In today’s day and age, there are about a billion different cars to choose from. Among this vast number, there are small cars, large cars, high-tech cars, eco-friendly cars, and … loud cars. Sometimes, a fancy looking sports car can race by your home with an ear-splitting roar, which makes your eardrums shake violently and forces you to cover your ears. Sound familiar? Well, here are the top five loudest cars, whose engines (when unmuffled) can make your bones rattle (from loudest to least loudest) : 

Volkswagen Golf
Dodger Challenger Hellcat
Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R
Porsche 911 Carrera S
Lexus LC 500

These cars, along with many others, should be banned from driving on residential roads, because they damage the human body, cause excessive pollution, and are a major distraction from work. 

First and foremost, loud cars cause hearing damage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), any sound above 85 decibels causes permanent hearing damage. Loud sound damages cochlea, which are the hairs in your ears that pick up sound. These hairs bend when a sound wave comes by. The louder the sound, the more the hair bends, and, like grass, if the hair is bent too much, it can get permanently damaged, or die. However, given time to recover, cochlea can refresh themselves, but repeated exposure to loud noise doesn’t allow recovery. Therefore, the more exposure there is to loud noise, the more number of cochlea get damaged, and it gets harder to hear. This shows that the people living in a residential area where a sports car drives by are at risk of hearing loss. A sports car passing by is definitely enough to bend the cochlea in one’s ear. A repeated number of sports cars driving by a neighborhood with their roaring engines doesn’t give enough time for one’s cochlea to recover. Therefore, sports cars can permanently damage the hearing of people simply near them. In addition, loud cars are damaging our health. Drivers of sports cars enjoy the loud, roaring sound of an engine. However, ‘enjoyment’, and ‘loud sounds’ don’t go together because human brains process loud sounds as a threat. According to a new study at Germany’s Mainz University Medical Center, “an increasing amount of noise can actually throw your heart out of rhythm. Called ‘atrial fibrillation’, this irregular heartbeat can lead to blood clots, stroke, and even heart failure.” This shows that people living on a street in which sports cars drive on are at risk of heart problems. This is a serious reason why sports cars shouldn’t drive in residential areas. In addition, when a loud sports car races by your home while you are trying to relax, you just want to grit your teeth and drive your fingers into your ears. This is a feeling of irritation, or agitation. According to Dr. Shilpi Agarwal, a medical physician in Washington State, feeling agitated is even more effective in throwing your heart out of rhythm. This further shows how much sports cars can damage the health of residents. Residents are at risk of heart failure and strokes because of the loud roar of sports cars. Do you really want to increase your chances of a heart attack just because of a seemingly ‘cool’ car?  

Furthermore, loud sounds can cause stress and anxiety, because human brains are trained to process loud sounds as a sign of danger. When residents constantly hear the roaring of a sports car, their brains process the sound as a threat. When humans think they are threatened, they are constantly alert and their minds are racing. This state of mind can cause stress or anxiety, which can affect our sleep. This severely damages our health. Do we really want regular people to have sleep apnea because of sports cars?

Secondly, sports cars cause a lot of air pollution. If you have looked closely at a sports car before, you have probably noticed the dark, smoky gas that is emitted from the exhaust. All cars cause air pollution (except for electric cars), but sports cars cause more pollution than a regular car, because sports cars burn way more toxic fuel. According to quickenloans.com, a regular car holds about 14 gallons of gas when filled up. However, sports cars can hold up to 22 gallons, according to acs.org. This shows that sports cars cause excessive pollution because they burn almost twice as much fuel as a normal car. This means that sports cars inflict almost twice as much damage to the environment than regular cars. When fossil fuels are burned, deadly gasses such as methanol and carbon monoxide are released into the air. These gasses can inflict a lot of damage. According to auto.howstuffworks.com, methanol is really harmful, because only two to eight ounces of it can cause permanent blindness. Furthermore, carbon monoxide deprives our bodies of oxygen when inhaled, according to osha.gov. Both of these gasses are released from cars, but because sports cars burn more fuel, they emmitt even more of these poisonous gases into the air. This puts residents at risk, because their neighborhoods are getting polluted. If people are outside, and a sports car drives past, these poisonous gasses will affect them. Sports cars should not be running around neighborhoods and causing excessive pollution. In addition, according to auto.howstuffworks.com, “Air pollutants emitted from cars are believed to cause cancer, and contribute to such problems as asthma, heart disease, birth defects, and even eye irritation.” Furthermore, according to the Montreal Gazette, the fuel burned by sports cars in their city is causing heart attacks, asthma, and even deaths. This further shows how much sports cars are putting neighborhoods at risk. Do we really want people to have all of these problems because of sports cars? Critics may argue that all vehicles cause pollution, and the blame shouldn’t be on sports cars, but I challenge that. If you have observed a sports car carefully, you have probably noticed the black, puffy smoke that comes out of their exhausts. A regular car doesn’t emmitt that much gas, meaning that regular cars cause less pollution. 

Last but not least, loud sounds are a major distraction for students, children, and adults who are doing work. A loud sports car racing by your home while you are trying to do your work isn’t really a helpful thing. According to studies at North Carolina’s Duke University, a little bit of sound, like music at minimal volume can actually help our minds to focus on our task. However, any sound beyond that is considered a distraction. This shows that residents are experiencing unintentional distraction, because of sports cars driving in their neighborhoods. If you think about it in a logical way, there is no way that you can concentrate on your work when a loud noise is travelling outside your window. In addition, according to weforum.org, “ Often the reason why sound distracts us is because unwanted sound competes with speech and other signals.” This further shows how the roaring engine of a sports car can distract you from your daily activities. Critics may argue that people should wear headphones to block out the sound from sports cars, but I challenge that. If people wear headphones strong enough to block out the noise from sports cars, they won’t be able to hear anything else, even their families calling out to them in an emergency. Furthermore, based on past experience, very few headphones would be strong enough to block out the sound of a sports car. Those few headphones would be very expensive, and not many people would be able to afford them. Besides, why should everyone buy headphones just to keep sports cars driving on their roads? Sports cars should keep their engines muffled, and their drivers should control the sound by smoothly pressing on the accelerator. They need to respect other people’s privacy, because people cannot work when sports cars are racing on their roads. Sports cars should not drive on residential roads.

All in all, sports cars with unmuffled engines should be banned from driving on residential roads. These fancy looking cars can damage hearing, cause excessive pollution, and is a major distraction from work. This needs to be stopped! A loud and distracting pollutant isn’t necessary on a peaceful row of houses, because it is a violation of people's rights to privacy and quietness. It is fine if sports car show off their engines on a highway, but near homes, sports cars should keep their engines muffled, control the sound by not suddenly pressing on the accelerator, and they should go off of sport mode. Action should be taken against these roaring beasts that threaten the peace of a quiet neighborhood. Things that you can do are: make posters and display them around your neighborhood; speak out against sports cars; or even speak to someone you know who drives a sports car. A new age is coming, where electric cars like the Tesla will rule the streets, and will not cause any pollution or noise. Sports cars have no place in this new age, and will disappear sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.