Veliky Novgorod, daytime rush hour. A car with deafening music in it stops at an intersection. Hall windows are open. Nearby is the regional office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, two policemen standing talking, the epaulettes are hard to see, the titles are indistinguishable. Music plays, car stops. Something happened to the driver there, he’s accelerating with his crumbling rattle trap, but the woman isn’t going. I had already crossed the road, the green color of the traffic light turned red, then green again. The car is ringing with songs. The cops, who were trying to talk among themselves, started shouting. Finally, the driver of the noisy car leaves. I go up to the police officers and ask why they didn’t scold the scumbag. The standard answer is: “What can we do? He has the right to listen to music as he wishes, except for a moment of silence.
It’s not true, it’s not! But the police know this for sure, either from the highest-ranking employees of the same regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, or from legal experts. The rest, as a rule, do not know at all.
Russia was paralyzed by the misconception that the state allowed as much noise as it wanted, except during the hours of silence established by regional authorities. And in fact, no one can make noise with us. According to SanPiN 1.2.3685-21, the average permissible daytime noise level in living rooms is 40 dB at night, 30 dB at night. For adjacent areas, the permissible noise level during the day is 55 dB, at night – 45 dB. Art. 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation obliges to comply with these norms. The Supreme Court has long declared that the noise produced by a person, not by a worker or engineering equipment, cannot be measured, and anyone who listens to loud music or even just stomps should be fined. Guidelines MUK 4.3.2194-07 “Noise level control in residential areas, residential and public buildings and buildings” says that the noise caused by people’s behavior (music, singing, whistling) cannot be measured, in order to be held accountable, Rospotrebnadzor must: only constantly working construction Measure the noise of agricultural or household appliances. Art. 15 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation says that it is possible to live in housing only if they meet sanitary and epidemiological standards.
Everything seems clear: the legislator has long sided with the quiet and calm majority who do not listen to loud music, do not sing in apartments, do not shout stupidly.
Moreover, our government understands that houses and plots should be quiet for 24 hours, because people not only sleep at the appointed time, but also rest by reading a book, study, work from home, think about plans and just dream. And they always have the right to do it in their apartments, houses, plots.
Why are there so many people who are sure that you can make as much noise as you want with just a quiet lunch break until 22:00-23:00? And ambitious noisy neighbors insist that they relax with music. As if resting below 120 dB was their natural right. Moreover, it is not only the representatives of an uncultured minority who suffocate their neighbors and passers-by with music, but also the silent, suffering majority of the townspeople, who for years have tolerated stupid neighbors because of the people here, fall into such a delusion. Believe that you can even stand on your ears during the day. Even our police, who fill themselves with music, shrug their hands helplessly.
To at least somehow begin to combat the growing noise, enthusiasts had to go to the Supreme Court and ask him for clarification. Do you know why? Because all these norms that protect against noise lawlessness are scattered in different documents. While I’m not very busy with work, I’ve recently found time to personally examine judicial practices and read all regulations, the Administrative Offenses Code, the Supreme Court clarifications, the SanPiNs, and the Housing Code. What can we say about people who go to work for decades from year to year? Or about district cops who murder, steal mopeds, or dogs attack a child?
In fact, so much documentation has accumulated around a simple norm that people in modern society should live by: If you’re heard, you’re a bad neighbor. Fighting with noise is a rare situation where all the necessary laws are in force, the majority wants to fight, the police and the municipality treat the noisy citizens with condemnation, but the result of the struggle is almost invisible, because although there are laws, the devil has already broken more than one leg in them. These laws do not work because they are difficult to enforce or because no one wants to deal with them. Here the situation is more deplorable: almost no one knows about them. Accordingly, in order for the norms to work, all policemen, municipal workers and, more importantly, the calmest majority, who are literally weary of being with an uncultured minority, must learn about them. This means that we need a simple and clear law that will make it clear to everyone that you can never listen to loud music anywhere, in an apartment, or even in a car if there are people, residences, offices nearby. industrial facilities. You can not sing loudly in the apartment. Unless you’re alone on the train, in the garden, on the sidewalk, you can’t talk through the loudspeaker in a public place, watch videos or listen to music on your phone’s speaker.
We will definitely come to these norms of the hostel, as countries with more advanced home technical progress came to them, that is, they were the first to encounter the general appearance of loud audio equipment and smartphones. Did you know that in most states of the USA you can now only listen to music with headphones in parks or even at a public disco? Yes, yes, they come to a party, wear headphones, and everyone listens to the same thing.
Apartments have strict rules about any noise. It is forbidden to shout, whistle, listen to music so that the neighbors can hear. And if we take into account that the partitions there are mostly framed and usually only drywall and gypsum fiber boards, if not stone wool, then the requirements for silence are very high. In fact, Americans today listen to music in apartments only with headphones, and in private homes with small speakers.
Hard? Not at all. Only their communities have already suffered from the noise and the conflicts it has created. While we only had boombox, the people there got huge sound systems, they switched to smart phones while we were walking around with button phones. And there, the uncultured minority managed to make it now impossible for everyone to organize a disco in the park. There has been so much conflict, assault, neighborhood massacre and murder because of loud music and open telephones. How many have fallen victim to making their neighbors neurotic? By the way, there is a free movement of weapons in the country, therefore, in order not to aggravate the situation, states one after another began to pass harsh laws against voice interference, which they called loud. They even have time for gardening and repair work. Mowing the lawn – every 10-14 days, at certain times. Let’s say it’s Friday, from three to seven. Cant you do it? Hire workers. can’t? Get out. Everything is simple. The same, endless building forging, etc.
We will come to that too. And very soon. Because our neuroses and depressions caused by noise are already beyond measure.
Today, the average family has so much technology that it can make more noise than it did in the early ’90s, giving birth to an entire apartment. As a result, life sometimes becomes hell in new buildings with high audibility and a large percentage of them poor and not very educated. It is still normal in capitals and old districts. It is impossible to concentrate on a multi-apartment panel building in the countryside.
Cottages and houses in resorts have lost their meaning. They are sold promising the pleasure of silence and nature. But in fact, there is always music playing, in the cars, in the baths, in the gardens. Mowing, cutting firewood, nailing boards is constantly going on. Many people sell summer cottages, they can not only relax, but also concentrate on them. They also sell private houses and apartments facing the private sector in the city: there is music from morning to evening, mowing, mowing …
On electric trains, at least sometimes it became possible to pass silently only now, and then Moscow and St. We are talking about the “Swallows” in the prestigious suburban areas of St. Petersburg. Take a commuter train in Kostroma or Chelyabinsk – you will howl.
Nobody knows their rights. The uncultured leap forward as if they could do anything during the day. The cultured do not know that their peace is protected by law. The police are tired of answering calls, but they also rarely know how to calm violators. The government urgently needs to intervene. Because of the noise, there are already murders, fights, arson, attacks, scuffles. People naturally kill each other because of music and repairs in apartments. They are shot for noisy parties, there have been cases when entire companies of violators died. These cars are smashed and burned all over the country so that there is no constant music in the cars. Quiet neighbors suffocated the noisy ones with response songs, as a result, the third set them both on fire.
This is a terrible tragedy that requires immediate action. Living has become impossible. People are neurotic, there is no rest anywhere, sometimes you can’t even concentrate. We live in such a heap now, and the public has so much loud equipment at their disposal that a bad-tempered citizen could ruin the life of a twenty-door house or the life of a full electric train car. In apartments with windows facing the road, you can’t relax and sleep without earplugs in summer because cars go by with loud music around the clock. The traffic police are trying to do something, but the effectiveness of these attempts is about zero. They found a fine for installing non-standard acoustics, and then you can inspect the car only if it is stopped while in motion. While you can simply fix the fact of loud music, the car number and you can be held liable under Art. 6.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
There is no “I can make as much noise as I want to ten” in Russia. We have established highly human norms to maintain silence and order. But do this so that everyone knows about them and make it easy and quick to bring blame for their violations.
There is no need to wait for dozens of people to die or be maimed in fights under the windows over loud drinks, car music and chanson. Adopt a clear, understandable and clear law that will make it clear to everyone that you can’t make a sound. In our country, you cannot make noise anywhere, anyone, at any time of the day without technical necessity. Memorize these three words and force the public to learn them: nowhere, nobody and never!
The author expresses his personal opinion, which may not coincide with the editors’ position.