Am I just OLD?
There’s a new law on the books in Florida… it’s an anti-noise law that prohibits “boom cars” from blasting their stereo for more than 25 feet away.
Motorists playing a car radio or stereo loud enough to be plainly heard from 25 feet away could wind up with a $70 ticket. The old buffer zone was 100 feet.
The crackdown is sweet music to the ears of many Floridians, who routinely bombard law-enforcement agencies with complaints about so-called “boom cars.”
“We have people complaining that they can’t hear their own TV sets when some of these vehicles go by,” said Warren Van Vuren, spokesman for the Titusville Police Department, which just this month launched “Operation Silent Night” to crack down on drivers who blatantly defy the law.
“It’s a quality-of-life issue,” said Sgt. Mike Grigsby of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. The agency issued 392 noise violations to drivers from Aug. 2 through Dec. 12, the only period for which numbers are available.
“It’s also a safety issue. If someone has their music playing, they can’t hear an emergency vehicle coming . . .,” he said.
Motorists who like to drive with the music up high concede that they can be annoying. But they argue that 25 feet is too strict, making it possible for even standard-issue car stereos to violate the law.
It might just be me… but I don’t think this is tough enough. Not just the fine, but the distance. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat at a traffic light with my windows visably shaking and my steering wheel vibrating because of some car behind me or beside me that feels the need to “share” their music. When you can’t even speak to the person sitting next to you without shouting… there’s something wrong.
I appreciate the laws of free speech, and I appreciate the freedom to express oneself with clothing or jewelry or music… but where is the line between your right to express yourself and my right not to have to listen to it. When one impeeds on the other… it’s a tough call.
Personally, I’d like to rip out the subwoofers and make these jokers eat them…. and watch. Maybe I’m starting to show my age. Maybe I just like to carry on a conversation with the person in the car with me without being drowned out by a bass that’s so loud my fillings in my teeth rattle.
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“If the musics to loud, your to old”. I am guilty of having one of those “boom cars”. I also abide by the first rule you learn when you get into car audio competition “Boom Responsibly”. If its 3:00 in the afternoon I’m blasting away and the world can kiss my butt. If its 10:00 at night and i’m in a residential area, I turn it down to reasonable levels until i’m in a area where people won’t be sleeping. I also will turn it down if I’m at a stop light that i know is going to take awhile to change. I do think that some people are to uptight about it though. I mean honestly if your riding down the road you generaly don’t here someones system for more than a few seconds unless at a stop light, and in that situation the “boomer” really should turn it down a notch or two.
I fully support the new law regarding “boom cars.” My main gripe is not the noise I hear while on the road (I doubt everyone likes the stuff I play in MY car) but rather the noise I hear in my own house. Every day (and often at night) someone passes my home with the stereo blasting…the windows rattle, the dog barks, the television is drowned out if it’s on, and if I’m asleep, forget it.
My house is almost 75 feet from the street.
I don’t care what time of day it is, no one has the right to invade my home that way. If a neighbor made that much of a disturbance in their yard they would get a fine too. In my opinion, if drivers showed more consideration while in residential areas it wouldn’t be an issue for cars on the street. I know not every “boomer” is that rude but there are plenty who are, and they deserve every ticket that gets written.
It has nothing to do with being too old. It’s just rude, thoughtless and inconsiderate to play your music so loud as to disturb other motorists AND pedestrians. Why should I have to be stopped at a light in front of, behind or next to one of those obnoxious people who think it’s their right to blast their music for all around them to hear? And it IS also a safety issue as far as being able to hear sirens on emergency vehicles.
To Clint: You have NO right- legal OR moral to disturb the peace- no matter what time of day it is. Even regardless of that, just because it’s 3:00 in the afternoon, that doesn’t mean a baby or elderly person isn’t sleeping- it doesn’t mean that someone who works the night shift isn’t sleeping, it doesn’t mean someone who is ill isn’t resting. But again- let me reiterate- even if no one is sick or sleeping, it is STILL not your right to disturb the peace and quiet of others. How much nicer this world would be if people were simply courteous and believed in the Golden Rule. Keep your boom car and your noise to yourself.
I have to agree with sue on this one, and I am not too old, (26). I have a boomer system in my truck thanks to an over zealous husband with too much time on his hands, but I go by the old saying, If I wanted to hear it I would have bought it…. It’s really a chore to have a conversation sitting next to one of you guys whether it’s 3 in the afternoon or 9 at night. You can roll up the windows in your car and some of you will just turn it up because they know it bothers you and they think its funny. Not including the differences in music, I listen to Mudvayne, Disturbed or Stained and granted it can be just as annoying for others that are sitting next to me at a light, I generally only have mine loud enough to be distracting if I am traveling out to the beach or going down 95, not stopped in the midst of rush hour traffic, or driving downtown following seniors. A little courteousy will never be contagious in this town but it sure would be nice once in a while.
Lets look at the real problem. Who is using these “boom cars?” Predominantly young men with serious masculinity confidence issues. If they were “real men,” their manhood would stand on its own. Instead, these idiots think that living with their parents in order to afford a $10,000 sound system somehow reinforces their masculinity. Idiots.
I generally agree with the position of “F— da po-lice” But in this circumstance, the cops are doing the right thing.
In my own house, I blast my rap and punk music as loudly as I can, WITHOUT DISTURBING MY NEIGHBORS. If these little sh-ts could learn a wee bit of courtesy, there wouldnt need to be a law.
I say jack the fine up to $500.
One positive aspect to this is that the person who will encounter the most health danger (not just aural damage, physical harmonic damage occurs as well) from this is the person with longest exposure…..
Cities on the West and East Coast have had these anti-noise laws in effect for several years and of course being the backward South everything here arrives 5 years later. I see the day when these noisemakers will be complated outlawed - and not soon enough.
By the way, I am in my earlier 50’s, listen to GunsNRoses, Black Sabbath, Pantera, etc., etc. but I totally detest this aggravating noise - I don’t even consider it music. The educated and enlightened younger people don’t listen to this music. Fortunately it seems to be confined to a different socio-economic group of people on the lower levels of society.
And the generation that subscribes to this will have a high rate of deafness in their later years
so ultimately they will be paying the price!
Whether you are pro or con on the boom car issue, I have said for years that 2 major growth industries in the near future will be hearing aids and tatoo removal services.
~~Quote:~~ Personally, I’d like to rip out the subwoofers and make these jokers eat them…. and watch. Maybe I’m starting to show my age. Maybe I just like to carry on a conversation with the person in the car with me without being drowned out by a bass that’s so loud my fillings in my teeth rattle. ~~Unquote:~~
Well said!
I am too old by their standards but still have my gift of hearing and would like to keep it.
I live outside of city limits on a road that is long and straight, speeding is another issue but combined with noise pollution it is a potential killer. I count at least a dozen cars and trucks with either boom boxes or modified baffles every day. Between midnight and dawn is not sacred either.
This law should not only be about feet it should be about decibels, hearing a boom box approaching from a mile away is too loud, feeling the vibration inside ones own home as the vehicle passes is an invasion.
Anyone subjecting themselves to such torturous noise should first have their hearing tested before passing comment as I’m sure they’re half deaf anyway.
Something I
Each generation must have some form of rebellious differentiation from the previous one. As long as this symbolic behavior is harmless, albeit shocking, it is fine with me. On the other hand, when the behavior damages people or property, as in the case of car audio systems operating at 120 dBA, it must be curtailed. Differentiation behavior has been trending more and more violent and obnoxious. Why? because OUR older generation became more and more permissive. Before you cast stones at the younger generation for doing what we allowed them to do, look inward at how we brought them up. Then look at the lenient courts we created as a predictor of how effectively punishment associated with this new law will be imposed.
Legal or not, I would think these “audio enthusiasts” could find something less idiotic to do with themselves than to listen to music so loud and the bass so overmodulated that they themselves cannot distinguish one note from another while inside their actual vehicles. In doing so I assume they mean to project to those around them their level of “thugitude” and how impressed and awe we should all be, but in reality they appear as mere immature unintelligent fools who mimic MTV like a low grade ape and have no real hope to aspire to any positive level of participation in society. So, I guess, let them do as they like and we’ll all be sure in our knowledge that they are generally wasting everyone’s time including their own.
We’ve gotten a few comments about this issue since I linked from our blog to this entry. Seems like good issue, which we will have to continue to check on in coming year. If you want to see what people said on the Sentinel’s Crime blog, go to http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_orlandocrime/2005/12/too_loud_or_too.html
John Cutter, Criminal Justice Editor, Orlando Sentinel.
Loud music is not a new thing, it’s just evolved. I used to work with a kid, 18 or 19 years old, that played Steve Miller so loud in his car that you could here him pull up to work from inside the building. When we worked together he couldn’t here you talking to him when you were standing right next to him. That was twenty years ago. I am sure he is deaf now. So take heart, the people who are doing this will all be deaf shortly, and that is our sweet revenge.
The educated and enlightened younger people don’t listen to this music. Fortunately it seems to be confined to a different socio-economic group of people on the lower levels of society.
And the generation that subscribes to this will have a high rate of deafness in their later years
so ultimately they will be paying the price!—
WELL!!! Guess what! I am enlightened AND educated AND well off and I can’t get enough of the rap/hip hop music. To me it is akin to what the old bards were doing in their time. It is the new poetry. Ghetto? No- it’s reality. The reality of violence, love, hate, sucess, failure, insecurity and many other facets of life. You don’t have to like it or listen to it. Don’t limit how loud I like to listen to it in my car.
Will I become deaf from it? Probably not, but then again, I am 40 and haven’t had years of exposure to excessive noise, which can happen at jobs just as easily.
I can turn my radio to normal levels and be in violation. That’s not fair to people who like to feel their music. Ticket me and I’ll fight it all the way to the supreme court if necessary.
PS: I am white, professional 40 YO mom of 4 and we love our loud music!
“You don’t have to like it or listen to it. Don’t limit how loud I like to listen to it in my car.”
-Honda Shadow Grl
Get fucked.
Nice post, Honda Shadow Girl.
We don’t a problem with you splitting your eardrums in your car. It’s when your wannabe I’m trying to act like a ghetto chick bass rattles my windows at home OR disrupts what I can hear in the privacy of MY CAR.
Funny part is, it’s really just all show. Actually, this whole “I live the hip-hop lifestyle” is just that- a cultural cram-down. Most causasians who do this stuff don’t really like the music that much (they certainly can’t identify with mose of it), it’s just a big loud show so everybody else is paying attention to “me”. “Hey, look at ME, I’m cool ’cause I’m acting like I’m from the ‘hood”. What a joke.
Grow up, please.
Quote: “…Predominantly young men with serious masculinity confidence issues. If they were “real men,” their manhood would stand on its own…”
I’m still laughing at this comment. I think you might have hit a lot of social issues on the head with this one. Just look at the amazing growth of the “get it up” pill industry in the last five years. I can’t count how many advertisements I get for products to enlarge me, make me last longer, or be more satisfied with my “privates”. My dick is more than adequate in size, tensile strength, and endurance during use. It seems a shame so many other men, young and not-so-young have “endowment issues”.
QUOTE: “The educated and enlightened younger people don’t listen to this music. Fortunately it seems to be confined to a different socio-economic group -et.all-”
Though I don’t agree with Honda Girl’s assessment as far as telling us to “f—” ourselves and get out of her rights, I do agree with her assessment that the above statement is the actual undereducated, repressionist point of view. I know a fair number of 30+, well educated, economically solvent and prospering individuals of many diverse lifestyles who enjoy big stereos and loud music. Most of them, however, have some level of courtesy and respect for others and hope to have the same given back to them. The issue here, as stated in the earlier posts, is about common courtesy and respect for the rights of -others- in addition to your right to enjoy your own music and tastes. Enjoy it, revel in it, but please don’t “inflict” it upon others because you feel it is your right to do so.
Someone needs to find away to fight this stupid law. I just recieved a ticket and the officer wrote that he heard it from over 1000 ft away. Now I’m sorry thats almost a 1/4 mile away if my stero is really that loud I would win every car stero show in the world. I listened to it in a parking lot and I can barely hear it from 25 feet away. I think its to much to the cops discretion with this 25 ft rule, which affects even the common car stero. I feel like the twilight zone did anyone see the movie footloose and when he got pulled over for loud music cause thats what this exactly feels like they should of pulle dout my cds and taken them I guess. Now what makes me mad is that I greww up in a Communist country and to deprive me from the right to listen to music that pisses me off. For the record I was listening to Neo Sick of songs which is a light love song, which is not loud, there is no bass. I say screw the NFA, which I believe is in charge of the implementation of this rule. You have no iddea what it is to be young anymore, some where with either old age or whatever problems you people went through you lost what Sinatra would say to be young heart. 100 ft was perfect what happended?
Nate, you’ve proven us all right with your ridiculous post with spelling/grammar errors my eight-year-old son would catch. If you weren’t so clearly ignorant you would understand that nobody wants to infringe on your right to listen to music, provided you don’t infringe on our right NOT to listen to it in our own homes. Grow up and consider getting your GED.
I’ve seen comments saying playing car stereos is harmless, but at 2AM when I’m sleeping and get bounced and awakened by some bozo’s loud stereo, MY rights are being infringed upon. Instead of making these clowns take responsibility for their actions and lack of consideration for others rights, they get a message saying that its OK to infringe on others rights and it leads to even more rude behavior.
For the record, hip-hop rap is a perfectly valid art form and I personally enjoy a great deal of it and have over the years. I could argue that most mainstream stuff is utter garbage compared to that of the 80’s, early 90’s and some artists that don’t get radio play today, but I think all that is moot when the music of concern is the over-modulated nothing but bass displays. How can anything be “bard-like” when you can’t hear the lyrics over the rattle from the trunk? The issue is respect for those around you, whether you are playing a bass specific CD, Jurassic 5 or even Frank Sinatra. Play your music for your own enjoyment, not to intrude your selection into the cars and houses around you. It’s silly to argue that is not your intention when you install speakers the size of a large serving dish in a hatchback smaller than the size of a common closet.