Cars have ICE which are basically controlled explosions. How can that NOT be loud?
Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
181–190 of 320 posts
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#182I fondly remember the first day of lockdown in my city. No cars, except a handful. Mostly people wandering around on the sideways. It was so quiet that I wish it would've always stayed that way.
> It was so quiet that I wish it would've always stayed that way.
And the smell! It suddenly smelled as if I were in the middle of a small rural town, instead of a major metropolitan area. That's the main reason I'm rooting for EVs to take over; unfortunately, they're still way too expensive.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you’re focusing on the wrong issue here. Engine noise nowadays is a lot less of a problem than tire noise, especially with cars going 50km/h+. Some cars are loud because people want them to be, most cars are loud because the noise the tires make when driving is loud, and that only gets worse the more cars you have around.
There's a key relationship you're missing here. The closer a car is to humans, the slower it will drive. The slower it drives, the more important engine noise is. A car going 50km/h+ is on some sort of a highway, where noise and pollution are less relevant. It's the cars going Empirically, engine noise dominates then. The difference between ICEs and EVs passing by is staggeringly obvious.
>50 km/hr inside cities is very common nowadays, especially in N. america.
I attribute it to two factors: - wide streets - modern cars' excellent isolation from the external environment. You don't hear the speed. You don't feel the speed. You feel all snuggled, safe and tight (seatbelts).
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
Europe is definitely not a monolith with regards to noise. Loudest place I’ve ever lived is Barcelona. Was a one-way side street but the scooter noise was still insane. Cars make a lot of noise but at least in my city-living experience across both Europe and US people at bar closing times, parties, construction, scooters and motorcycles are far worse for noise affecting quality of life. Also remembering what it was l…
Cars have more trouble going fast through narrow streets, so they go slower. Motorcycles and scooters in the city tends to have small engines for fuel economy and price, so they have to run at much higher RPMs compared to cars for the same speed. They also have much less ability to dampen the sound because the exhaust system can only be so long. Then there are people who purposely put loud pipes on. They are better s…
What's really helping is that scooters/mopeds are increasingly electric, and some of the people that used to ride noisy scooters now ride e-bikes. The sooner we get rid of those fuming noise buckets, the better.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see this take about Japan all the time and do not understand it. No offence, but have you spent any time in Japan? Rural areas might be quiet for sheer low population density, but the cities are disgusting. PM2.5 levels in Tokyo yesterday were like 6x WHO limits and absolutely no one on the local news was talking about it. Every morning I see pregnant and new mothers with infants or small children squeezing between…
>No offence, but have you spent any time in Japan? As someone who moved to Japan it's always funny. I think people literally get their impression from Japan solely from neo-Tokyo sci-fi from the 80s. The country has taken some of the worst cues from the US. Many cities like Tokyo are 75% suburban, single home, it's in fact the largest suburban region on the planet. The number of cars in the country is much higher tha…
> From the air Tokyo literally just looks like a sort of denser LA
I love aerial photos of megacities like this. But I would say "a sort of denser LA" is understating it a little; each of the small buildings in the Tokyo aerial that are too tiny to make out are probably 5-6 stories at least.
Whereas, an aerial of LA (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/39/Los_Ange...) shows that very quickly out of the downtown area, the small buildings are in fact single-story single family homes.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#186There are two issues here. One is that we need to come up with comprehensive solutions for reducing the number of vehicles in use. But that’s a difficult problem where solutions take decades and must be tailored to each scenario. But what can be addressed now is the engine and exhaust sound levels. Some vehicles are loud because their engines are working hard, but many vehicles are loud because people (boys) want the…
I think you’re focusing on the wrong issue here. Engine noise nowadays is a lot less of a problem than tire noise, especially with cars going 50km/h+. Some cars are loud because people want them to be, most cars are loud because the noise the tires make when driving is loud, and that only gets worse the more cars you have around.
My experience is the same as other commenter's, standard road noise is basically white noise, the people with loud cars (I'm not a car guy, but probably messing with the exhaust in some way?) is what you notice. The worst offenders are even louder than a fully loaded dump truck.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#187There are two issues here. One is that we need to come up with comprehensive solutions for reducing the number of vehicles in use. But that’s a difficult problem where solutions take decades and must be tailored to each scenario. But what can be addressed now is the engine and exhaust sound levels. Some vehicles are loud because their engines are working hard, but many vehicles are loud because people (boys) want the…
As I've already gone down the urbanest/transportation rabbit hole and have watch every Not Just Bikes video and other stuff in that space, I have a different perspective than you. I do think I would have shared some of your views a few years ago. We don't need to come up with solutions. Countries around the world have already. Some of the larger cities in the USA have started making these changes and seeing results.…
Definitely agree.
The biggest issue in the US is the will to change things. As you've mentioned, during the pandemic, we've seen how rapidly things can change when everyone is aligned in one direction. Whether you agree with those changes or not the fact is many cities had al fresco dining , and portions of streets reclaimed for it in as little as a year.
Another interesting observation I've had about the US is that commercial space for rent always tends to look way larger than it needs to be! Instead of subdividing a space and cutting the rent potentially in half many commercial units are huge and I can only imagine the rent is so high that only the big chains can afford to rent them.
Of course this also means that things tend to be a little less quaint and walkable, because instead of having 2/3 small businesses you have a massive chain in it's space.
I live in a fairly walkable area in Los Angeles (go figure right?) and I can't tell you the amount of giant open commercial / retail spaces I see that have been dormant for quite a while. I can't help but think I'd they were to slice up the space they would be filled in no time.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#188I live in a high-rise condo next to a six-lane stroad that was even showcased on this YouTube channel and the 24/7 traffic noise is annoying, particularly when you want to go for a walk and can't even hold a conversation. This didn't happen in the places where I lived back in Europe because zoning laws were different. Instead of the sprawl of freehold single family homes separate from a dense urban core, these much q…
>>This means people can live within walking distance to where they work and where they shop, so they do just that: walk through quiet streets, often surrounded with trees. it would take more than changing zoning laws for that, as I understand changing jobs and such is not as common in these locations as well. If you are changing jobs every couple of years having to find a home in the same neighborhood as your new job…
Trees are harder but I think noise can be mitigated at personal levels, you just have to avoid 国道沿い(kokudo zoi, "along highways") and 線路沿い(senro zoi, "along rails") apartments. Tokyo is an impacted and upscaled melon skin, edges of Voronoi cells being roads and scars being rails. Towards the center of cells are quieter.
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#189It's not wrong to blame vehicles for the bulk of the noise pollution. Vehicles are certainly louder than people and pets.
But people are loud too. I live in a suburb and even it is unbearably loud. Neighbours talking outside next door. Dogs barking. Car doors opening and shutting. People playing loud music. Emergency vehicle sirens. Little kids playing or screaming.
The point is, more people = more noise and therefore yes cities are loud necessarily.
As someone with pretty severe misophionia, I can't wait to go rural. Even then the sound of chirping birds will still annoy me but at least I can remove the majority of people created noise from the equation.
Edit: In 2018/19 lived temporarily in a condo for a right downtown in Toronto's Entertainment District. It was pretty good at filtering the noise when the doors and windows were shut. But when the Raptor's were in the NBA playoffs crowds flooded the streets and you could hear their chants and cheers inside the condo even with everything closed. It was a nightmare and very much "people being loud."
Re: Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud (2021) [video]
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well not all Japanese cities are the same, and it is unfair to categorize a megalopolis like Tokyo as one thing or another as it's too varied for that. While Tokyo does have no shortage of highways and cars they do have plenty of mixed zone medium density, walkable areas that are free from car noise. That is not a feature of any part of most US cities except maybe the CBD. It is also much more uncommon to find stroad…
Sure, smaller cities are better than big cities. Less dense cities are better than denser cities. All else held equal. The neighbourhoods you’re referring to - walkable areas free from car noise - are open to the wealthy only. The absolute vast majority of people in Tokyo live with constant traffic noise and terrible air quality. Not to mention cramped living conditions.
It is really, really hard to compare metro areas without actually having lived there.
Tourist areas are always by definition in nicer parts of the city because the tourists pay for it.
And if you have enough money most cities have nice parts. But how does the “average” working stiff live?