READERS AREN’T QUIET ON LOUD MOTORCYCLES: Two recent columns have had
comments critical of loud motorcycles.
Now the other side.
Ron emails: “Motorcycles need to be loud — for safety. Yes, you’ve heard this before but it is true. A car vs. a motorcycle; who do you think wins? Someone in a car or SUV texting or on the phone not paying attention drifts into another lane, or a car is sitting on a side street looking for an opening to join traffic on the main street — if they don’t see or hear the motorcycle, who wins the crash?
“If a car driver hears a loud motorcycle, the driver is ‘disturbed’ or ‘annoyed;’ if the car driver doesn’t hear the motorcycle, the cyclist could be dead,” Ron adds. “Motorcyclists are some of the safest drivers around because they have to be. Of course there is such a thing as ‘too loud,’ but when it comes to motorcycles, loud is not ‘too loud.’ ”
And Major David B. Higgins emails “sure some bikers are idiots, but not all. … Replacement pipes are marketed in accordance with law. … (a real problem is) four-wheeled vehicle drivers that turn left in front of motorcycles, and that change lanes into space occupied by motorcycles, because they ‘didn’t see them’ or hear them. Loud pipes often save lives.”
But the noise critics aren’t ready to pipe down. One reader says, “The loudest bike I’ve ever heard belongs to a female police officer who lives across the street. When she revs up I can’t hear anything inside of my house! And it’s not like you can do anything when an infraction of the laws/rules applies to the police. I hope she reads this!”
A REAL NOISE ANSWER: Finally, Joe Barker emails, “I have been riding motorcycles for a while and a Harley for many years, and I don’t like the loud pipes either.” He says it is time to take “the emotions and subjectivity out of it. The Society of Automotive Engineers has developed a procedure called ‘SAE J2825′ which specifies how a decibel meter can be used at the roadside to determine if a vehicle — NOT ONLY MOTORCYCLES — is too loud from the exhaust. This is a non-discriminatory way of dealing with the problem. The EPA label guarantees nothing. The problem is NOISE. New Hampshire is the first state to sign a law adopting the SAE J2825 standards.”
Marion Moll, who has “been riding motorcycles for more than 40 years … (is also) concerned about the sound issue. I do not like excessively loud noises whether they are from a motorcycle, automobile, or diesel truck exhaust, or from loud sound systems in vehicles.”
Marion points out via email that “many older motorcycles have rusted exhaust systems, and the only solution is after-market pipes or original equipment (OEM) pipes. OEM pipes are either no longer available or are prohibitively expensive, sometimes costing more than the value of the motorcycle. There are no muffler shops for motorcycle exhaust systems, and the only choices are after-market or OEM. After-market pipes generally do not have EPA labels as there are so many different systems, and each one would need EPA approval, which is expensive for the manufacturers.”
So Marion seconds Joe’s position, saying, “I am also a member of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and support their position on sound. The AMA is working with states and municipalities to try and have them adopt the SAE J2825 procedure.”
PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN OPEN: Lisa Page emails she is “a bicycle commuter and was surprised as I was riding home from work last (month) to find the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 40 behind Winrock closed.
“This is a high-use bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists, and there was no notice, no warning and no information about how long it would be closed. This situation lengthens my commute time and puts me on busier roads. I wish the construction company that is closing the road would communicate with the community about what is going on. Do you have any info about this?”
That the contractor should never have closed it.
Mark Motsko, who handles information for the city’s Department of Municipal Development, says “the contractor doing work at the Winrock site took it upon themselves to close the trail and begin this portion of the construction project. We have fined them for doing this without an approved barricading plan. They are now developing a barricading/traffic control plan and will be submitting it to us for review with required approval.”
Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.
— This article appeared on page A6 of the Albuquerque Journal
Now the other side.
Ron emails: “Motorcycles need to be loud — for safety. Yes, you’ve heard this before but it is true. A car vs. a motorcycle; who do you think wins? Someone in a car or SUV texting or on the phone not paying attention drifts into another lane, or a car is sitting on a side street looking for an opening to join traffic on the main street — if they don’t see or hear the motorcycle, who wins the crash?
“If a car driver hears a loud motorcycle, the driver is ‘disturbed’ or ‘annoyed;’ if the car driver doesn’t hear the motorcycle, the cyclist could be dead,” Ron adds. “Motorcyclists are some of the safest drivers around because they have to be. Of course there is such a thing as ‘too loud,’ but when it comes to motorcycles, loud is not ‘too loud.’ ”
And Major David B. Higgins emails “sure some bikers are idiots, but not all. … Replacement pipes are marketed in accordance with law. … (a real problem is) four-wheeled vehicle drivers that turn left in front of motorcycles, and that change lanes into space occupied by motorcycles, because they ‘didn’t see them’ or hear them. Loud pipes often save lives.”
But the noise critics aren’t ready to pipe down. One reader says, “The loudest bike I’ve ever heard belongs to a female police officer who lives across the street. When she revs up I can’t hear anything inside of my house! And it’s not like you can do anything when an infraction of the laws/rules applies to the police. I hope she reads this!”
A REAL NOISE ANSWER: Finally, Joe Barker emails, “I have been riding motorcycles for a while and a Harley for many years, and I don’t like the loud pipes either.” He says it is time to take “the emotions and subjectivity out of it. The Society of Automotive Engineers has developed a procedure called ‘SAE J2825′ which specifies how a decibel meter can be used at the roadside to determine if a vehicle — NOT ONLY MOTORCYCLES — is too loud from the exhaust. This is a non-discriminatory way of dealing with the problem. The EPA label guarantees nothing. The problem is NOISE. New Hampshire is the first state to sign a law adopting the SAE J2825 standards.”
Marion Moll, who has “been riding motorcycles for more than 40 years … (is also) concerned about the sound issue. I do not like excessively loud noises whether they are from a motorcycle, automobile, or diesel truck exhaust, or from loud sound systems in vehicles.”
Marion points out via email that “many older motorcycles have rusted exhaust systems, and the only solution is after-market pipes or original equipment (OEM) pipes. OEM pipes are either no longer available or are prohibitively expensive, sometimes costing more than the value of the motorcycle. There are no muffler shops for motorcycle exhaust systems, and the only choices are after-market or OEM. After-market pipes generally do not have EPA labels as there are so many different systems, and each one would need EPA approval, which is expensive for the manufacturers.”
So Marion seconds Joe’s position, saying, “I am also a member of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and support their position on sound. The AMA is working with states and municipalities to try and have them adopt the SAE J2825 procedure.”
PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE SHOULD HAVE BEEN OPEN: Lisa Page emails she is “a bicycle commuter and was surprised as I was riding home from work last (month) to find the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 40 behind Winrock closed.
“This is a high-use bridge for pedestrians and bicyclists, and there was no notice, no warning and no information about how long it would be closed. This situation lengthens my commute time and puts me on busier roads. I wish the construction company that is closing the road would communicate with the community about what is going on. Do you have any info about this?”
That the contractor should never have closed it.
Mark Motsko, who handles information for the city’s Department of Municipal Development, says “the contractor doing work at the Winrock site took it upon themselves to close the trail and begin this portion of the construction project. We have fined them for doing this without an approved barricading plan. They are now developing a barricading/traffic control plan and will be submitting it to us for review with required approval.”
Assistant editorial page editor D’Val Westphal tackles commuter issues for the Metro area on Mondays and West Siders and Rio Ranchoans on Thursdays. Reach her at 823-3858; road@abqjournal.com; P.O. Drawer J, Albuquerque, NM 87103; or go to ABQjournal.com/traffic to read previous columns and join in the conversation.
— This article appeared on page A6 of the Albuquerque Journal
