It’s something of a fad, these loud train horns that are being installed in cars, SUVs and trucks, that are so loud they rattle the earth, rattle pedestrians and could theoretically endanger the reveries _ or safety _ of drivers who unknowingly offend another motorist armed with one of these 150-decibel horns designed for locomotives.
The story ran Monday in The Tampa Tribune’s Metro Section. Read it here: http://www.tbo.com/news/MGBFWEABCJE.html
The things are theoretically illegal, OK, probably illegal, and they are incredibly loud. One successful distributor, Hornblasters.com, was mentioned in the article, as was a local installer, Pete Martinez. They have now incurred the wrath of a group calling itself Noise Free America, with a chapter in St. Petersburg. Here is the group’s response, received this morning via e-mail:
February 7, 2006
Pete Martinez
Pete’s Automotive
301 Armenia Avenue
Tampa, FL 33607
Dear Mr. Martinez:
This office has been reviewing the article in the February 6 Tampa Tribune regarding your practice of installing train horns in cars. We would like to make you aware of the following:
1. Use of a train horn in a car is of course illegal. It violates the “unreasonable noise†statute and the statute governing the use of a horn for a purpose other than safety. This apparently is not your concern. You are making money and having fun, and that’s all that matters. No one will ever mistake you or Mr. Heller (and how well named he is!) for a humanitarian.
2. It is only a matter of time before one of the following (or both) happens:
Someone with a bad heart (like me) drops over dead from the fright, or
Someone like me only bigger and meaner gets out of his car and beats the horn-blower into a pulp. At least one member of another national anti-noise organization has announced his intention of carrying a baseball bat in his car for just this purpose.
3. The Florida Highway Patrol officer who works with as a liaison with the legislature has been approached about requesting a law banning the installation of train horns in cars. Law enforcement is not amused.
4. I know you think it’s funny to watch people jump out of their skins with fright, but I am 64 years old with high blood pressure and a severe somatic allergic to loud noise. It doesn’t just affect my blood pressure – it produces pain in my head, chest, and/or stomach, causes me to sweat, makes my heart race, and (and note this, because a lot of people respond this way) sends a surge of adrenaline through my body that makes me, involuntarily, very aggressive and violent.
5. Should there be an incident where someone who has purchased one of these weapons from you is the direct cause of another person’s injury or death, one or more anti-noise organizations is prepared to sue the horn-blower and you and your business for damages. As the provider of this device, you are as culpable as the person who uses it. You and Mr. Heller are advised to take out a lot of insurance. A lot.
6. The Hillsborough County Sheriff and the local office of the FHP have been contacted with a request for an immediate crackdown on this highly antisocial, unsafe and unhealthy hobby.
Noise Free America hopes you will take the foregoing to heart and find another way to make a living.
Sincerely,
Judy Ellis
Posted by bob, treasure island on 02/08 at 12:37 PM
i have a contrarian view. it too deals with safety.
the interior of cars (sans stereos) are more and more becoming quieter. this is something consumers not just want, but demand: blocking out exterior noise. dateline nbc or 20/20 (can’t remember which) did such a piece on this within the past two years (i watched it).
often during tests in this televised piece, a train whistle can’t be heard at moderate distances, certainly sirens cannot.
add to this people blasting a stereo, with exterior sound all but muted thanks to technology and consumer demand, and you can see how horns/sirens can be somewhat difficult to be heard.
i am guity as well. i once had the stereo cranking, windows rolled up, and i didn’t hear an ambulance siren until it was almost upon the intersection i was driving through.
it could have been quite a nasty scene given a few scant seconds to spare.
car horns are installed upon vehicles for safety. if, thanks to technology, exterior noise is becoming more and more muted—as has been proved by many sources—combined with stereos, standard car horns are all but mute for practical purposes.
hence, the advent of the loud car horns.
given the above premises, the installation of these loud horns should be applauded NOT disdained.
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Posted by Bryan, Minneapolis on 03/03 at 09:13 PM
Mr. Bob from Treasure Island:
Two dangerous driving habits will not equal each other out.