Are city noises a risk to your health and well-being?
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 by: SooToday.com Staff
The City of Sault Ste. Marie is revising its noise by-law and has established a committee to guide that activity, reports the Tarentorus Community Association in an e-mail to SooToday.com news.
The group, which provided the link to the video accompanying this story, says it wants to:
1) Draw attention to serious shortcomings of the current noise by-law in Sault Ste. Marie
2) Ensure the committee and City recognize the scientific and technological knowledge base of noise, and its significant adverse health and environmental impacts; and
3) Provide the committee with evidence of the need to afford citizens effective tools to maintain and protect their health from unusual, unnecessary, or excessive sounds or vibrations.
"Across North America and Europe, noise is becoming an acknowledged and increasingly important health risk," the association adds.
"Now is the time to address this issue. As an emerging global health issue, Sault Ste. Marie has a fabulous opportunity to produce an effective by-law that protects all residents from the harmful health consequences of noise."
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The video leans toward the extreme side of the argument.
The WHO document (link below) does suggest a nighttime limit of 30dBa (with individual noise events limited to 45 dBa), but also states, "In setting limits for single night-time noise exposures, the intermittent character of the noise has to be taken into account."
some noise for snow removal yes. some of the old equipment makes way to much noise.is hard on a person who has health issue and has to work for a living.
every time it snows, i feel the ground shaking from the snow removal crew for the commercial building behind me. why cant they do it after 6pm instead of when I try to sleep?
Snow removal equipment noise is unavoidable and I can live with that, however the racket that some motor vehicles make is not. I am referring to motorcycles, (mostly Harleys) and some pickup trucks, that by design are unnecessarily noisy. I am referring to custom exhaust systems installed with the expressed intent, of making your hair stand on end, and loosening your back teeth. I live near an intersection with traffic lights, and when the light turns green, these vehicles blow by my house at excessive speeds with deafening noises, especially late at night. I would like to see these inconsiderate jerks get a fine for their unnecessary and unsafe practises! Incidently, I own a motorcycle, and a pickup, but they have mufflers!
Nimrod I agree with you ,we`re ruled to death,if you look hard enough laws are in place for just about everything,now figure out how to enforce them!!! Also there are links to follow under SSM bylaws that get you to those laws
Well halleujah...I hope that they step it up during summertime cruisin~ loud stereo season..unless you live near a main road and if you lived betweeen 4 stoplights like I do you cannot appreciate how frigging loud some of these fools stereos are..they literally grate my teeth even when I am in my house with the windows shut...try to sleep through that esp when they are turning the corner and catching lights at both intersections.They have the stero loud because they want the window open and then they cant hear it enough?? solution roll your window up! The only good outcome to their loud music is that they will all be deaf someday.
Sure... we can turn off our back-up sirens that are DESIGNED TO BE LOUD TO ALERT YOU THAT A VEHICLE IS BACKING.
Next thing you know... someone in a labor crew or a pedestrian gets crushed by a 1500 lbs. tire... and then the complaint will be "You weren't heard, why weren't you using your back-up siren?" It'll be a lose-lose situation.
You can't make everyone happy all the time.
The constant low hum of windmills is far more catastrophic to a person's health than a back-up siren.
I would love to see every City Police vehicle equiped with a portable db meter. They are small and in-expensive. Harleys and vehicle stereos are the main problem. The next time a cruiser pulls up beside one of these excessive noise makers, a ticket would be in order. The laws are on the books, why not enforce them?
If men can work a whole lifetime within the Open Hearth of Algoma Steel and live to a fine old age, than someone sleeping beside the hospital in a nice suburb, should do more chores, volunteer or work harder so they sleep better **
Where I live, the noise is unbelievable. The snow removal removes snow from an empty lot for no reason around midnight. Loud cars and trucks go by. Then the bus's start at 6am.
To get any good nights sleep I have to take a Benadryl. There's just no way around it. The amount of noise i'm bombarded with on a daily basis is amazing.
And the Summer! Boy! Try living across the street from a bar that blares music until 2 in the morning. I'm lucky if i get 5 hours sleep before work. And of course the steel plant, only about a mile away, makes constant noise.
It's totally unavoidable. I really hope they do something about this.
The City Officials should not allow excessive noises in their own buildings---like the Hockey Games and Concerts. The people who attend these events will be tone deaf before their retirement. Any noise over 50 decibels is damaging to the ears and the noises by the Announcer at the Hockey games cranks up the volume on the P.A. System to well over 60 or 70 Decibels.
The Concerts at the Essar Centre are cranked up to 80 or 90 Decibels. Both of these venues can be controlled but the City does not want to include these on their List of offensive noises.
Many younger people will suffer hearing loss before they are 40.
I agree that Motorcycles who are refitted with noise makers are too noisy.
Seldom do our City Officers cite them for noise violations.
Either enforce the By-Laws or don't make By-Laws that are not enforced.
oh please... if you guys need to complain about noise of a living, barely, productive community, then you need to plant more trees. Trees would naturally buffer a lot of noise. Rather than bitch about noise bylaws we should be made to plant trees in both, front and back yards, that have nothing but grass or cement. Or update your windows and doors. This reads like nobs who want to make a rule out of everything and anything just to have something to moan about. The law as it is is good enough.
Yeah. Lets plant trees. great idea. it will only take them about 50 years to grow to a point where they're any use and by then most of us will be gone, but lets plant some tree's.
so... Mallenang your answer is for everyone to wear earplugs?? If I have earplugs how will I hear the things I NEED to hear? I wont be able to hear my phone, my alarm clock and my smoke alarm when I need to..GREAT!!..as long as the sound polluters have their freedom to blast their noise for no good reason....I can only assume you must be one of these knobs.
Construction workers, and people working in the steel mill can hear each other wearing hearing protection while jackhammers are pounding, crushers pulverizing rock, steel plates are and pipes are clanging....etc all the while they can hear audibles from co-workers or their two-way.
If you can't hear your phone or TV with earplugs in -- you're pretty much screwed and might as well give up.
Yeah!!! Let's shut-down the steel plant at, let's say..., about 5:30PM, so people can eat in peace!!! Also, let's do snow removal at, let's say..., no later than 9pm so that everyone can get sleep!!! Forget about removing snow for the next day!!! And, of course, no concerts at the Essar Centre, any evening sports is out of the question, curfue for the kids in the playground, walk your motorcycle, etc... WHAT A BUNCH OF WHINERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Listen to yourselves!!!!!!! Don't you have a clue???????
I think this is the first time I've ever agreed with RCSSM on anything here -- all the negative talk must be from senior citizens or just some plain bitter people that don't like anything.
If they had it their way -- we'd be closed for construction because it is too loud, closed for indoor and outdoor concerts because they're too loud, closed for steel making because it's too loud, and snow removal wouldn't happen because it is too loud. While we're at it -- we'll need to stop Huron Central from running any trains, and we'll definitely need to put a stop to the Air Ambulance -- it makes a lot of noise as it flies over homes. Lets also shut down the Sault College Aviation program... because those Cesnas make a lot of noise too.
Hell... while we're at it why don't we just erect 50 ft walls at both ends of the city, and cover the city in a glass dome... because we're closed for business. Here in Sault Ste. Marie aka Elliot Lake North, we're closed for anything that is above a whisper. Don't eat any beans because if you fart too loud somebody's going to complain about noise.
Yes, the noise generated by snow removal can be disturbing. My question is this: are there effective alternatives that would ensure we could drive and park safely in winter? Would hate to dance with snow plows during rush hour with the increased likelyhood of getting into a crash. Could be some serious health hazards involved with that scenario, too. Also, I have to smile at the ageism comments. Time flies. You'll understand soon enough. Be well, careful in the snow this week. Happy Spring, everyone.
Stugatzu...don't get used to it! LOL Acutally, The Simpson's made a movie years ago that involved putting a glass dome around Springfield, ??. Didn't go too well for the public folk! LOL
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