On the question of open drains – if so I can sum it up – there has been a great fight for years. It is often talked about, and because of the growing sensitivity of the non-motorcycling population in this regard, either because this has already led to some limitations in circulation, either because there is a hard core of centaurs who do not want to know and claim their right to shout, per così dire, your passion at the top of your lungs.
Illegal or inappropriate?
Open exhausts cannot be used on the road. So it's not like there is much to discuss about it. They are outlawed, punto. However in some areas it has also begun to prohibit the passage to those who have a discharge according to law, but it exceeds certain decibels. And who cares if that exhaust is even original!
This happens for example in Tyrol, where following complaints from the population it was decided to arm the local police with sound level meters and send home those who exceed 95 dB.
What a noisy exhaust – or perhaps we should say noisy driving with tight gears and overspeed – can cause disturbance to the inhabitants of a valley and to those who maybe trekking as well as wild animals I think it is quite understandable by anyone. Yet there is a small percentage, but not so minimal it seems, of motorcyclists who do not want to know.
Their defense almost always hinges on the notion that a noisy motorcycle is safer: “if they hear me coming they move”.
Although it is undeniable that the noisy exhaust can be heard even from a distance in certain contexts such as a mountain valley, I've always had doubts about it and apparently I'm not the only one. I found some studies on the correlation between exhaust noise and attention of those who drive a car, the last of which was carried out by an association of Romanian motorcyclists. The results of this study do not go exactly in the desired direction by those who claim that an open drain makes us safe. I wanted to share these results with my friend Riccardo Matesic, journalist expert in investigations who jumped and conducted one of his own. You will be able to read it on the next issue of In Moto.
So in the LIVEetto of 11 March I wanted to invite Riccardo Matesic – by the way, you can also follow his interesting articles on www.motoskills.it – to talk about the issue without false rhetoric or preconceptions.
Enjoy watching and listening with or without open drains!
