A Ban on Car Alarms?

I was up all night because of a car alarm that wouldn't stop going off right outside my apartment. Short of egging the car out of frustration, what can I do?

Seth, Cobble Hill

Is there anything as ineffective as a car alarm in New York City? When's the last time you heard a car alarm go off and then saw dozens of concerned New Yorkers rushing to the scene in order to scare off a would-be car thief?

If an alarm is going off on your block, call 311 and tell them you have a noise complaint. Because it is a car alarm and not, say, noisy neighbors or someone on the street with a boombox, the operator will most likely transfer you to 911 and dispatch the police to check on the car. This happened on our block recently and our call resulted in the alarm going silent within 30 minutes.

If you'd like to do more, Transportation Alternatives has organized a campaign to ban car alarms. This Thursday, June 10, the City Council is considering a bill that would ban the sale and installation of new alarm sirens in cars. Transportation Alternatives is encouraging people to testify at this hearing to call for a bigger ban on all car alarms, new and old. Since the alarm in your neighborhood most likely prevented sleep and not a theft, your situation might make for some good testimony.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Doug Gordon in Miscellaneous on June 8, 2004 9:54 AM

Comments [rss]

John Marsh

Car alarm is so very important as car stealing is increasing very rapidly. Car security is important and should be on priority. Thank you so much!!!!! Please see "soundandalarm.com".

brendan

I really see no need for sirens to be installed in city cars. They're obviously ineffective at this point and have nothing to do with whether or not a car can be stolen anyway. An ignition kill and/or Lojack is plenty.

Jen

Keith, that is so awesome.

Car alarms are the "electronics that cried wolf."

KeithS

In this situation, after 10 minutes or so, I see absolutely nothing wrong with egging the car. People who have so little consideration for their environments deserve the superificial inconvenience of cleaning up their precious automobiles. And in reality, might it not force them to rethink their decision to activate a car alarm? Isn't that the best solution?

A few months back a car alarm kept going off on my block on Smith Street. I left a note under the wipers. "The next time your car alarm goes off, you're going to get a brick through your windshield."

Never saw that car on our block again.