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Urban noise, smells - sirens etc.


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#21 D.L.

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Posted 06 February 2007 - 10:16 PM

Does anyone hear many fart pipes around? Thankfully I don't seem to hear many. There's nothing lamer than a wigger in a honda civic driving around with a fart pipe.

#22 Holden West

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Posted 06 February 2007 - 10:43 PM

I came across this clip three years ago. It's still one of my all time favourites:

Bubb Rub and Lil Sis and the whistles go WOOOO.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
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#23 Galvanized

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 01:28 AM

Maybe we need to go back to the early 70s when a single [url=http://rides.webshots.com/album/234594160QEJTmG?start=12:203df]private Cadillac ambulance[/url:203df] would [url=http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2356015130027713000UaVNqr:203df]toss you in the back[/url:203df] and haul your ass to the hospital!


Speaking of which, anyone else recall this movie?


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#24 Holden West

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 09:36 AM

Heh, I love the 70s!


"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#25 Icebergalley

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 11:08 AM

Other noise issues in the urban soundscape that haven't been mentioned..

- aircraft

- industrial

and, location of road traffic noise in general..

I hadn't realized how "numbed" to background traffic noise I had become..

Was at a meeting in Duncan a couple of years ago that ended about 8:00 pm... I came out to the street... ands said OH! .. there's no traffic about... interesting sound...

I also grew up with my bedroom window opening to a bus stop.. at a four way stop...

Ot wasn't until I returned home after a # of years living away that I realized that the disturbance outside my window - which I was griping about, was one that I "never heard" when I was growing up there..

Hummmm????

#26 Rorschach

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 11:29 AM

Either way nobody is at risk from emergency vehicles unless they're not paying attention. If if they're not paying attention they shouldn't be driving a vehicle or crossing streets.


It's a risk to benefit thing. Chances of some dumbass not paying attention is very high. The chance of a minute faster response time making any difference is exceedingly low in most circumstances. Factor in a delay at hospital and it's zero sum. What is the greater benefit of five or six or even more vehicles driving with lights and sirens blowing through traffic lights and stop signs compared to the very high risk of nailing a kid in the crosswalk or t-boning someone in an intersection?

The "forward-thinking" and/or "most" police departments (according to the T/C) are not going to chase bad guys anymore unless it's a violent crime -- due supposedly to the danger to the public. Yet, we'll take as large or even a greater risk when we know for sure that in most cases it's a wasted effort.

Just trying to add a little common sense to the discussion. All those cars don't need to be making an emergency response all at once to the same thing.

#27 Mike K.

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 12:23 PM

^ every minute makes a difference. The difference between life and death in many medical situations is a minute. Whether its a stroke, cardiac infarction, a serious fall, an accident, you name it, medical attention is required stat. Even though an individual may wait a while at the hospital, their situation has been stabilized by the time they arrive and that's what counts. The wait in a hospital is then a matter of triage.

But yeah, we have accidents caused by emergency vehicles. They are due to inattentive drivers and pedestrians. So should we slow emergency crews in order to avoid a couple of collisions every year? I'm willing to bet the impact of slow response times by several minutes would be more severe than trying to get crews as quickly to a scene as possible.

In any case, unless someone has been in or has been impacted by an emergency requiring immediate attention its tough to quantify the value of a fast response.

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#28 Rorschach

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 03:11 PM

^ every minute makes a difference.


Most of the time, it doesn't make any difference. Sometimes it does, but only in rare and unusual circumstances. If the officer is very close and is an EMT or paramedic and is there in under a minute, parks and locks the patrol car, gloves up, grabs his first aid kit, and does exactly the right thing instantly to the patient presuming he has exactly the right equipment and training to even do so.

Why is it we are not reading about these heroic split-second life saving incidents where a difference was made every day? Because it almost never happens.

And that does not address the issue I raised about five or six different emergency vehicles driving with lights and siren blowing through signals and stop signs.

It is theoretically possible for the right guy to be in the right place at the right time where that minute makes a difference. Such an event is completely random. Most of the time the police wait for the ambulance, or the firefighters have a minute to check vital signs while waiting for the ambulance -- only to have the ambulance re-check vitals rather than rely on the work the firefighters did.

If the fire fighters or police all had portable automatic defibrillators and the medical emergency was a heart attack, then yes, that minute makes a difference. I do not question an emergency response for someone having a heart attack or a baby not breathing. I still question sending six cars or more to every incident. Very likely, only two are actually sent.

#29 Mike K.

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 03:31 PM

The assumption that every time a call is made a swath of emergency vehicles go rushing to a scene without merit is misguided. Each vehicle has to be dispatched based on assessed need. Once the need is reassessed on the scene by the first responders some vehicles are rerouted. It's as simple as that.

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#30 Rorschach

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 05:18 PM

The assumption that every time a call is made a swath of emergency vehicles go rushing to a scene without merit is misguided. Each vehicle has to be dispatched based on assessed need. Once the need is reassessed on the scene by the first responders some vehicles are rerouted. It's as simple as that.


Yes, that is the ideal and probably the written policy. The reality is that an ambulance, fire truck, police officer, police backup, and police supervisor vehicle respond with lights and sirens to routine medical calls in my neighborhood on a regular basis. I assume nothing. I see the vehicles driving by and hear the sirens myself.

By re-routed, you mean they clear the scene quickly and leave because they are not needed, right? I'm saying most of the time all these cars are not needed.

#31 Caramia

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Posted 07 February 2007 - 10:58 PM

I loved the foghorn when I was a kid... that and the train!
Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes.
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#32 renthefinn

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Posted 08 February 2007 - 03:34 AM

Here in the west end of Vancouver often they'll use mostly their lights and occasionally their horn if someone doesn't notice them, rarely do they use their sirens, with the exception of the firehall down the street that always blasts their sirens for about 10 seconds before leaving their driveway.

#33 Rorschach

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Posted 08 February 2007 - 07:29 AM

Here in the west end of Vancouver often they'll use mostly their lights and occasionally their horn if someone doesn't notice them, rarely do they use their sirens, with the exception of the firehall down the street that always blasts their sirens for about 10 seconds before leaving their driveway.


The reason they do lights and sirens is because the motor vehicle act allows emergency vehicles to violate traffic laws only when their lights and sirens are activated. So they do it to stay within the law.

If they t-bone a car in the intersection or nail a wheelchair in the crosswalk and just had the lights on but no siren, it's lawsuit time no matter what the actual emergency was.

I've invested in some of the new noise canceling headphones. They have a nice pair at Costco right near the entrance at the far left wall in Langford. They work great to address the problem since there is no way for a regular citizen to stop the siren noise. It's quite amazing how well they work. They produce an inverse sound wave that negates outside noises and just allows your music or TV sound to be heard through the headphones. Pretty neat technology.

#34 renthefinn

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Posted 08 February 2007 - 09:10 PM

Some emergencies are less important than others, and if the driver of the emergency vehicle is paying attention, they can navigate traffic signals going against them with a quick blast of the siren or horn and their lights. Not all intersections are highways. Ignoring this point and blasting the siren the whole time while speeding along, I think does more harm then good, even if it saves one life, cause I'm sure someone with the noise cancelling headphones crossing the street will be killed along the way. A healthy younger person sacrificed for a sickly individual?

If you must know, I'm not in the first category either.

#35 Icebergalley

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 07:24 PM

One new bit of marketing noise is the Titanic structure at Belleville and Government

It's a real hit with people as they take their picture with it and it's "icebergs"..

At night it's foghorn - is too noisy as far away as Quadra..

I like foghorns... on a foggy overcast day of night, but this gets to be too much at 1:00 am Wish they would shut it off..

#36 zoomer

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Posted 26 May 2007 - 08:41 PM

whoaa, I didn't know they were doing that?! Might explain why I heard foghorns, early Thursday morning? Or were those real fog horns? I live a little over 2 miles away as the crow flies, so maybe it was real fog horns..

#37 Icebergalley

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Posted 27 May 2007 - 12:35 AM

I can hear then now....

that the wind has dropped a bit.. and there's little traffic noise..

Don't think the marine forecast calls for fog... nor does it look foggy..

Environment Canada Weather Forecast

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marine Forecast issued for Juan de Fuca strait.
Issued: 9:30 PM PDT Saturday 26 May 2007 for the period ending 9:30 PM Sunday with an outlook for the following 24 hours.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Synopsis:
A ridge of high pressure is building over the offshore waters.
Over northern waters moderate westerlies will prevail.
Over southern waters moderate to strong northwesterlies will prevail over most inner waters except for strong to gale force west to northwesterlies through Juan de Fuca and Johnstone straits as Well as west of Vancouver Island.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forecast:
Gale warning continued.
Winds westerly 25 to gales 35 knots easing to 20 to 25 overnight then rising to westerly 25 to gales 35 Sunday afternoon. Mainly cloudy.
Chance of showers.
Outlook. Strong to gale force westerly winds easing to moderate to strong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2007 Environment Canada
All Rights Reserved

http://www.weatherof... ... html?c-jfs

#38 G-Man

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Posted 27 May 2007 - 07:55 AM

If you heard fog horns on Saturday Morning there was indeed fog out over the Strait. So it was not the fog horn from the titanic sign then. In fact on bright sunny days fog out over the Strait is a very common occurence though it tends to stick the Washington Coast.

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#39 Holden West

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Posted 27 May 2007 - 08:52 AM

I wonder if it's related to the Swiftsure race that is happening now.


"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#40 Saanich Panhandler

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Posted 27 May 2007 - 09:44 AM

^I heard/saw a US Coast Guard helicopter last night fly into the Jubilee Hospital, at first it overshot the helipad then it came back and landed and sat there and idled for 45 minutes before it left. I wonder if it was swiftsure related? It was 3 times as loud as the helijet air ambulance and twice as loud as a cormorant.
Here's what it looks like. At first I thought it was Airwolf!


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