I am definitely not a light sleeper. Part of the reason for that, I’m sure, is the fact that I grew up right next to an airport. I quickly got used to the steady drone of airplanes flying right over my house. But one noise I’ve never gotten used to, and wakes me up every time without fail, is the loud roar of an engine because a passing car does not have a decent muffler on it.
It is not like the quiet hum of a small plane engine, but rather is more like piercing, aggravating rumble that can be heard coming and going from miles away. I am, unfortunately, very familiar with this sound. A road that runs near my house is a favorite for local racers, and they can be heard flying down the road at least once a week.
Cars with shoddy mufflers, or no mufflers at all, are a menace to calm and peaceful environments. I have heard the argument, however, that cars with poor mufflers or no mufflers are much safer than those with quality mufflers precisely because of how loud they are, so everyone will know exactly where they are at all times. This is absurd, as there is a difference between making your presence on the road known and making your presence known within the entire three-block radius. Vanity is, unfortunately, one of the prime reasons why most people don’t have good mufflers.
At this point you might be thinking that I’m a bit of an old man. Well, you’re absolutely right. For me, it is hard to get anything done, whether that be work, studying, sleep or whatever else, if I can’t focus because my environment is too loud. Now that I live in Avent Ferry this year, I have quickly become reacquainted with the sound of unlawfully loud cars, as they often come flying down Morrill Drive at 1 a.m. or so.
This is an especially important issue for students. Sleep is at stake. And after such a loud and throttling sound as a car engine, getting back to sleep might take a while. And, as most college students know all too well, when sleep suffers, so do grades.
Furthermore, these loud drivers are not a once or twice a month occurrence. I’ve woken up far too many times this semester alone for this to just be a problem of one or two drivers. It’s pretty clear that loud drivers are an unfortunate trend here in Raleigh.
General Statute section 20-128 of the North Carolina Code states that “No motor vehicle registered in this State that was manufactured after model year 1967 shall be operated in this State unless it is equipped with emissions control devices that were installed on the vehicle at the time the vehicle was manufactured and these devices are properly connected.”
This law should especially be strictly enforced on and near a college campus. As I previously mentioned, many people, including myself, need a calm and peaceful atmosphere to focus and do their work, and a lot of extremely unnecessary noise can disrupt a great deal of progress.
However, you shouldn’t just install any cheap old muffler and expect the noise problem to just go away. During inspections, mufflers are checked to guarantee that they fit the criteria of emissions and noise filtering. Furthermore, mufflers need to be inspected to make sure that no cracks or leaks are developing. A corroding muffler can degrade to the point where the muffler’s effectiveness starts to suffer.
NC State students and Raleigh citizens do not have the excuse that an inspection is too far out of the way that it is extremely inconvenient for them. A quick Google search showed me over ten different inspection areas in the local Raleigh area. So, please, if you think your muffler is ineffective and your vehicle is overly loud, please have your vehicle inspected and a new muffler fitted onto it. Even if are never reprimanded by law enforcement, you are disturbing the peace of all those around you.
