Why Ban Car Alarms?
Read more at www.bancaralarms.org. Audible car alarms destroy New York’s quality of life without protecting cars. • New Yorkers hate car alarms. In 2001, 83% of the 97,000 calls to the City’s Quality of Life Hotline were noise complaints, with car alarm calls consistently near the top of the list (according to Vincent La Padula, Senior Advisor to the Mayor). The Census Bureau reported the same year that more New Yorkers are bothered by traffic noise (including car alarms) than by any other aspect of city life, including crime or the condition of local schools. • Audible car alarms do not work. The only unbiased study ever done on the subject – one conducted by the insurance industry – shows that car alarms do nothing to stop car theft. The NYPD has no evidence that alarms are effective, but says they are an “annoying and sometimes unbearable disturbance for residents in their homes.” They “frequently go off for no apparent reason.” And as one of the “signs that no one cares,” they “inv
