Big stereo could cost you your car

STL Today ^ | 01/27/2006 | Jake Wagman

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

City police would be able to seize cars blasting loud music under an ordinance passed Friday by the Board of Aldermen.

The ordinance, which would take effect once signed by Mayor Francis Slay, prohibits the use and even installation of some enhanced speakers.

Slay was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Alderman Craig Schmid's proposal easily had enough votes to pass, but only after aldermen turned up the volume on their own concerns. Impounding a car for playing loud music is too severe, opponents said, and ripe for abuse.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

When I lived in Virginia back about 12 years ago, ambulance crews started writing down license numbers of people who wouldn't yield when they had their lights and sirens on. The cops started really going after them because it was such a problem.

The ambulance crews noticed that a lot of people who wouldn't move over also had their car stereos at a very high volume. So high, in fact, that they couldn't hear the sirens blaring behind them. That's a very definite public safety issue.

It could also be argued that it's a distraction for pedestrians because a loud obnoxious car stereo detracts from their situational awareness. You're not supposed to walk city streets or drive with headphones, so why is it okay to play your stereo so loud that you can't hear anything going on outside the car and cause other people to not hear things around them?

[commonguymd]

How anyone can justify this or think it is a good idea is beyond me.

I guess private property rights mean nothing to people --- even on here.

Disappointed.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Yes. Everyone should exist it total and complete silence.

Typical argument. Suggest somebody should live by some rules and there's always somebody flying off the handle with the direct opposite tack saying, "Okay, great!! Let's just shut down everything!! Offenders will be shot while their families watch....!"

Nobody is saying that all stereos be banned or the world should exist in total silence. Traveling in a car does not give you the right to be a public nuisance. Same goes for people on foot carrying "ghetto blasters" and people playing their house stereos. Moderation is the key, not a total shutdown.

[Cyclone59]

Let's add some funny stuff to this thread here.

Try this link to one of the funniest Chris Rock vidoes I've seen

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1197788303234220294&q=chris+rock

http://keoshi.com/blog/2005/09/27/avoid-police-beating-chris-rock/

The bottom one has a link to the above video. I'm not sure how to make it a hot link, sorry in advance, but there is a section about half way through that references this topic.

Enjoy

[Gaffer]

Neither have I. But, that being said, I'm getting tired of LEO's thinking they can seize anything and everyting they damn well want to. This is just another sham tactic to get more money for government and I'm sick of it.

[justt bloomin]

Vibrating trunk lid? You haven't seen anything unless you've seen this one:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~hemmelot/solox18.5.wmv

It doesn't even sound good. I just laugh at the idiot who thinks this is cool.

[JABBERBONK]

Where I live the noise ordenace is if the music can be heard clearly within 25 feet of the offending vehicle. Unfortunately there are seldom cops in my subdivision at 3:30 am, so my solution is to eyeball the offenders car, find out where he lives then get out my wrist sling and a ball berring or marble and do $300 or so damage to his vehicle, so the offender gets the message.

[FunkyZero]

"I learned a long time ago that the Universe does not revolve around me. I learned that what is a minor annoyance to me is pleasurable to someone else."

And I learned respect for others a long time ago. I could really care less what someone else does or enjoys as long as I don't have to be annoyed with it. that is my respect on one front. Realizing most people feel the same way, I do not invade their space with my pleasures. It's called living amongst one another with respect. If you want to set at a stop sign and rev the engine on your bike for pleasure, who cares. If doing so wakes up my baby, expect a problem.
If you are the neighbor upstairs and I hear your stereo thump once in a while, who cares. Wake me up at 11:00 at night with it, expect a confrontation. What is so difficult to understand about respect?
It is your right to do pretty much whatever you want, as long as you aren't forcing someone else so suffer through it for the sake of your own enjoyment. I call these people "oblivions". They are conveniently unaware of anyone else but themselves, or oblivious of the fact they are annoying most people and don't even care. Another word for disrespectful.
And I am NOT going to sell my house and uproot my family because you want loud pipes on your bike. Want to rev your bike and burn out? Go to the damn race track, not my neighborhood streets.
People who live in apartments should expect more noise and annoyance because of the concentration of many types of people in a small space. You know that before you move in.I bought a house to get away from that many years ago.

[Diddle E. Squat]

City police would be able to seize cars blasting loud music under an ordinance passed Friday by the Board of Aldermen.

Thank God!

[DogBarkTree]

"Harley riders make noise for another reason....Loud Pipes Saves Lives."

Gee, I'll fall back to sleep much quicker knowing the inconsiderate rider is safer. If the biker wants to be safer then he should drive a car. Only Harley's and dirt bikes are too loud.

[BraveMan]

If the biker wants to be safer then he should drive a car.

If the Nanny wants to enjoy silence, s/he should wear earplugs.

[DogBarkTree]

Actually, this nanny moved the hell out of the rowdy ass town a couple of months ago. Havent heard a Harley or any low lifes fighting in the street since.

[BraveMan]

Good for you! I promise to tiptoe quietly through your neighborhood. Expect me to make a little noise on the freeway though; it helps me with the whole "I didn't see him" thing . . .

[DogBarkTree]

The freeway is one thing and a residential neighborhood is another. fwiw, Ive rode a Harley a few times and it was a real hoot. No other bike compares. I just dont think they need to be so loud. Boom cars on the other hand should be outright banned, imho.

[R. Scott]

Moderation is the key, not a total shutdown.

I personally believe in moderation in all things. Others don’t. As long as the disturbance is not intentionally directed at me I am not overly bothered.

[R. Scott]

What is so difficult to understand about respect?

Nothing – but I believe respect should be voluntary, not enforced.

[not2worry]

I hope this goes one step further and bans floating boom boxes at the Lake of the Ozarks. Can't get a good night sleep with the windows open or closed for that matter from Memorial Day through Labor Day!

They can anchor right on the Lake and party all night without any consequences or concern for anyone.

Then to boot, they have an annual contest as to who has the loudest stereo equipment on their boat.

When it comes to privacy where are the liberals protecting my interests? Too much lobbying money in Jefferson City, IMHO, to ever make boating on the lake like it use to be!

[Pablo64]

"What is it about Harley owners that makes them think a red octagonal sign with STOP written on it means "sit there and rev the engine for a while"?"

I've come to the conclusion that it's to keep their ill-tuned bikes from stalling out. Either that, or their butts are so numb from the vibrations, and their ears so deaf from the loud noise that revving the engine is the only way they know the bike is still running.

Mind you, it's just an observation. I could be wrong. ;-)

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I would love to get a directed EMP device for my car,

I did the next best thing. When I was in Army in Germany, the cooks had the room in the barracks next to mine. Now, cooks work awful shifts, they might start at five AM, but they get off earlier than everyone else. I had pulled some all night duty and was trying to get some sleep when a couple of cooks were trying crank up some tunes. I knew asking them to keep it down would only get me death threats, or worse. (This was not a good time for race relations in the Army.)

I hit upon the expedient of rigging a wall plug with a short circuit. I inserted it into the receptacle and tripped the circuit breaker. The lads quickly reset it and set out again to wreck my sleep. So I repeated my sabotage, and they reset the breaker again. This went on a few times, before one of the lads hit on the idea that there might be a fault in the hifi set. (There was a relatively thin door between our room, I could hear their conversations.)

These electronic geniuses proceeded to apply a screwdriver to the back of their hifi, I pulled the covers over my head and went to sleep and was never bother by their loud music again. Ever.

[FunkyZero]

Well, look at todays population. It's not going to happen.