It was strange the article focused so much on airport noise when there is another kind of noise pollution for city residents so much more widespread – ambulances/emergency vehicles.
I've lived in San Francisco for awhile (and still come back to live there some of the time), and this is the thing that I notice increases my heart rate every time I come back. In SF, they're so loud! Even late in the evening! I didn't pay too much attention to it until my grandmother (living in a different and European country) was on the phone with me one day, and hearing the alarm from a fire truck comme ambulance, she asked – what is that highly disturbing noise?
I thought about it and realized she was right. The wail was very disturbing and did make my heart beat faster when I heard it.
I wish San Francisco lowered the noise of the ambulances later at night. The noise ricochets off the buildings so much that I wonder if we can't introduce legislation to make the vehicles automatically lower the volume of ambulance noise used when leaving the highway. I understand it needs to be that loud on a busy freeway or LA-esque (very wide) street, but in an alley in Chinatown? Can't we consider the heart palpitations of the residents subjected to it day in day out if they live near either a hospital or a fire department?
I wonder why they don't exclusively use the alternate low-band siren at night. I've heard it a few times in the Bay Area, but it was always in conjunction with the standard siren tone.
I hate how loud the sirens are in SF. Absolutely obnoxious for how dense of a city it is and there is a complete lack of noise insulation in any housing there. It’s barbaric. However, I have to thank the fire department in my old neighborhood for waiting until they were blocks away from the station before turning on their sirens. So some people are mindful at least.
I've lived in San Francisco for awhile (and still come back to live there some of the time), and this is the thing that I notice increases my heart rate every time I come back. In SF, they're so loud! Even late in the evening! I didn't pay too much attention to it until my grandmother (living in a different and European country) was on the phone with me one day, and hearing the alarm from a fire truck comme ambulance, she asked – what is that highly disturbing noise?
I thought about it and realized she was right. The wail was very disturbing and did make my heart beat faster when I heard it.
I wish San Francisco lowered the noise of the ambulances later at night. The noise ricochets off the buildings so much that I wonder if we can't introduce legislation to make the vehicles automatically lower the volume of ambulance noise used when leaving the highway. I understand it needs to be that loud on a busy freeway or LA-esque (very wide) street, but in an alley in Chinatown? Can't we consider the heart palpitations of the residents subjected to it day in day out if they live near either a hospital or a fire department?