It does not supprise me that you want to do away with safty features like the beeping on backing up vehicles. You simply do not care about morals, children, and society in general.

Your website should be shut down for having pornogrophy, and the usage of the word "Tits" in "Criticial Tits". This is general indecency and you should be arrested and put in jail for exposing children to this pornographic material, especially since some of your material on your site violates House Bill #2257

OMG, talk about trying to solve a problem where none exists.

Maybe you should close your windows? Most construction noise is
transitory anyway -- eventually the job is finished and the heavy
equipment is moved somewhere else.

While I'll admit the beeping requirement is largely a CYA measure,
your proposals make little sense. Cameras? "Object sensors?"
(Would have to be optical or radar.) Your proposals are at least
a couple of orders of magnitude more expensive and more complicated
then a simple beeper wired into the backup lights. And when they
fail -- and they will -- then there is a liability issue as well.

Your musings on this illustrate the worst about people who think
every problem or issue can be solved with technology.

The Prius actually has this same beeping while in reverse - but one can only hear it in the car. It's not piercing, but I'm not sure it serves any real point either.

I don't get the earlier comment: "You simply do not care about morals, children, and society in general." - why do disagreements suddenly become moral issues? please. Does this person actually think a child would think oh - a truck is backing up so I should feel that the driver is serving the morals of this country? If one is in an urban environment where this annoying sound is one of many sounds, does one actually believe that everyone is going to filter this sound and move out of the way of a truck going in reverse? Do pedestrians actually stop walking in the crosswalks when they're not supposed to? No. Perhaps a flashing bumper light might help, but not really if we overuse lights Vegas-style. It just gets filtered out. Too much is just too much.

Someone has an idea so you decide to send rude and irrelevant comments his way?! What is wrong with you? Oh my, he uses the word "tit." Why don't you get laid and maybe hearing the word tit would not be such a big deal... So did this site pop up onto your screen and then somehow force you to read the content and view the graphics? I am guessing you came to the site, read the content, viewed the graphics, and then decided that everyone should conform to your "moral standards." The internet should be open to all types of information. As long as no one is "seriously hurt" by the content. For example, child pornography. That would be scarring for a child. But I "think" we are all adults, so the word "tit" shoulf honestly be the least of anyones concerns. If you do not like what he is saying or displaying on the site, leave and go on with your morally appropriate day.

The (British) Noise Abatement Society has suggested using broadband noise alarms rather than the more piercing single-tone beeps that carry for miles. This would improve the quality of life for people (like mself) who live near a building site where the beeping continues twelve hours a day, six days a week. This solution doesn't compromise safety, in fact it probably improves it since the noise is highly directional.
http://www.noiseabatementsociety.com/tcms/view.do?page=304
It's sad there are a lot of nutters writing about tits on this page. I love tits and have many in my garden.

I, too, detest those beeping vehicles. How does any work get done if the trucks are in reverse all the time? I grit my teeth day in and day out. I not only live adjacent to a construction site, but also to a huge building with a loading dock that takes deliveries all day long. So even when the construction is done, I will still be tormented. What can be done about it?

Maybe I have sensitive hearing, but this is a big problem for me going back over 20 years.
Right now, there is a construction project going on 2000 feet from my apartment, and I can hear the beeping right through my closed windows with the blinds or curtain drawn, depending on which window.
When I am visiting my parents in New York City, I can hear the beeping noise as trucks back up some 4 blocks away. I've looked out the window and scanned for the source of the noise, and that's what I've found.

As an attorney, the way I would approach this is that I would try to generate a campaign and get the attention of a governor or attorney general. Such a person could get political capital out of resolving this situation.

A governor might indicate that s/he wants to hand out engineering grants so bright engineering minds can come up with alternative solutions.

An attorney general would probably file a public nuissance lawsuit, and then try to negotiate a settlement whereby industry agrees to put some bright minds on this, and then when a solution is found, to build it into new vehicles and machinery, and to retrofit the existing stock by a particular date.

I just wrote a letter to the attorney general of Virginia and I'll write another to the governor.

Brad- contact me if you want to cooperate on this.

I agree; this is a huge source of noise pollution, and very annoying. I wonder how the construction workers tolerate it. Maybe they just learn to block it, which sort of defeats the purpose. There's got to be a better way of addressing safety concerns.

Since moving into our house a year ago, a new subdivision went in down the street, then the next door neighbor decided to teach himself how to use a back-hoe in his yard (8 AM New Years Day, no less!), and now, as I type this, the developers down the street have figured out how to squeeze one more house into that sub, so the heavy equipment is back, backing and filling, backing and filling... I can't hear the engines, or pounding, or other work-site sounds -- but the beeping carries for miles through the frosty New England morning air...

Glad to hear the Brits are looking at alternatives; maybe our American legislators will take notice (we can hope...)

No problem eh? Get a life, you say? What are some of you folks, lobbyists for the beeper industry? Just wait until somebody builds a monstrous ugly building right next door to you, where they start every morning at 7am (and sometimes earlier), the beeping goes on for two straight years, and the general contractor won't even return your phone calls to tell you when it will be finished. Close the windows you say? Yeah, right. The beeps are cranked up so high they go right through walls. I can hear them in my shower. These beeps are designed to do exactly this... cut through everything, including hearing protectors. And even if the windows did cut the noise more than 12 decibels (which they don't at close range) who wants to live all summer in an apartment where you can't even open the windows for fresh air? Construction sites are enduring fixtures. We are not talking about hearing a garbage truck once a week.

Furthermore, as the machines do their thing all day, the beeping patterns basically stop and start at random, which makes them especially headache-inducing. Incidentally, annoying loud noise produced at unpredictable intervals is a classic form of torture, dating back thousands of years. It's a standard way of softening up prisoners for interrogation. The effects of noise like this should not be underestimated. The stress of this adds up. Believe me.

So don't say it's overly sensitive to even suggest this to the point of personal insult, not until you've have it shoved down your own ears ad nauseam. The guy is not a bleeding heart. The guy has a point.

I agree. There is a hot spot in hell waiting for the "well meaning" legislature that came up with the back up beep. It's a classic example of solving a problem with a much worse one.

The maddness with these beepers must stop! They must be rounded up and burned, every last one of them.
NYC is way to much when it comes to this high pitched nusance. Day in and day out that is all i hear every hour
of almost every day. The only break that seems to come is on sunday. Write your congressmen and senators.
The backup beeper must be erraticated!

Well you are all in luck , i work for a UK company that produces broad band reversing alarms for vehicles, which aim to replace the annoying beep beep sounds everyone hates so much, not only does it reduce the noice pollution its more directional so its easier to identify where the sound is coming from.

www.brigade-electronics.com

I agree with Brad. The moral issue is are we as a society going to continue to disregard humanity? It is inhumane for responsible members of society to be subjected to this torturous noise pollution. Seriously, if it werent for the beep, the project sites would be bearable. The issue like aforementioned is to find a less piercing torturous sound. However, since a bunch of idiots run things in this country, and we have to go through them to try and get things done, nothing will come of this. We will just have to simply snip the connecting wires on the beepers!!!

That beeping is extremely annoying and easily fixed. There is a type of speaker system that has extremely directional sound. It involves combining two ultrasound sources that interfere to create an audible sound. The point is, ultrasound is extremely directional and using this type of speaker setup, only someone behind the equipment in a certain area would hear the reverse alarm at any noticeable volume. I saw this type of speaker setup in a magazine a few years ago, and they were saying that malls would start using it for advertising, and people might use it in home theaters so they can have them louder without disturbing anyone.

It would do your cause well to research accident statistics from countries that have never seen the need for BEEP legislation, e.g. Germany. I've been trying to find out which countries do have BEEP legislation, but English wikipedia articles on Automobile Safety and Traffic Safety don't even mention this.

I also agree with Brad. I live in a nice little village in Massachusetts with a landscaping lot nearby. It's a lovely, pristine, sleepy little area but some days I hear the beeps all day long. And as Brad mentioned, those beeps travel far and wide. It's a shame.

I am 43. Somehow I survived growing up without reverse lights on trucks. I know of not one single person who has been rundown by a truck in reverse. If people are too stupid to hear a truck engine and not pay attention, well, perhaps they should be run down. And if you are a parent and allow your child to be subjected to that kind of "danger", then perhaps you should have your children taken away.

This world has started catering to the lowest common denominator. If one kid is killed by some freak accident (carbon monoxide poisoning, trucks backing up, bike accident, etc) then the rest of us are FORCED to deal with it.

Whatever happened to natural selection? Whatever happened to personal accountability for one's own safety and the safety of their family? Whatever happened to the freedom to live our lives as we see fit?

What's next? Legislation requiring Kevlar body condoms 24 hours a day? We DON'T need the fat government protecting us. That is OUR responsibility.

The good thing is, pretty soon our aristocratic government will create SO many laws and regulations that they will be impossible to track, follow and enforce. Then perhaps we can start over from scratch.

It's interesting that you would mention electrical work.... I do a lot of DIY work but there are some things I don't do myself, like electrical work beyond simple wiring, gas lines, etc. But it seems that the pro's I hire are already sidestepping the myriad regulations because they're just too ridiculous to keep up with. I've heard the phrase "It's not code but...." more than a few times. So maybe we're already on the downward slope toward anarchy. One can only hope.

I appreciate what you're saying, but I think staying calm will just let the situation continue and get worse. Without some level of outrage nothing will change. After all, didn't the French stay calm when the Germans marched into Paris?????

I think the problem is that our legislatures have too much time to think up things to do. They sit in their ivory towers and decide what's best for the masses who are too stupid to run their own lives. The problem is, we are able to run our own lives. But government is just getting too fat so we aren't allowed to do it anymore.

I too have endured the beep. Our town has a noise law that construdtion cannot start before 7 AM. This seemingly does not apply to garbage haulers or delivery vans. Personaly, I think the simpilest solution is to use a lower frequency beep. I dont see why a backup alarm needs to be heard blocks away. The lower frequency can be very loud, is easier to endure and can be heard where it needs to be. It would also be a very low cost change.

I think the high pitched beep is old tech and could use improvement.

Contact your local legislators they made the law they can change it but won't unless the people ask them too..

I am so happy to see that I am not the that is infuriated by why this BEEP BEEP BEEP has to travel for miles to keep a person that is right behind a truck safe! Brad....can you set up a petition to be circulated to legislators? One that suggests viable solutions to this issue. I live in Brooklyn and am disturbed by this noise constantly: the Verizon truck, the garbage truck, the school bus, the delivery vehicle.etc, etc... It never ends! Thank you.

Yes. Machine back-up beeping is TORTURE in the extreme. The beeps that get me the most are the good ol' "several going concurrently". You lay there on your pillow trying to time each rhythm, gradually becoming even more insane. You're either forced to contemplate and pursue suicide, homicide, or blasting Motorhead on your stereo at deafening levels - and that is called "relief".

A few years ago, at 3:30 on a winter weeknight, I actually went loony - I stormed out in my pajamas with a loaded bb air handgun shooting straight at a bobcat driver who was clearing snow. Strange how he didn't see me there shooting at him. Later that month my roommate rammed a heavy chair through his bedroom wall into the adjacent bathroom. Fun times.

My point is - I AM AWARE OF MY SURROUNDINGS. If there are workers in the area, they should have their heads out of their asses. Blind people should have dogs, or accept the risks when they're out in public - plus aren't engines loud enough? Most are diesel, aren't they? AND - What about deaf people - no one obviously gives a shit about them!

A question for further consideration- why not let "natural selection" weed out those dick-heads who ignorantly walk behind heavy equipment? Fuck 'em all. I need my peace of mind!

Thanks for opening this discussion. Just another idiotic reminder of a bureaucratic and politically correct society in a "liable" age gone awry.

Nevertheless, I'm glad there are others adding their $0.02 on the subject, too. let's put an end it!!

Matt, Alberta, Canada.

I once lived next to an overcrowded bus station. They had to parallel park 15 buses right across from my living room and the beeping lasted forever. And this was 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean! I moved. Now I moved, but next to a school that was doing 2 years of renovation, now a water treatment plant is being put in. I'm going nuts. With leaf blowers and other landscaping motors, squeaking brakes from poorly maintained trucks, TV commericals that are much louder than the programs, overly sensitive car alarms, jet noise from "small" airports, and my children screaming in my ear I am frayed and angry. I would gladly allow women and children to die "unnecessarily" for some peace of mind. Oh, and did you know that it is a traffic violation to use your horn except in the case of an emergency (like someone cutting you off). I wish someone would tell the the truck drivers that who seem to like to communicate with the horn (but are probably exempt from this law). This is not just about beeping trucks like some have mentioned, but about a general erosion of sanctuary, essential for mental health. The liability lawyers and the juries who award large payouts (and the judges that allow them) are to blame. They are destroying our way of life. Oh, and why do we concentrate so on the few preventable deaths so much instead of the mass killers? Because it's easy and it makes the politicans look like they are doing something. But people are starting to fight. Just look at the Free Range Kids Movement http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/about/. Where will it end? Will I wait 12 hours for a H1N1 Flu shot tommorrow or just say, screw it, it kills less people than lightning.

Personally, I am listening to three back up beeps right now, and I'm thinking of breaking into the grounds at night to disable all the devices. I wonder if anyone in construction, a true worker, has a good story about being saved by these beeps. Some say that a good measure of civilization is its respect for the sanctity of life. Then again, we are animals and sometimes we eat our young.

I completely agree that those beeping noises are far too loud and high pitched. In fact, I find them almost painful to endure. There is no reason they need to be so loud (around 97 db. Apparently OSHA considers this to fall within in the "risk range" and feels exposure to this level of sound should be limited--see http://www.sefsc.noaa.gov/HTMLdocs/hearing_conservation.htm). Incidentally, when a person loses his or her hearing, the first thing that goes is the upper range. So what's the pitch on these bloody little warning devices? You guessed it--the upper range. It seems to me that warning beepers and smoke detectors alike would be more effective if they were pitched in a lower, less painful range, and in the case of the backup beeper with the sound directed towards the rear of the vehicle. (Or perhaps people could learn to be more observant of their surroundings when in a construction zone and not walk behind large pieces of equipment. After all, there is something to be said for personal responsibility.....)

I find back up beeps to be a scourge, also. There are deliveries in our neighborhood at 3 and 4 in the morning and the beeps wake me up. I sincerely doubt anyone at the nursing home is wandering in the driveway at that time in the morning. There has to be a better way. In Croatia last summer we rented a car that had the beeps, but they were just loud enough for the immediate area and they got louder and faster as an object (like the car behind when we were parallel parking) was getting too close. I listened for several hours yesterday as a truck was apparently doing work only while in reverse. What can we do about this?

There is a lot of sensible comment here and a lot of nonsence. These reversing beepers do save injury and lives, but they can be annoying, to say the least. There are some ways to limit their carrying distance without reducing their effect.

If a single frequency beep came from two speakers half a wavelength apart, the signal would be directive. (eg, 2kHz beep, 108mm or 8 inches apart.) The two sounds would add behind the truck, but counter each other to the side. This would at least reduce the impact.

A more complex, but not necessarily expensive, grid of sound sources could limit the sound to where it is needed. This is not new science, but just applying what is already known. I think that 4 sources working in phase on the corners of a square might be fine.

They are born of craven venality and must be stopped. I live in Los Angeles, where the noise pollution is already intolerable. However, what makes the beeping insanity-making is the utter uselessness of it. Do we not have eyes to see? Are we so infantalized in this country that we can't take care to keep away from very large vehicles in motion? God, we're idiots. As some point out, construction would be tolerable but for the beeping, which is both incessant and irregular--if such a thing is possible. Urban life would be tolerable, but for the beeping. A pox on all who force this most pernicious scourge on us. A pox, a pox. And thank you to all who propose intelligent solutions. But venality is low and dirty and mean—good luck.

If you walk in back of a moving truck you deserve to get run over. Noise pollution is a bigger problem than the effects of Darwinism.

I want to congratulate Brad for bringing this issue out in the open. Yes, beep signals has very little to do with safety and more to do with noise pollution and disturbing other people lives and tranquility. Today, you go to the supermarket and zummm, the doors open just before you. You exit the airport and zumm, the door just open before you. What is that? That is called sensors! Sensors have been around for quite a while. Trucks can be equip with these sensors and the beep goes inside of the driver's cabin. When a person walks behind of a noisy moving vehicle, the driver will be alerted and stop. It also can be connected to the driver's engine shutting it off. By the way, a person that walks behind a moving vehicle can only be a person out of a mental institution. If you cannot educate your child about the danger of running in front or behind a vehicle you should not have a child. Just give it up to adoption, the poor kid will have better parents and life out of your hands and supervision. We do have the technology. It can even be a mix of sensors and a camera. The only thing we do not have right now is honest people in our Government to do the right thing. This idea of beeping, I am sure did come from a psychopath's idea and OSHA, GOV and ADA just went for it without weighting the repercussion of it's outcome. Maybe we should have these annoying and anti-health beep signals going off on different types of modulation in every Court House, in every Judge's house, at the Mayor's Office and it's Supervisor's 24/7 for their own safety. You know mister Mayor, you may not see the water tank in your office and hit the water tank and brake your leg. You see Mr. Judge you might not see that the door of your house is close and just walk through it hitting your head and having a heart attack in the process. My God, how stupid people can get and thus dragging our laws to the same path of their stupidity. You can find me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/stopnoise and there are also a lot of work I did on Current under the url: http://current.com/users/stopnoise/all/0.htm still I have no idea if that produced any resulted on people's education in relation to the negative health effects of noise pollution. One thing is certain; we need a change! Not the Obama's change but a real Change in Education and behavior on the General Public and the Government Legislative, Executive and Judiciary in relation to noise pollution and our Constitutional right to leave in a quiet and peaceful environment. Noise is war against public property! It should be considerate a crime just like graffiti is a crime. You can also make a statement signing up my petition at: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/help-us-to-stop-sfmta-muni-toxic-acoustic-pollution.html Thanks!

Beeping is annoying. I noticed the other day a city truck was beeping but was NOT backing up. When I asked the man in the truck why the truck was beeping he said he had the truck in reverse even though he was not moving. I told him to stop by beep by putting the truck in drive, which he did.

There are ways to get the beeping to stop. The first step is to simply ask. Problem is, it is not that simple. Not simple because the powers that be, the government does not listen. So, to get someone to listen is the real problem. After that anything can be solved.

Can anybody point me to any study or even anecdotal evidence that suggests the beeping sound promotes safety in any meaningful way?

Think of the number of times you've heard the beeping and thought "wow, that's annoying." Now think of the number of times you've heard the beeping and thought "I didn't notice this truck before, but now I need to get out of the way." My personal count is several thousand to zero.

The price in noise pollution is high. The least that any supporter of the beeping can do is show the price is worth some safety benefit. I have never seen the mechanism prevent an accident - seems pretty damning.

A commenter said, "People have to be warned of a backing up truck."

Actually, it should be the responsibility of the *driver* of any multi-ton vehicle operating in an area where others might be walking to make sure that backing up can be done safely. Backup beepers exist to keep drivers safe from lawsuits, not to warn potential victims. Their existence actually increases carelessness. Every day, in NYC, I see trucks pull up, shift into reverse, start beeping, and start moving backwards without more than a casual look (if that) from the driver. No fear of liability, no reason to bother looking. Shift the responsibility to others.

Will a child know to run out of the way? Will a deaf person hear the beeper? What if I stop to tie my shoe and can't get up in time? Will an elderly or disabled person be able to hobble or wheel away in time to avoid being crushed? I do know that they won't be allowed to sue! Their heirs won't be allowed to either.

Backup beepers themselves will cause death or injury sooner or later. I'm sure it's happened already.

I'm so glad I found this page. These backup beeps are the second most pernicious noise where I live in downtown Toronto and from the responses on this blog, in a lot of other places too (the worst, IMO, is ridiculously loud motorcycles, but thankfully South Park has already spoofed those so they're at least in the public consciousness). As others have pointed out, noises like this have many harmful effects and backup beeps in particular negatively affect many times more people than they protect, elevating stress levels for thousands (millions?), which as we all know can be directly correlated with increased risk for a number of debilitating as well as deadly illnesses. Thanks to the poster who pointed out the white noise backup alarms developed in the UK.. they sound like a wonderful compromise between those who are concerned about traumatic physical risk and those of us who are more concerned about cumulative psychological risk.

Brad, you're so right about these hideous beepers. I live in Australia where we too are tortured by these noisy objects, and many other noisy objects of torture, all calculated to drive any sane and thoughtful person to anger and depression. Like other people who have posted here, I too have felt such rage at the noise that I have contemplated extreme violence. An utterly useless and pointless invention, and even small vans very often have them. And the pitch! Imagine having a job where you invent a stupid noise to drive people crazy, as so many have commented, torture for absolutely no SANE reason. I was at a beautiful beach recently, listening to the ridiculous beeping of a stupid machine across the bay - it was in a fenced off area where there was no-one to run over, thanx for nothing for ruining a trip to the beach. Another unbelievably stupid invention -the leaf blower! I am so sick of seeing people blow their leaves into the drain to get washed into the ocean, and making a dreadful cacophony while they are about it. I bought raffle tickets recently in a hardware store - the prize was a wheelbarrow full of tools, including a leaf blower - I wanted to win so I could stand on a main road and conspicuously smash the hateful thing! Went to a water theme park yesterday - it was blowing a gale and some f**kwit was still blowing leaves around - incomprehensible stupidity! It makes me so angry I want to grab the stupid thing out of the stupider person's hands and bludgeon them to death with it! A POX on them all! And we are supposed to be CIVILISED???? Don't make me laugh!

YES. This is a HUGE problem! They have been building a fire station caddy-corner to my apartment for the last 8 months. At first there would be 2-3 beepers going simultaneously... at the crack of dawn. I work the evening shift, so yea, it was a big problem. I tried white noise, but the sound pierced through. Then, 2 months ago the beeping subsided. Now this morning... Crack of dawn, here we go again. Non-stop. For hours! I have an important exam today, and I'm sleep-deprived and grounchy.

Somebody DO something. It's like having an alarm clock that won't shut off!

Those backup alarms are absolutely hideous and should be done away with, immediately. I live near a Fire Station, and up until about 2002, the fire engines used (silent)back up lights to signify that an engine was backing up. I guess they felt they had to add those God-forsaken beepers in case a BLIND fireman didn't know they were backing up!!
If I were President of The United States, my first order of business would be to ban the use of backup alarms at once!

Even when it stops (which seems to be never) you can still 'hear' it. Your brain gets fried from it. You can't concentrate. Nothing blocks it out. We had a road reconstruction project on my street that went bad and as such took TWO YEARS to complete with the only respite being the most freezing of the winter months. As soon as I opened my windows again there they were again, starting from scratch. I went to talk to the foreman one day and he was a rude jackass in response. I talked to the City and they didn't give a rat's ass. I talked to the neighbours about starting a class action lawsuit and two of them actually responded by telling me to buy ear plugs and stop being hostile!!!!! (WTF?? turned out they had some driveway repairs done by the company while the project was ongoing.. likely for free) Magically though, after I talked about a lawsuit the project of two years wrapped up in only 4 more days.

Anyway I'm blabbering on now but I want to support the outcry about these alarms. They serve NO purpose because like another poster said they are so continuous that people don't pay attention to the safety aspect of it at all anymore. Not to mention.. the guys ON the construction site get ear protection!!!