Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud

Curbing Traffic is a great book, and I can definitely recommend it: www.modacitylife.com/curbing-traffic Noise pollution is only one chapter of the book. The rest is filled with so many other reasons why we need fewer cars in our cities.

"Car Horns should be just as loud on the inside of the car than the outside". YES. I've been saying this forever. Such a simple change that would remove so much needless honking.

I don't think anything drives the point home quite as well as showing a cozy looking town square with people strolling about and sitting outside cafés only to cut to how it used to look 20 years ago when it was a bloody fricking car park lmao

The most astounding thing to me, which made me genuinely tear up a bit, was when you walked out of the train station and instead of seeing a parking lot, it opens straight to a sidewalk of sorts. Never in my american life have I seen anything of the sort

I always thought I disliked Warsaw, until I got a pair of noise-reducing headphones and suddenly walking in the city was amazing, I actually thought to myself this city is nice. I think noise pollution is a major contributor to how much we do not enjoy our cities.

You might honestly be the greatest tourism ad for the Netherlands.

As someone who moved from Cairo, Egypt to a rural town in Minnesota, I can tell you that having low noise and clean air is worth so much more than people think.

This series has really opened my eyes to how far behind the USA is. The sad part is that it really could be so much better, and there are plenty of places to model from. No place is perfect, but quality of life is everything.

Infuriatingly, I cannot hear what the silence is like because of traffic literally 20ft away from me right now

"This man said that a cycle path would spoil the village-like atmosphere of Chiswick, but it was hard to hear him over the roar of traffic." - Jay Foreman

"if you don't know what DbA is, look it up" "manufactures have lobied against this for years because they're dicks" subscribes

I remember one of the best things about lockdown was going outside in the middle of the day, and it was silent. Not just quiet, nothing was going on, made for very very pleasant walks

Note about the beginning of this video. For some (particularly neurodivergent individuals), you don't get "used to" the continuous sound; it actually gets worse. Those with sensory issues/disabilities (i.e., autism, auditory processing, ADHD) often are forced to wear ear protectors/mufflers just to function, and those aids become even more necessary in an urban environment. I personally know that I've had to put on some sort of noise blocker at volumes as low as 70 decibels, so living in a place like the city in Pakistan mentioned would be literal hell. It's not like people who live in the city always have a choice, either; commuting into the city for whatever reason may not be an option. Essentially, anyone, disabled or not, should not be forced to use aids in the place they live.

One of the cutest and most depressing things I've ever heard was when I was on a first date with a girl in NYC. We we're overlooking the Hudson and the parkway was below out of sight, she then turns and says to me "I sometimes think of that sound as if I'm at the beach and hear the waves crashing on the shores". In the moment I thought that it was incredibly cute, but later riding the train home I realized just how dystopian that sentence actually was. Cars suck, and continue to cause problems weather gas or electric.

"But it's not THAT loud" "you just get used to it!" Sir, that's because you've already gone deaf.

The one thing that shocked me most about Tokyo was just how quiet it would get in the city center. My family and I stayed at an AirBnB about 300 meters away from Shibuya Crossing, and we were amazed by how serenely quiet it was. You could never have guessed that the world's busiest intersection was just a short walk away.

I love that you show the history as well. I never actually thought most of these countries ever had massive car usage issues. Seeing that massive parking lot turned into a walkable area proves it is insanely possible to fix these issues in the US. Looking at pictures and videos of other countries I have always wished we had those massive empty squares to walk and travel in instead of massive parking lots that are terrifying to walk through.

The grass between the tramrails are awesome! They not only reduce sound from the trams, it obviously looks better than asphalt, but also reduces the temperature on a hot day and soaks up lots of water on rainy days and even reduces dust in the air. The biggest reason that most tramrails don't have grass is because they're also used by other traffic, most importantly emergency vehicles like ambulances, police and fire trucks.

I am a car enthusiast so yes, “me like car go vroom vroom” when I go to a racetrack or a car show. But in every day life, “me like quiet, shh shh”.

As someone with painfully sensitive ears, it infuriates me that tire manufacturers lobbied against the requirement of a modification that would be NEGLIGIBLE towards their dividends. That on top of the fact that the noise of cities and roads is actually optional.