6 ms·
ah but it just so happens that the cause of most air pollution, carbon in the atmosphere, and noise pollution in cities is the same thing: cars & trucks
by cagenut 7y ago
ah but it just so happens that the cause of most air pollution, carbon in the atmosphere, and noise pollution in cities is the same thing: cars & trucks
- closeparen 7y agoEver lived near a train? Horn blasts, diesel fumes, dust & particulate kicked up from the railbed. Or a bus stop? Air brakes, audible announcements, and in some cities chirping every few seconds to alert the blind to its presence.
- cagenut 7y agoI live, and am sitting, less than 500 feet from several trains right now. I can hear one rolling on the tracks. I can hear the ding-dong noise they play before they close the doors on another. It is noooothing compared to the honking of any driver who feels like anything in the universe costing them more than one half of a second deserves an airhorn blast. Its nowhere near as annoying as the beep-beep-beep of trucks backing up. Its much fainter than the blasting ambulance and fire truck sirens necessary to pierce the bubble of car drivers attention. Its also much less than the idling engine noise of the delivery vans.
- EForEndeavour 7y agoAgreed. Train noises can be soothing at a distance -- except, of course, any horn blasts. Road traffic is way more stressful, thanks to honking, revving, beeping, and occasional skidding. Also, road sounds remind me of the stresses of driving in traffic, whereas the train rides I've taken in my life have been a lot more peaceful.
- closeparen 7y agoHonking from the (closer!) freeway barely registers. Horn blasts from the level crossing resonate in my chest. When a train zooms by it’s at least over quickly. When it lumbers out of the station and the whole sequence is delivered directly to my window, I just have to pause my conversation/TV show for a minute or two. It was worth the substantial rent discount at the time I lived there, but pretty extreme as noise goes.
- adrianN 7y agoYou need fewer trains and buses to transport the same amount of goods and people that trucks and cars transport.
- closeparen 7y agoIt doesn’t matter how long the trains are, but how often they run. You need trains running every few minutes to approximate the functionality of cars, and every one of them must honk at every level crossing.
- adrianN 7y agoGerman trains don't honk at level crossings and Germany doesn't build any new level crossings (for safety reasons). Japanese trains don't honk at crossings either afaik, I don't know about other countries.
- Symbiote 7y agoI lived in a student building between a major railway line in London and a large road. The railway was far, far nicer. About ¾ of trains were electric, and just make a "whoosh" noise on the well-maintained welded track. The diesel trains were louder accelerating, but the noise wasn't participating disturbing. My friend on the road side of the building couldn't open her window because of the traffic fumes, and even though the building was new and had good sound insulation, my side was nicer.
- jvanderbot 7y agoI agree with this. Removing cars and trucks would solve so many problems with our living areas. Removing burner cars and trucks would do 90% of it even if we didn't evict them from our living areas.
- clarry 7y agoWhen I go on a walk in town (with speed limits usually at 50 kph or 40 kph), it's generally the tire noise that prevents me from having an enjoyable chat. It's especially bad in wet weather, but even on dry asphalt it's rarely the engines that disturb me most.