OU Student Can't Hear Train Bells Because of Car Radio
Michael Phillip Wright
Norman, Oklahoma
Copyright 2002
All Rights Reserved
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Below is a memo I brought to the Norman City Council on March 24, 2000.MEMO TO: Norman City Council
FROM: Michael P. Wright
SUBJECT: Killer Noise
DATE: March 24, 2000I call your attention to a letter in today's Oklahoma Daily (3/24/2000). It is from Kari Goodnight, whose brother Mark Goodnight was killed recently in an auto-train collision. Kari wants readers to believe that her (his?) brother was a good driver, and leaves a hint of the opinion that the accident resulted from the train horn not being LOUD enough. Kari writes:
If the radio is so loud that it obscures the train whistle, then it is loud enough to (1) impair the hearing of the auto's occupants, and (2) inflict stress, aggravation, and sleep deprivation on others.I have driven over those tracks many times myself, and I never hear any bells if I am listening to my radio [emphasis added]. The train whistle seems to blend in with the music, and the flashing lights rarely catch my attention because they are so far to the side of the road.Additionally, research has demonstrated that loud auto stereos impair drivers' ability to respond quickly to objects emerging in the peripheral vision field. This is exactly consistent with Goodnight's report that "flashing lights rarely catch my attention because they are so far off to the side of the road." The research was reported in New Scientist, July 19, 1997, by Laura Spinney.
Kari wrote that Mark was driving ten miles below the speed limit, and left skid marks on the pavement which showed that he tried to stop. Perhaps the train whistle also was, to use Kari's words, blending in with the music from his radio or car stereo.
As soon as I heard about this accident I suspected that Mark Goodnight's radio was playing loudly, and was a factor in the tragedy, although I do not have the direct evidence. Police department policy should require officers to look for evidence of loud car stereos during accident investigations. The powerful bass speakers for boom cars (for which any sane city policy would require confiscation) are usually stored in the trunk.
Some will argue that the solution is to be found in making even louder train horns and sirens. This is preposterous. We are already living in Noise Hell. We don't need any more brimstone.