The furore over loud cars is ridiculous. For the vast majority of people when a noisy car goes past, it takes a few seconds at most. So, noisy cars are really like ugly people. When I'm driving (in my very quiet Mazda station wagon) and I pass someone with an unfortunate genetic lineage do I jump up and down at the visual abhorrence? No, I simply wait for the moment to pass.
Should the government mandate that the ugly be measured by some yardstick - symmetry, body mass index, height, hair colour, and so on - or be made to hide until they have been modified from their stock bodyshell? Should they be chastised, fined and slapped with a sticker if they don't comply? While it would undoubtedly improve the aesthetics of the country's shopping malls, it's not the answer. In the same way that mandating low noise emissions from exhausts is not the answer to whatever question it was that needed answering.
Actually, do we even know the question? It seems a minority of intolerant people have taken offence to a minority of enthusiasts. What they do not take issue with is that buses, trucks, lawnmowers, aeroplanes, ferries, jetskis, speedboats and a variety of other mechanical objects we deal with in our daily life are actually louder than all but the most extreme of cars.
It seems like a small few are being penalised under a system that is not equal because the media can hook onto a 'definition' that polarises people's opinion. One rule for all vehicles is all that's needed.
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