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Comment by peacemaker | Hacker News Reader

You can really feel the anger in your comment and it resonates with me. I am a light sleeper and constantly amazed at what we as a society deem acceptable when it comes to noise at certain hours.

Why does the fire truck needs to blast its horns at 3am on a Tuesday going down a large empty street? There is no need and in some countries that would be against noise pollution laws. Doesn't seem to matter here.

Leaf blowers and lawn mowing at 7am on a Sunday are also a major annoyance yet I understand that some people, especially older people, like to get up early and who am I to complain that they do?

They say having a major lack of sleep is comparable to being intoxicated yet there are no protections in place to prevent it. Instead we wax on about "pulling an all-nighter" like it's a competition on who can be the most sleep deprived.

We live in a strange world.

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Yes. I actually got into confrontations with the leaf blowers once (the manager, and the property owner). I also called the police because they are clearly violating the city's own noise ordinance. Nobody cares, the owner called me and told me that it doesn't matter because the work day starts at X a.m. What about people who work odd shifts, or students?

Resistance is futile. I just started using wax earplugs and find they make a huge difference and actually drown out a lot of noise.

My city cites noise rather reliably (Atlanta). 12am grinder during the week? ticket

8am chain saw on the weekend? ticket.

Is this in all of Atlanta and the suburbs too? I've heard it's a nice place to live and this makes it sound even better!

Just in the city. The exurbs and suburbs are still very much the south in all the ways the south is stereotyped (poor govt services, anti govt rhetoric, tons of gun culture, overly accepting of racism if not racism itself, bevy of fundamentalists in local and state govt, etc). Also hideous commutes for suburban living. While some people would feel at home there (especially if white and Christian), many others would not find it as normal as places in other regions of the country.

Atlanta (the city, not the region) is basically the freaks and geeks vacuum for the South (and also a middle class black mecca too). The city is great. The metro area is far more questionable. Tons of affordable homes in the city, tons of trees (we're literally "The City of Trees"), and lots of little pockets of whatever you like.

Some of the close in suburbs are more like Atlanta than it's suburbs, but honestly, it's go with a home in the city or go home IMO.

(Fulton county too, not DeKalb...it's complicated but important).

I am also a light sleeper. I lived in the centre of the city for almost three years. I used to get woken up at all hours. I started off with earplugs, but those hurt my ears. Eventually I started shutting my windows and curtains and putting a powerful fan on and it really works well.

Edit: a bonus one gets with the fan is that it also cools you off during summer when a shut window might have caused problems otherwise. (Aircon is uncommon here.)

i use a fan too. don't go too modern with your fan or might not be loud enough.

Yes, when I lived on Powell street in SF (right on the cable car tracks) ear plugs were essential but they can become a crutch too. I've also come to the same conclusion as you about having a fan in the room.

> There is no need and in some countries that would be against noise pollution laws.

Emergency vehicles are exempt from those laws, as they should be. Safety is more important than your sleep. Trains blow their horns at crossings for the same reason.

Also, I have to laugh at your indignation at someone mowing their lawn at 7am because they are awake but you aren't right after complaining about an empty street at 3am because everyone is asleep.

I have almost hit several emergency vehicles during the day due to my car's sound dampening and my car stereo (which doesn't have to be loud to block out sirens). At night, this has never happened because I have never not seen the seizure-inducing lights. My sample size may be less than a hundred, but you're making an assumption that piercing sirens at night are the most effective way to alert the public of an emergency. And for those blind pedestrians, low-frequency (or even lower decibel) sirens are more than sufficient.

I live on the 9th floor of a condo building that unfortunately has single-pane windows. If I don't have an extremely loud fan blowing, I will be woken up by everything from emergency vehicles to motorcyclists. I realize this comes with the territory of living in a city, but if cosmopolitan cities like Geneva can incorporate effective noise pollution laws* then there's room to improve.

* http://www.cagi.ch/en/logement/bruit-de-voisinage.php

> Also, I have to laugh at your indignation at someone mowing their lawn at 7am because they are awake but you aren't right after complaining about an empty street at 3am because everyone is asleep.

I'm not sure what you mean here? I was saying I don't think emergency vehicles need to use their sirens on a quiet street at 3 am in the morning. I was also bemoaning the use of leaf blowers at 7am on a Sunday. Both of those things are annoying yet "technically" I'd say 7am is probably a good time to consider as the start of the day and therefore removal of any noise restrictions. In fact, I think in the UK noise pollution restrictions apply from 11pm - 7am most nights.

Only on reading this thread have I learned that I am a very heavy sleeper. I've always taken for granted that low level noise is easy to sleep through. Now I feel:

1. Bad that I've caused as much noise as I have at some times.

2. Very sorry for those of you that have to deal with easily disturbed sleep.

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