by Lon Ponschock
Appleton Post-Crescent
March 6, 2014
A recent discussion I had with a representative of the nationwide organization called Noise Free America informed me that we have one of the best laws on the books. Why isn’t there any indication that these laws are being enforced?
The police department will take your loud car complaint any hour of the day. There are a variety of car tunings and modifications that are not natural to the vehicle. I’ve mentioned boom cars often. Another of these is the angry weed eater custom muffler treatment, in which a subcompact makes a lot more noise on purpose due to modifications that may or may not be legal. This is commonly called the angry weed eater effect.
You or I may think car sounds are somehow natural at first. Then they start going on at three or four in the morning and you know it’s joyriding with lots of engine revving and other sleep deterrents.
These irritants can be stopped. They have to be reported. They might be boom cars, which have high-wattage audio pumping into your house in the middle of the night. They might be custom exhaust jobs with the purpose of irritation, which can be stopped by applying the law. Big trucks such as crew cabs used as family cars are another problem due to the size of the engine and noise produced by it. A complaint about those is also doable. No one has to buy a dump truck and park it next door to you.
The point is that noise laws are on the books. If you have the police or your councilman address the problem, then and only then will the noisemakers whose intent is belligerent and aggressive irritation learn that we, as their neighbors, have had enough.
Lon Ponschock,
Appleton