people's attention, how the fuck will a loud tailpipe do that?

Peope are distracted while driving because most are morons who think they can multitask when they can't even drive properly to begin with. Most of you probably don't even realize that the reason you need to turn the music up while in your car and listen to music on noise filtering headphones while walking down a street is because of noise pollution. So when you guys are deaf at 30, I'll be sure to remind you how much you liked the idea of loud mufflers.

I think instead of drivers having to be "alerted" to the existance of cops or someone on a scooter/motorcycle, they should be pulled over and given a ticket if they are on their cell phone or observed doing things that would inhibit their driving. I for one think that anyone interested in getting a driver's license should take a training class, because more often that not, most people driving are fucking idiots.

I like noise and loud music, but I do agree that noise pollution is a cause of stress and distractions when it comes to driving and living in a city. Most people don't notice it because they wear headphones when they walk, they talk loudly on their cell phones, or they turn up the music in their cars. I just think the reasoning being used to justify these tailpipes is retarded, because most people don't get alerted by loud noise, they make more noise to distract themselves from the loud noise they don't want to hear. In other words, if they hear a loud muffler, they turn up their music first, and look towards the source only when it gets irritating.

Allsunday, Thanks for expressing your personal feelings but you know you cannot run from the truth. Your thinking are full of conformist and misconceived ideas of living in the City! You're young and you think that the World's evolve around you and your senses. Some people do have the capacity to pull off many things and that includes noise. That does not mean that they are right but just shows that they have given up their legal rights because of poor education and physical neglect. That shows an early addition to noise that is alarming present in our youth society Today. However they have not yet caught up with the long terms side effects of it. Acoustic Pollution is bigger than you think! Much bigger! Millions of people are negatively affected everyday by it! Personal Denial, stereotypes and misconceptions will not get your argument very far! You're not part of the solution but part of the problem! You might want to do a Research on it! It will be good for you!

Oakland is pretty quiet in general- 45 loud police vehicles in a sprawling city as large as Oakland is nothing. If it keeps them from being accidentally run over I support this course of action- Besides Oakland's police force is completely understaffed so having louder pipes will give them more of a presence in neighborhoods with high crime rates.

I think overall it is a good solution for all but those who wish they were deaf.

No one is arguing about the police being understaffed or supposedly being run over all the time, what I am saying is there is no proof that loud pipes "saves lives", but there is proof that loud pipes can be nuisances.

Like I said, I am fairly young and I don't mind noise or loud music, and in fact I usually have the TV and radio on at the same time, one louder than the other. However, I am smart enough to know that loud tailpipes don't save lives and are annoying as hell. Whether or not they use them, fine, whatever, I just think saying that these mufflers somehow make the streets safer and prevent motorcycle accidents is retarded.

Oh, and what fucking part of Oakland is you from? Name a street you don't hear the bass pumping. I dare you.

All over, I used to be around San Pablo, Oakland ave, Grand ave. I think Oakland is pretty mellow overall as far as noise goes. Occasionally some jackass will be bumping some shit hella loud but thats not pipes :)

I see motorcyclists almost get hit all the time, it's crazy how unaware people are when they are driving. I don't ride so I can't say loud pipes save lives as anything other than a meaningless slogan- but if I did and came as close to being hit as the guys I see I'd think about trying loud pipes.

You look hella familiar dude, nice dog.

Haha. Well, I hit up mostly the ghettos I guess. I have been in some fairly prim neighborhoods where you got some wiggas detailing their ride while bumping jams. I haven't been to Oaktown in years, so maybe it's not as ghetto as I remember. I'm pretty sure it's still the ghettoest hood in the bay area, no doubt.

I still don't think the pipes would save lives, in fact it'd make me want to run over the fucking police moreso than usual.

Yeah, Oakland has cleaned up a lot in the past 10 years.
I think Richmond or Hunters Point has the crown of ghettoest now a days.

I know this wont change how stopnoise feels, because bringing down noise pollution is their #1. (nothin wrong with wanting to keep your neighborhood quiet) However, I've been on the back of a quiet bike and have nearly been hit several times. On the flip side I have been on the louder ones and have never had an incident. Say what you like, but when you are riding amongst people who are reading, putting on make up, shaving, and numerous other things sometimes you need to get their attention.
I hope these cops exercise restraint with the throttle when they are in residential areas just as any vehicle should. We def tone it down when we get to residential areas, it's just the polite thing to do.