What happened to car alarms?
I may be totally wrong on this – especially since we moved to a quieter part of the West End – but I don’t think I’m hearing as many car alarms going off. Particularly at night. I asked a few others about this, and they concurred.
Maybe it was because car owners realized the alarms were being ignored, or reset their sensitivity, or replaced them with bars on the steering wheel, or I’m going deaf. Whatever. But thank you, thank you.
Man, I hate those things. Since moving into the city, I’ve found car alarms the most annoying thing about downtown living. They’re a perfect example of our contemporary selfishness: my property is more important than the comfort of hundreds or thousands of people living and working within hearing distance. Does anyone know if there are laws against having them, or fines that could be levied if they go off when someone isn’t trying to steal the car? Because in the dozens of times I’ve heards them go off, there’s never been anyone trying to break into the car — it’s usually caused by a truck drviving by. To the extent that they discourage people from living in dense or downtown areas, they contradict civic policies for smart development, and therefore it’s legitimate to ban them or fine owners who don’t disable them.