Recently, I moved into a new apartment. While it is much bigger and is very beautiful, there is also a lot of noise once you exit onto the main roadways. As it turns out, all of the road noise is coming from the fact that there are construction crews rebuilding and expanding the main road just outside of the apartment complex. But this isn t the only area that is receiving attention.
Over the past several years, North Carolina has become the center of attention because more and more people are moving here than ever before. Because of this sudden influx of people, the old roads that once served their purpose are being broken down and re built to accommodate the large swell of people who are now living in various pockets of space. While construction crews are noisy, this is a more accepted form of noise because it is tangible. You can go out at any point during a regular business day and find construction crews hard at work.
When things start to get a little hairy is when you have road noise that you can t really place. This kind of noise includes things such as large trucks or SUVs driving by at a high rate of speed, people whose engines or mufflers are in desperate need of repair, motorcycle engines, garbage trucks and people honking their horns. For most people, these noises seem extremely unnecessary, and in most cases rude. Road noise, especially the kind that was listed above, can cause stress in people who are simply looking for a little peace and quiet. After all, how would you feel if you just came home from a long day at work only to have to listen to the sounds of people speeding by your front door, tires screeching, people yelling and dogs barking, etc.
In places like New York, there are areas in which you are actually prohibited from using your car horn because doing so would ruin the aesthetic feeling in the area. Horns in vehicles are really meant to function more as a warning to other drivers as a sort of means for preventing accidents from happening. However, there are some people who abuse the use of their horns to simply scare other people or because the driver is suffering from a bout of road rage blues.
Think about how much noise people make on a daily basis when it comes to their vehicles. Often, people will look at their cars and not think twice about the kind of noise it makes once they start it up. There are some vehicles that have built in sensors in the back bumper, and the vehicle will actually emit a sound when you are backing your car up to supposedly alert anyone who is standing within range of your vehicle to back away. But is this really necessary?
From ambulances to firetrucks to police sirens to tornado sirens, marching bands, large tractor trailers and road crews, we live in a noisy society. Perhaps this is the reason then that so many of us look to go away on vacation in places where we are guaranteed some peace and quiet away from the noise.