If Joliet can do it, Woodstock can do it. Of course, Woodstock could always have done it, but why hasn't it?
For years Woodstock residents have been annoyed and disturbed by the loud, thumping bass of car stereos. When I lived on the corner of Dean and South Streets in 2002, the noise was horrendous. It could be heard with all the windows closed, and the windows even rattled from the sound of some of the car stereos.
We have two bed-and-breakfast inns in Woodstock, and rumor has it that there is about to be a third. But it's not only visitors who shouldn't be disturbed, we year-round residents deserve some peace and quiet.
Read today's article in the Chicago Tribune about the crackdown by Joliet police. Just click on http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-noise-crackdown_12aug12,0,5829651.story
In recent weeks Joliet police officers have issued 110 tickets. That's ONE HUNDRED TEN! And since January 1st? How about 250?
If a car stereo (sound amplification system) can be heard 75 feet from the vehicle, it's a violation with a $75 fine. Joliet pumps up the cost by towing the vehicle, and that adds $275! Ouch! That'll get a driver's attention.
Woodstock Police could do the same thing. They could set up shop on the Square or on Dean Street or on South Street. An officer could sit on a porch or in a lawn chair at a measured 75 feet from a certain point on the street and, when the loud beast passes by, he could just radio to an officer in a marked car who would stop the violator and issue the ticket.
Would we use the towing tactic here? I'd recommend against it in the beginning.
Woodstock could also create some Quiet Zones and use portable signs to identify them. Quiet Zones could exist around hospitals, schools, hotels, motels, bed-and-breakfast inns, the Square, daycare centers and any place that a resident wanted to call in. The signs could be moved around, just as the radar speed trailer is.
How about it? How's the noise in your neighborhood? Are you bothered by the loud, thumping sound of the bass of a radio in a passing vehicle?
© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT
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9 comments:
Well Gus, I, for one, am tired of the intrusion of my freedom to get from point A to point B without a cop waiting for me to make a mistake.
More rules, (or ammunition as I like to call it) only adds to the feeling that I no longer live in a free country. What's next?
I understand the need for rules of the road, I also feel there are way too many restrictions and picayune crap heaped on, in order to give law enforcement more power than they already have.
Less government intrusion!!!!
Most of it isn't even about safety or the greater good. It's just revenue generating!
Karen, I invite your consideration of the nuisance and annoyance created by those with the super-loud radios. Ticketing them is no intrusion on your enjoyment in a free country.
Glad to read that you understand the rules of the road. Keeping your radio down so that it can't be heard 75 feet from your car is one of them.
No cop is "waiting" for you to make a mistake.
That "revenue generating" reason is old and tired out. When police ticket violators, it's because they violated a law. Yes, revenue is generated. Local police departments see little of it, if any.
The revenue stream can quickly dry up. All drivers have to do is obey traffic laws.
I don't agree with you Gus.
I was wearing my seatbelt, and had the shoulder portion adjusted so it was under my ample chest (to avoid wrinkling of my dress) The cop came out of nowhere (on foot) and had me pull into a gas station so I could recieve my ticket. They had cops on foot in all the major intersections LOOKING for seatbelt violaters. Anyone with an IQ over 50 can easily figure out this was some real B.S. going on here. This is only one example of B.S. I have personally experienced with cops.
I guess the point I was trying to make by posting to this particular thread, is, you can't make laws against every minor annoyance you encounter, such as loud car radios.
If laws or ordinances are passed to stop annoying people, we'd all be criminals.
Karen, thanks for your postings here.
Sorry to hear about your seatbelt ticket. If you had your seatbelt and shoulder belt fastened, even as you described, then it was fastened and you were not in violation. I hope you fought the ticket.
BTW, the "loud music" statute has been on the books for years. It's not a new law. Thanks again for your comments.
And the seatbelt law used to be considered a "nuisance" law. You could not be pulled over solely for that infraction. Easy money?
Just for this, I am going to drive by your little apartment and turn the sound p as far as it can go. What time sounds good for you 3a.m.? or 2? Let me know!
I have seen many grants on these radar speed signs but two in particular on www.safe-routes-usa.com and www.safe-kids-worldwide.com seem they could help purchase these signs near schools and in neighborhoods.
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