Can anyone actually attribute loud pipes to a life saved?

Question

You've seen the stickers, "Loud Pipes Save Lives", usually accompanying an annoyingly loud bike. This, to me, is on par with saying something like "Turning up the radio in my car prevents accidents" My point is, is there any concrete evidence that loud pipes REALLY DO save lives? Has anyone's life been saved as a direct result of someone else's reaction to said pipes? Or do they just annoy you too?

Answer 1

Interesting proposition: Loud Pipes Save Lives.
This brings up the rather grim, but certainly pertinent observation that "No Life Was Ever Saved." Not one. None. Nada.
See, we begin dying the moment after we take our first breath. We have no idea how long this will take. But the bottom line is "saving lives" is not a very good excuse for ANY action ... not for loud pipes, not for helmet and seatbelt laws, not for waging war (duh), not for incarcerating our criminal element. No one was ever saved. Everyone died. The end.
In reality, there are always better reasons behind the idiotic and absurd prole-feed "saving lives" excuse. For the waging of war, there are economic and political reasons. For the seatbelt helmet laws, there are insurance and social welfare concerns. On each of these cases, the REAL reasons are deemed too embarrassing, or pragmatic, or greedy, or just plain dull for John Q. Idiot to understand, so they use the all-purpose nonsense answer "saving lives" to get the knee-jerk reaction that will allow them to avoid the embarrassment of the truth.
For the loud pipes on crappy two-wheelers, there is the fact that Harley riders generally have little tiny peckers and have to make a REAL BIG noise in order to feel that rush of testosterone that most males get simply from breathing.
So don't hate the poor little *****, and try to understand why they would make up such an absurd argument. It must be terribly embarrassing for them.

Answer 2

Only someone who has NEVER been on a motorcycle could ask such an idiotic question. I've answered this similar question ten times this week and, whether YOU ( or any other pathetic wannabe like Grendle ) feel there is any merit to the statement "Loud Pipes Save Lives" is irrelevant. I KNOW they do and, each and every day that I ride, I know that any accident that I am involved in ( NEVER been involved in one on a bike .... Knock wood ) will be MY OWN fault and not that of some "cager".
My bike's exhaust is VERY FUC%ING LOUD and I know that everyone knows that I am there ( Can't make the excuse "I never saw the motorcycle" ) and, just as is my plan, they either drive at "break-neck" speed to keep me from passing or, hit the brakes and fall back a quarter mile or so to stop the incessant THUMPING of my exhaust on their windshields. Either way, they are no where near me and, I am as safe as I can be on two wheels. For those CRYBABIES out there who think that I should conform to what THEY want, I say GO FUC% YOURSELVES !!! MY BIKE, MY WAY !!! Don't like it ? Too Goddam bad for you ! Speed up ! Slow down ! Keep your windows rolled up ! Take a different road ! Or, better yet, STAY HOME !

*** LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES ***

Answer 3

What the saying means is....

Loud Pipes will make other drivers pay more attention to the motorcycle(s) around them. A lot of vehicle drivers don't know there is a bike near them because they are too quiet and will often cause an accident because of inattention.

With a Loud Pipe, the driver of the vehicle knows and will be on the lookout for it - hence, possibly saving the life of the motorcycle driver.

A loud car stereo will often cause an accident the same way - the driver can't hear. They can't hear the cops or the ambulance or fire trucks either.

Answer 4

There is one thing everyone is not considering, however. This is a situation that nobody has though about-- this has NOT happened to me personally. This is just a hypothetical situation.

Late at night, coming home from work, I am very, very tired. I hear the lulling sound of my car radio, relaxing in the air conditioner while I drive and suddenly my eyes start to feel heavy. I shake my head around to keep myself awake, and settle back in for the long drive home.

Next thing I hear is this really loud cycle going by, with extremely loud pipes. First, the loud pipes make me realize that I am very near falling asleep, but also make me so angry that I decide to stay awake so I can follow the cycle to tell the driver that his pipes are too loud. I am hopping mad. I chase him down, make it to where he is, and next thing I know, instead of yelling at him, I am thanking him for perking me up and making sure I stay awake.

I do believe loud pipes CAN save lives, but only indirectly. Without the driver of the bike being there, the pipes can not save lives so it takes the driver and the pipes to save live.

Answer 5

Once again Grendle spews his unintelligent b-s. Either that or he is way too familiar with other guys' peckers.
I have never heard of any documentation of loud pipes saving lives but people do have personal experiences. Perhaps the same can be said of helmets saving lives. But I'm sure that one will come up about a kazillion more times.

Answer 6

I think loud pipes sound great, are a boost to the bikes horsepower and are a point of pride. By the way I don't own a motorcyle. For the most part I don't see how they'd save a life. However, when I'm driving my car and I hear them coming up from the rear, I usually look in my rear view mirror to make sure they aren't going to pass me and I don't change lanes at that time and smash them.

Answer 7

The louder the pipes, the higher the rpms, so if the pipes are loud enough to warn a pedestrian, the car is moving too fast for him to do anything about it, except for maybe yell in surprise for the driver to stop. Unfortunately, the driver will not hear the pedestrian due to his loud pipes and stereo.

Answer 8

Yes, but only people who never graduated eighth grade science.

Remember that when (any) sound is coming at you (such as an approaching motorcycle) the sound is relatively muffled, once it passes you and is moving away (when you can't hit it anymore anyway) is when it's loudest. All loud pipes do is annoy people and gives motorcyclists a bad image. Oh yes, and very often (especially on Harleys) it actually reduces horsepower.

Answer 9

A car was making a left turn into a business and the car in front of me went around on the right as I did. When I got around the turning car I was confronted by an idiot with two kids in the car, coming out of a gas station heading right at me. I pulled the clutch in and hit the throttle on my 750 Twin Kaw with straight pipes twice. The driver responded to the noise, looked at me and stopped before hitting me.

Answer 10

Absolutely! My OWN life! I ride regularly and on more than one occasion I have found it much easier to rap the throttle than to destabilize my grip to get to the horn, much quicker too. In city traffic, people tend to be oblivious to the world around them and my loud pipes have kept them in their lane on more than one occasion. You try to stay out of blind spots but sometimes you simply cannot. When you hear my bike growl you know the spot isn't available.

The sticker is basically an 'up yours' type of comentary, but this is an idea born by bikers, not posers.

Keep the rubber side down!