The Wisconsin State Journal has an editorial about motorcycle noise that doesn't actually address any of the complaints about motorcycle noise. Instead, they take umbrage at a group called "Noise Free America", calling them shrill for, well, taking umbrage at motorcycle noise.
I don't know anything about the group "Noise Free America". Perhaps they are shrill and use a shotgun approach to advocacy. But, from their press release, the group seems to make four points that the editorial staff could have attempted to refute with evidence and argument. To summarize:
-Harleys are loud, as motorcycles go.
-Many Harley owners make a virtue of making their bikes even louder with after-market tinkering.
-Noise is unhealthy for us.
-Noise screws with a lot of other people's interests and activities.
Instead, the only point that the Wisconsin State Journal manages to address is the final one, and only the way that all such complaints are addressed: By name calling. Or, to be more generous, with the following argument: "Complaining that noise screws with your interests and activities isn't a valid point because we don't recognize your interests and activities."
A recent television commercial showed the joy of Harley riders cruising along winding rural Wisconsin roads. Rural roads often wind because they follow river valleys. Canoeists and Anglers also like river valleys-partly because they are ways of getting away from human noise. This does not have to be a conflict because motorcycles don't have to make so much noise.
5 comments:
Hello: I appreciate your comments on loud motorcycles. The truth is that Harleys aren't loud when they leave the factory. Since 1983, all new motorcycles must have an Environmental Protection Agency noise compliance label attached to the chassis and a matching label stamped into the muffler. It's a violation of federal law to replace the certified exhaust with one that isn't, or to modify the legal muffler to make more noise. The EPA matching label system is designed so that states and cities can adopt the law and enforce it. This has been done with good success in reducing the numbers of loud motorcycles in Denver and Green Bay. There's more information on this at the Noiseoff website. Thanks. Andy Ford
If what you say is true, it isn't reassuring. There are a lot of very loud motorcycles out there. Staying in downtown Green Bay several days a week, its very concerning to think its considered an ideal of motorcycle quiet. Run along the Fox River trail on a Tuesday afternoon, or keep your window open at 2:00 a.m. on a summer night.
Some motorcycles are loud, some are quieter. There are too many loud ones out there to think it is merely a "few bad apples" problem. If motorcycles out there are generally within the legal limit, then the legal limit is way out of whack.
Loud motorcycles are a plague on the country. Everywhere one goes- cities, parks, tourist destinations- the noise is present. It's unpleasant and unnecessary, yet the authorities are unwilling to stop it. I suspect that the police are frightened, thinking that many of the bikers are capable of violence. Easier to go after other traffic code violations, leaving the bikers to do as they please. Additionally, when the bikes are loud, the riders will get on the throttle more as they get a thrill out of making so much noise, and disrupting other people's lives.
The Wisconsin State Journal of Madison www.madison.com had fun at the expense of George A. Atwood of Milton, Wisconsin, a citizen who appeared at the official state public hearings to speak against a plan by two legislators to name Harley-Davidson as "the official state motorcycle". There was even a mocking editorial cartoon with Atwood as the butt of their joke (see the link below) and soon, citizen George Atwood was the target of other print attacks as well. So much for freedom of speech, huh?
George Atwood was one of many who are highly sensitive to noise, a too-little-discussed problem.
Soon after he spoke to state legislators and the vitriol began to spread, George Atwood took his own life.
http://www.findagrave.com/
Anonymous;
I didn't know George Atwood (except for the WSJ article)-after receiving your comment, I went online and read about the work he did for a quieter Wisconsin. I am saddened to learn of his death.
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