Come on EMA and police, enforce law on loud music

Published: 30 Dec 2009

Within recent times, citizens of this country have been subjected to excessively loud “music” emanating from cars. The drivers of these vehicles display a total lack of consideration for the general public, and absolutely nothing is done by the authorities to control this nuisance that is detrimental to public health and peaceful existence. The World Health Organisation recently reported that excessively loud “boom car” music can cause physical damage at the cellular level, hearing impairment, and hypertension. Excessive noise is an annoyance that prevents citizens from enjoying sleep and rest. This deprivation can affect productivity and safety, and can also lead to an increase in aggressive behaviour.

In the UK it was found that excessive “boom car” noise decreases a driver’s reaction time, and therefore contributes to accidents. The above impacts, however, are quite apart from the fact that the rights of citizens for peaceful enjoyment of their lives are being violated by inconsiderate hooligans. In T&T, the Environmental Management Act of 2000 was intended to curb this type of inconsiderate behaviour. The act states that in the general area of T&T, “no person shall emit or cause to be emitted any sound that causes the sound pressure level when measured as the equivalent, continuous sound pressure level, to exceed 80 dBA.” For comparison one should note that both the sound of a two-stroke chain-saw at ten metres distance and the sound of a loud WC flush at one metre distance are estimated at 85 dBA. Public nuisance is a criminal offence, but the fact is that no one enforces the law in T&T. Unless the police and the EMA can get together to address this serious environmental problem, Vision 2020 will continue to make a hollow mockery of what development actually means. I am appealing to these authorities to nip this problem in the bud, and to bring down the force of the law on offenders. David Subran Chaguanas Source: http://guardian.co.tt/commentary/letters/2009/12/30/come-ema-and-police-enforce-law-loud-music