With every cause, you will definitely have your critics but I am surprised to read some of these comments that sound more like the rantings of prejudiced non riders. Come on. You may be right about certain ignorant individuals who ride ALL STYLES of bikes, but let's stick the facts at hand and not trash people.
Some people who ride with straight pipes are inconsiderate with their pipe noise i.e. revving at lights, gunning it through tunnels and underpasses, making excessive noise through a neighborhood late at night, etc. I personally don't condone that behavior and believe in being polite. It is not the point of this petition.
What I'm talking about is after 35 years of riding and 29 years on roadways, I have enough experience and expertise to state that loud pipes do in fact save lives when faced with a distracted driver riding alongside or turning out in front of you. I've seen it, lived it. I do understand the physics of pipes that face to the back and noise travel. That loud 'crack' wakes them up and gets their attention when I see them about to cut me off or turn in front of me. It's more important to live to see another day, not become a new hood ornament. I won't apologize or back down from anyone who wants to debate that loud pipes are effective in that situation in addition to safety equipment, courses, etc etc. Even with the negative feedback I've read, my darlings, all the driver training in the world won't help you if they suddenly cut into you because they can't hear/see you. I am seeking to lower the odds of that happening.
So to re-iterate, I am not promoting legalization of straight pipes to give riders permission to scare the crap out of people or seek attention by being obnoxious. That would be excessive, unnecessary noise and owning a motorcycle does not come with the right to break the noise pollution laws. Those who choose to show no respect to others unnecessarily should be penalized. What I am asking for is the legalization of straight pipes for safety as a warning to drivers. Of course, there would need to be stipulations but I beleive the HTA is antiquated in areas and should be re-addressed and updated.
Love with a bum slap ~ Choppergirl
There's so much wrong with your posts, it's hard to know where to start.
I guess I'll start off by agreeing that loud pipes save lives. The key to being safe in traffic is being seen, and loud pipes help drivers to see us. I can hear loud bikes coming up from far behind me on the 401, so clearly their sound carries forward no problem. I don't see why it should be such a controversial claim. Bikes are already louder than most cars, so we already have that safety benefit on our side. However what you are proposing is the use of exhaust noise as a tool to deliberately get people's attention in specific situations. There is simply no sense to the argument.
In the scenario you give as justification, blipping the throttle is about the last thing you'd want to do if you were seriously concerned about your safety. What about avoidance? You have brakes and steering, use them. Take a course if you have to. Alerting the driver in front about your proximity is more about being territorial than being safe.
If you insist on being possessive of your piece of tarmac, then use the horn. The stupid gubermint that you complain about allows you to upgrade your horn. But no, you want the right to upgrade your exhaust to be obnoxious in perpetuity. Don't pretend that you could ride a bike with open pipes quietly. If you really rode that way then straight pipes would be nothing more than an engine-sounding horn that is activated by your throttle. Again, just get a louder horn. That way, you could control them separately; you could choose to accelerate without waking up the neighbourhood, or sound the horn without compromising your forward drive. Tying your horn to the throttle makes as much sense as tying your high beam switch to the clutch lever. There's simply no logic. None.
There are tons of disadvantages though. The most obvious is noise pollution, and it's called noise pollution because it's actually harmful to people's health. Our environment is already saturated with noise. We need less of it, not more.
Also, p***ing off other road users is detrimental to our safety as Griffin illustrated. There is nothing to be gained by annoying people that we need to share the road with. Besides, why shouldn’t they be allowed open pipes just like us, since they can get cut off by other drivers just like us? It would be unjust to reserve this amazing safety device for our exclusive use when it could benefit everyone. The fact that we are less visible and more exposed is an inherent property of riding a motorcycle, it does not confer any special privileges on us. If you can’t deal with that, stop riding.
Finally, I have to wonder about what you’re doing to end up in so many life-threatening situations on a regular basis as you claim. I absolutely can’t relate to what you’re describing in my 50000km of riding (most of it with a whisper quiet stock pipe). I make it my responsibility to make sure I am noticed, and that has never required the use of a horn. The only times I’ve used the horn are the two times that drivers looked me in the eye and cut me off anyways. Don’t stay in people’s blind spots, don’t pop up from behind other cars suddenly, signal your intentions well ahead of time. Stop blaming the government for your problems.
