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Cambridge doesn't tolerate car alarms that turn on and stay on
By adamg on Thu, 01/02/2020 - 2:59pm
Cambridge Police report that around 6 a.m. on New Year's, somebody called 911 to report a car alarm had been going off for at least 40 minutes on Chauncy Street:
After several unsuccessful attempts to locate the owner, the vehicle was cited for a Municipal Ordinance Violation and towed.
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Comments
Don't blame them honestly.
Don't blame them honestly. Car alarms are pointless and annoying.
BS
I was living on poplar about a decade ago I heard mine go off. Was able to chase down the prick and tackle him while my roommate called the cops.
Loser pleaded with me to let him go.
Of course I went to the courthouse and they let him of with probation. Typical.
I wish
I wish more towns would tow for this. I wish I had a dollar for every car alarm that went off longer than a few minutes. I had one a few weeks ago go off for 4 hours before I finally called.
Audible Car alarms have lost their usefulness. When was the last time you heard an alarm going off and went running. Like never.
Spend your money on Lowjack, works better and more effective.
I didn't Google it to check....
Is Lowjack still a thing? I remember they used to advertise like crazy on the radio. Haven't heard anything about them in years.
maybe not
They are. but there are other similar ones out there.
My point is, audible alarms are useless now. No one looks. In 1985 they were high tech, but now with GPS and micro-processors, audible alarms have moved to more of a nuisance category.
Cacophony
I agree that audible car alarms are just a nuisance now, nobody is going to respond in any way other than annoyance.
Of course tthere are other audible alarms that are important... for example several different kinds of alarms in the building I live in (smoke in apartment, carbon monoxide in apartment, elevator stuck, smoke in hallway, one of these gadgets isn't getting the electricity it wants, battery replacement or building wiring)... and now I have to deal with all the different kinds of sounds my new smartphone makes for various things, phone calls, messages, alerting this or that.... and of course the trucks or construction machines outside backing up with beeop-beep-beep, sometimes for five minutes right outside my bedroom window in the middle of the night, and the car alarms and sirens and goddamned motorcyclists with their blasting "music" and the idiots in cars with fart cans installed on the tailpipe to sound like muscle cars and...
I can't keep track of all these damned alarms and noises, don't know one from the other, and it's just a beeping bleeping roaring cacophony of "Hey! I'm important! Look at me!" sounds assaulting us all day long.
Back-up beeps
I would like to see a requirement that these be disabled between 10 pm and 8 am on any construction site abutting residential areas.
I say ban them entirely. They
I say ban them entirely. They're the worst noise at a construction site, and the noise isn't at all an essential part of the construction.
According to Wikipedia, it's doubtful that backup beepers actually provide any safety benefit.
It should be the truck driver's responsibility to look before backing up. And backup cameras are cheap. It shouldn't be other people's problem to get out of the way when they hear beeping.
Your prayers have been answered
I've noticed most newer construction equipment now makes a much quieter "psshh psshh" sound instead of the traditional high-pitched beeping. Way less annoying.
What?
If you're on a construction site, first of all, you should be aware of your surroundings at all times. All people on a construction site should be wearing PPE so they are visible. And, if you're on a construction site, stay the eff away from the back end of any vehicle unless you're working on/with it.
Construction sites, of all places, require personal accountability.
Backup beepers aren't
Backup beepers aren't restricted to construction sites.
And it should still be the truck driver's responsibility to look before backing up.
Easy there, Francis
Original anon that I responded to called out construction sites. Don't change the playing field because you're wrong.
Yes, night workers deserve no
Yes, night workers deserve no safety protocols such as a audible warnings in darkness.
I wonder
if one could successfully argue that that is "construction noise" and get them fined.
Yeah! Ban all noises!
Yeah! Ban all noises! #silencematters
Similar technology era
I have a friend in CA who finally just got a new job. He had been working at Tivo. Talk about technology of the day that quickly became obsolete.
I wouldn't call them useless.....
My experience 99% of criminals who steal things from cars try unlocked doors. 1% smash and grab knowing an alarm will go off and they have minutes to grab whatever is in there (usually valuable for a smash and grab) and run. Criminals know pretty much every car has an alarm that will go off if you smash the window. Not worth it to them to run after a smash when they can just as easy go to 100 cars and try the doors knowing that probably 10 of them will be unlocked and they can get whatever is inside.
Just my thoughts....
EDIT: Also an easier way to deal with car alarms that go off and won't stop is to simply slim jim the car, pop the hood and disconnect the battery. I'm not sure Boston does that anymore....
Ah yes. LoJack
And their famous 'secret switch', where you had to push a button or switch controlling another function (such as power mirror control, radio power, or turn signal) while turning the key in order to start the car.
Over time, this would eventually wreak havoc with a car's electrical system. Speedometers randomly quitting at highway speeds, temperature gauges pegging max for no good reason, and wipers coming on when you activate the turn signal are the typical symptoms I've heard of. And the only proper fix is usually to replace the master computer, which is usually not cheap.
Audible car alarms should be
Audible car alarms should be banned. It’s illegal use of an emergency signal. And it’s obnoxious. Hell, just ban car horns period. Drivers abuse them so take them away.
Horns
Horns would be better if they could only sound for a 1/2 second at most and they couldn't be used repeatedly.
Aren't most thefts smash & grab where the alarms aren't very useful anyway?
I had a "smash and grab" in front of my house
The thieves were good, as the audible alarm does not go off if you go in through the back window. They took the sound system of a neighbor, though the thieves probably knew one of their sons.
Yes
Yes. My roommate had his car broken into TWICE. Ripped the radio out.
Car alarm never went off. Actually it went off, but the audio was disabled. (the lights were flashing when I found it)
I mean, most likely it DID
I mean, most likely it DID make a bunch of noise, but of course people ignored it because that's what we do with car alarm noise these days, and thankfully many modern less-cheap car alarms actually stop making the noise after a while, presumably to avoid getting the owner fined as the OP did.
Thanks for this
I was going to come in here and post a snide joke comment about what I'd like seen done to annoying cars with their car alarms going off, then I saw this comment, in which I think you're being serious. That made me stop and think before posting. Thank you for making me realize what a complete and utter dick I'd sound like if I'd posted what I wanted to.
While we're at it, let's ban
While we're at it, let's ban the honk when locking a car with the remote. What a stupid misfeature to annoy all your neighbors.
Agreed.
This probably seemed like a great idea to exurban auto execs living in places where the cars are so far apart when they're parked that only the owner can hear them anyway.
Owner's need to check settings
I parallel parked behind a car with an alarm once in Harvard Square. Didn't touch it, only came within inches beside and then behind it. That proximity set off the alarm. At 2 pm in the middle of Harvard Square. Anybody has that kind of alarm, I'm rooting for the thief.
i don't know
how to post youtube clips or id post the one about the Tim Robbins movie in which, prompted by incessant noise especially car alarms, he loses his shit and becomes an anti-noise vigilante
you can look it up though you got google
That movie is called "Noise."
That movie is called "Noise." It's not bad.
So if I am traveling and my home alarm goes off
Do they tow my house?
Fire department and/or police
Fire department and/or police will get into the house and turn it off. Happened on my street last year in a vacant home. They waited a while outside then eventually pried a door and went in to disable the system in early morning.
Just cut off power.
Just cut off power.
Sorry about your fish tank.