Since I arrived in London one of the things that has impressed me and depressed me is noise. In particular, sirens. Yes, I had been living in a rural part of a developing country for nearly 8 years, which may have accentuated my sensitivity. However, the London I used to know was not so clamorous, so it continues to be an adjustment I find difficult. The volume has ratcheted up progressively so that that those who have lived here continuously don’t realize how much it has changed.
The noise of sirens is almost continuous. Police cars, marked and unmarked, ambulances and fire engines are the worst, followed by car alarms. Marylebone Road, on which we live, is a busy main road. Paddington Green police station, where Al Queda suspects are held whenever they’re apprehended, is close by. So too is St.Mary’s hospital in Paddington, where many of the injured were taken after the London bombings on 7 July last year. Some level of siren noise is, therefore, to be expected.
However, the manufacturers of sirens have made them louder, more penetrating, and more painful to ignore. And the sound carries further as result. They are used more and more casually. Early this morning as I walked down Oxford Street a police car passed with one officer reading a map and the other driving slowly with the siren blaring. There was no traffic in front of the police car and no need to use the siren. A few days ago I witnessed an extraordinary scene: an ambulance behind a taxi at a red traffic light at a pedestrian crossing with the siren blaring to no effect. The taxi driver chose to ignore it instead of breaking the red light and pulling off to one side, which he could have done safely. The ambulance driver upped the volume to no effect, apart from causing distress to passers by. The taxi driver threw up his hands and was clearly and rolling his eyes and complaining over his shoulder to his passengers. Only when the light turned green was he willing to move and allow the ambulance to pass. I experienced a surge of “siren rage” but I didn’t know which person to remonstrate with. Certainly the taxi driver seemed culpably obtuse, but then the whole idea of of get out of my way or I will turn up the volume until your ears bleed isn’t very attractive, and that’s where we are now: the unstoppable raging at the immovable.
Urban noise pollution is not a new concern. The Guardian had a good article about it a few months ago but it didn’t convey anything about the use of noise as means of coercion. To me it feels like torture, and what make it worse is that so much of it is utterly gratuitous.
Currently, the City of Westminster, where we live, is soliciting suggestions for using wireless technology to improve the quality of life in London. I intend to suggest that cars licensed for use on London’s roads be wired so that a siren sound can be transmitted wirelessly by emergency services vehicles over a modest range–a few hundred meters at most–to an internal speaker. If all vehicles were suitably equipped there would be no need to shatter the nerves of people for miles around. As I sit here with the window open on a warm summer night I can hear the sound of emergency vehicle sirens every few minutes. It gets old fast. The only reason there has not been a rebellion yet is that Londoners have become subconsciously habituated. Limits MUST be being reached. If Al Qaeda or Friends of the Earth or Greenpeace or People for the Ethical Treament of Urbanites or the Quakers or the Catholic Church, or anyone you care to mention, started taking out sirening vehicles with bazookas I am sure they could count on support. It would, arguably, be fighting terror with terror.
Dr.Johnson said that when a man is tired of London he is tired of life. Today it could mean that he is just sick to the back teeth of the incessant and increasingly strident emergency vehicle sirens.
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There’s been a great deal of research done on siren-speeding emergency vehicles. I don’t have it in front of me. But it translates to something like a 20 second improvement in response time… accompanied by a quite significant number of crashes between speeding (carelessly because the drivers rely on the siren to get others out of the way)… between speeding emergency vehicles and hapless other drivers, deaf pedestrians etc. So arguably very few lives are saved by the 20-or-whatever-it-is seconds… and many are lost by the careless driving.
Used to live next to A&E, fire station opposite and police just round the corner, and now no longer hear sirens, not even the new improved modulating ones as had to ignore them in order to be able to sleep (worked shifts). Conscientiously look in rear view mirror every 2-3 seconds though.
cricket widow
I agree entirely with the writer of this article. I am sure police use their sirens far more than they need to – the evidence is anectodal, since no police representative would admit to it, but the more power the police are given, the more likely they are to abuse it – that, sadly, is human nature. I was told by a high level police officer in charge of one east London borough, that sirens are used “in case people are colour blind” – that makes no sense of course, but this is the sort of excuse even senior officials use. Preventing crime matters to society, but so, definitely, does quality of life. Noise is an enormous source of stress in large cities and one that is underestimated and unquantified. Sirens are certainly spoiling my quality of life – so much so that I am considering moving from a house I love. My 11 month year old son is wakened regularly by sirens, my stomach goes into knots when I hear one approaching – there can be three or four an hour. I don’t go into my garden as often as I would because of the sirens and I put on classical music when I am inside to drown them out. The feeling is of being beseiged in my own home. I am sure I am not the only one to feel this way. What can be done? Is there any concerted campaign in London against this problem.? I think more people should think about whether the use of sirens is for rational reasons – everyone hopes so, but that hope is naive. Anyone who has ever worked for a public body will realise that they are peopled by human beings whose motivations are often far from rational. The police have enormous power at the moment as well as a huge physical presence – so large that their numbers may now be cut. With great power comes abuse of it – it always has. Police sirens are often, I strongly suspect, a reflection of police power. Ordinary members of the public have a right – a duty even – to question that. And everyone bothered by sirens should make their views heard and not feel intimidated or as if they are obstructing justice in some way – the police and those responsible for governing them should know how we feel. The police too have families and the need for times of unbroken peace.
Here in Edinburgh the problem is ambulance sirens. This must be the unhealthiest place I have ever lived in if the almost continuous wail of sambulance sirens is actually justified. I have also noticed that motorists are not bothering to clear the way like they used to – I am not surprised with the frequency that ambulances with lights and sirens appear here on the south side of the city. It has got noticeably worse in the last year or two.