# BEEP BEEP BEEP - Trucks backing up **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756 "2011-10-25T18:26:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/21 "2011-10-25T23:26:34Z")
I would guess that people get used to loud noises; by making it obnoxious, you’re making it very hard for those exposed to it every day to ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/22 "2011-10-25T23:40:16Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I would REALLY like to see a cite that these alarms do any measurable good. Apparently, they do _some_ good, but could be done differently with hopefully better results and less annoyance. [Cite](http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.119-a30). ---
**Author:** ![Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/4af34b/32.png) [@Zany\_Zeolite\_Zipper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zany_Zeolite_Zipper)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/23 "2011-10-26T01:07:42Z")
Most industrial sites that I’m familiar with now **require** a flag-person whenever a large truck is backing-up. What this usually means for contractors is that a truck that normally just had a driver now has a driver and a flag-person. Think what it would do to your unemployment if you Yanks mandated a flag-person for all reversing large trucks! ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/24 "2011-10-26T04:17:20Z")
> [@Algher](#): > > I would REALLY like to see a cite that these alarms do any measurable good. I can’t do that for you, but I can tell you when I was driving a big truck with a back up bell, people would routinely walk right behind it as I was backing up. It was only because I was extremely paranoid about watching my mirrors that I didn’t hit anyone, but there was one close call where a guy smacked the back of the truck when I got too close to him. I jumped out of the cab and ran around to make sure I hadn’t hit anyone to find this pissed off guy yelling at me for not watching where I was going! Uh, dude? I _can’t_ see directly behind me, hence the back up bell? Duh. > [@](#): > > Yet another reason for me to embrace suburbia. Oh, we still have them - garbage trucks every Wednesday morning (three each day), construction trucks, UPS, etc. ---
**Author:** ![flatlined](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb9ed0/32.png) [@flatlined](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flatlined)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/25 "2011-10-26T04:43:41Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > I can’t do that for you, but I can tell you when I was driving a big truck with a back up bell, people would routinely walk right behind it as I was backing up. It was only because I was extremely paranoid about watching my mirrors that I didn’t hit anyone, but there was one close call where a guy smacked the back of the truck when I got too close to him. I jumped out of the cab and ran around to make sure I hadn’t hit anyone to find this pissed off guy yelling at me for not watching where I was going! Uh, dude? I _can’t_ see directly behind me, hence the back up bell? Duh. I have back up bells on my van. I also honk my horn. I can’t SEE, get out of my way. It makes me crazy when people look at my van, they even make eye contact with me and then they run behind me anyhow. As for not using them…I have a crippled friend who was working construction and someone disabled their beepers and backed up over my friend. He’s got lots of money now. He will never get his leg back. Once, I almost ran a kid over backing out of a grocery store parking lot in my car. I was looking around, using my mirrors and moving out slowly. One of those very responsible parents let her toddler run to their car behind my car and I knocked him on his butt because I couldn’t see him. Please, parents of small children, don’t let them run around in parking lots. They are hard to see and if their small size makes it so that someone can’t see them while backing out, bad things could happen. ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/26 "2011-10-26T04:47:10Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I have back up bells on my van. Considering your username, do they go BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP? ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/27 "2011-10-26T04:48:23Z")
Don’t even get me started about the loud-ass barking dogs in my neighborhood. Oh how I want to cook up some special, poisoned steaks and slip them to them in the dead of the night. (I wouldn’t do it but yes, I’ve considered murdering a dog before - it’s _that_ fucking obnoxious and persistent) That and the jackasses with motorcycles (and the occasional unmuffled car engine) louder than jet engines roaring down the roads at every time of day and night. Do these assholes think everyone is ooohing and ahhhing at how powerful their engines are? A close cousin of these guys are the ones who go around with booming stereos that can shake the foundation of every building within a 10-block radius. Fuck them all. Fuck them in the ass. ---
**Author:** ![Astral\_Rejection](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/258eb7/32.png) [@Astral\_Rejection](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Astral_Rejection)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/28 "2011-10-26T06:00:27Z")
I wonder if rear-view cameras wouldn’t be a better option? My car has one, and it’s totally changed how I back out of a spot. If I’m parked on a slanted-space parking lot, I can see the entire way down the lane, and due to the ‘fish eye’ effect things directly behind me are exaggeratedly large. It would be incredibly difficult for me to accidentally hit something while backing up. They can’t be that expensive. Why not just make it a standard safety feature? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/29 "2011-10-26T09:38:53Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > And at 7 am on a Saturday morning in a residential neighborhood, it doesn’t need to be that goddamn loud! 7? The garbage trucks in my neighborhood come any time between 11pm and 6am, and it’s daily! If I ever get hold of the city councilor in charge of that… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/30 "2011-10-26T12:52:56Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > …quietly alerting people to the fact they’re about to be squashed like a bug… Quoted for unintentional humour. Yes, if I’m about to be squished, I would like to be alerted quietly. Quiet alerts. Nextly, I’d like to tone down the palette of warning colours from garish angry reds, oranges and yellows. Something subtle involving pastels. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/31 "2011-10-26T12:58:02Z")
> [@SeaCanary](#): > > You want sucky? I’ll give you sucky!! > > The local Army/Navy store had an African Grey parrot that would imitate everything – with 100% fidelity – from the door opening and closing to the phone ringing. But it’s absolute favorite was a truck’s back-up alarm. FAVORITE!! > > I asked the guy behind the counter how-the-hell many times had the bird heard it? His response, with a murderous glance at the parrot: “Once.” Awesome post/username combo. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/32 "2011-10-26T13:37:05Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > or anything on four wheels for that matter, really. I understand that someone right behind a large truck might benefit from a subtle reminder that said truck is about to run him or her over. But such a reminder only has to be heard by those people that are in the direct vicinity of that truck, not people that are half a mile away. Still, it seems as though trucks are dedicated not only to quietly alerting people to the fact they’re about to be squashed like a bug, but also to waking the dead in a 5 block radius. And not only trucks, it seems as though anything the size of a shopping cart is outfitted with those hellish alarms these days. Fuck all those fucking fuckers! to be fair: 1. they _have_ to be annoying, that’s how they get your attention. Ever wonder why alarm clocks have such a screechy tone? Same reason, it’s unpleasant and attention-getting. 2. having driven box trucks, the lack of a rear-view mirror is really limiting. _The driver cannot see anything directly behind the truck!_ Sorry it bothers you, but I’d rather not have to live with having injured or killed someone by backing over them. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/33 "2011-10-26T13:41:59Z")
Thanks to those who endorse me. To those who stress that there’s worse things in the world, you’re right, but if only those people got to post here who have a legitimate beef with the universe (“Fuck this fucking famine - Get us some food down here in Africa already!!!”) and all other pit threads were disallowed, we could probably dispense with the pit. There’s always someone who has it worse, thank goodness! But yesterday I was raging (:mad:) and wanted to vent so I would feel better (:)). As for all the horrible stories of people run over - unless I can get a cite that this system saves lives and there’s no other way that would work at least as well (and I don’t believe such a cite is forthcoming) I am going to stick with my rant. For the moment, I think the balance between individual responsibility and the collective burden is way off. Finally - whatever you might find funny about my posts, I meant for you to find funny. It’s all _intentional_, my humor! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/34 "2011-10-26T15:09:50Z")
The truck drivers who service the loading docks in my office building and the one across the alley every day have apparently determined that the backup beepers are not sufficient, so they honk their horns multiple times too. ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/35 "2011-10-26T21:51:53Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > \ > ETA: Another big point made by the NPC people is that those abominable car alarms don’t even do much to prevent theft, actually, since everybody ignores them anyway, and even the insurance companies say so. So much for the alarms that cried wolf a little too much. And in fact, the recent issue of _Via_, the American Auto Club magazine, even has an item to that effect. > > In fact, it seems to me that I’m hearing car alarms a little less often now than I did a few years ago. Are they (hopefully) fading in popularity? This is my complaint. People ignore them unless they find out its THEIR car. I’m all for making the key fob make the same obnoxious noise as the car alarm. That way you’ll know its YOUR car and you’ll at least pay attention to it! ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/36 "2011-10-27T00:17:01Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Well…that’s what the OP gets for sleeping in a construction site. Reminds me of the local snowplow driver. Always comes by and does a remarkably thorough job of plowing the street. At least he tries. I know he tries because at three in the morning he’s driving up the street…and backing (beep beep beep) up, and driving up the street again…and backing (beep beep beep) up. Then he turns the corner and drives up the street…and backs (beep beep beep) up. Then back up the street…and back (beep beep beep) again. Then he turns a different way and goes up the street…then he backs (beep beep beep) up. And this isn’t blizzard plowing either. This is maybe a quarter inch of snow. He will not rest until every last single solitary snowflake is plowed out of the road. Nobody else will rest either. Maybe that’s the point though. God knows if I was out of my comfy comfy bed at three in the morning, I’d be pissed enough to punish those still sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/37 "2011-10-27T07:04:01Z")
Perhaps you can rant quietly. It should be just as effective. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/38 "2011-10-27T07:14:08Z")
A flashing light would be as effective and less annoying, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/39 "2011-10-27T07:41:30Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > A flashing light would be as effective and less annoying, perhaps. Yes - then when people who were looking at the vehicle reversing toward them saw the light flashing, they would instantly know the vehicle they were watching reverse toward them, was reversing toward them. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756/40 "2011-10-27T07:55:15Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Yes - then when people who were looking at the vehicle reversing toward them saw the light flashing, they would instantly know the vehicle they were watching reverse toward them, was reversing toward them. Well, since most people object to the noise _at night_, then yeah, unless they were blind, they’d notice a flashing light even if they weren’t facing the vehicle. In short, lights at night, beeps in the daytime. (This might pose some problems in extremely well-lit places, I can see) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beep-beep-beep-trucks-backing-up/600756.md?page=3)