Thread by @trentbaur

Last night I went downtown to get a first hand look at the #ottawaconvoy protest. From online reports, I have found the use of train horns the most offensive element of the protest so I wanted to get a sense of it myself. #ottawa

It's important to note that I went on Tuesday night (5:30 - 7) after many of the weekend trucks had left. But a large number of trucks and protesters remained. The numbers were high enough to still feel like a full protest so I can't imagine what the weekend was like.

Many of the streets were lined with trucks and the sound of horns was constant. #ottawaconvoy

But there were a few intersections where protesters clustered with trucks stretching a few blocks in each direction and this is where the horns combined to be loudest. This is the view of Laurier and Kent which was the center of one of the clusters.

The horns and noise would come in waves, subsiding for only a few minutes before starting again. Sound levels would hover over 100 dBa at the loudest points.

At Parliament Hill, the trucks were lined up on the street coming from Rideau Centre. The horns were simply constant, never letting up.

My sound meter showed the noise levels were pinned ~105 dBa. If these protesters aren't wearing ear protection, they are 100% suffering hearing damage. I could only toleralate a few minutes of it.

Talk about courage. A single counter-protester stood in front of the trucks with a sign reading "We will not be held hostage in our own city." Huge respect. I will note that during the 5 minutes I was there, I did not see anyone harrass him nor did he seem under duress.

This video shows my sound meter (held upside down) as I walked west on Albert towards Bank. It was lined with trucks, the sound was steady in the mid 80 dBas until a truck next to me suddenly blasted his horn, registering 121 dBa (42 seconds into the video).

I literally jumped from being startled. The sound hurt. My audiologist wife confirms that 120 dBa is high enough to cause hearing damage.

I finally found one of the notorious train horns sitting on Bank and Slater. 105 dBa when the horn goes off and the guy was just laying on the horn. At the end of the video I pan up to the residential apartment complex just beyond the truck.

Here’s the sound meter from the above truck. 105 dBA while the driver constantly lays on the horn.

Finally, weary of the cold and noise, I headed back to my car. Here's a sense of the noise level that's still noticeable 3-4 blocks away.

These train horns are the most egregious part of the protest and it's unconscionable that the protesters are using them to abuse the residents of Ottawa. Noise like this is a feature of a seige not political demonstration. It has to stop. #ottawaconvoy

The use of omnipresent noise as a tool in this protest is simply being ignored by the media and people need to understand how excessive it is. (And these are from an “empty” Tuesday) It goes from morning til night and borders on cruel and abusive.

You have the right to protest. You have a right to oppose the mandates. You have a right to be heard. But you don't have a right to torment innocent bystanders who have no role to play in your demands. Children. Pets. Babies. Veterans with PTSD. Retirees. They don't deserve this.

Spare me the “what about the [mandate/vax/pandemic/etc]” Two wrongs don’t make a right. Your sense of aggrievement doesn't justify the abuse of innocent people, it just shows your hypocrisy. This is counter productive to the goals you’re trying to achieve.

I don’t care how much trash you pick up (the streets were clean), I don’t care how many homeless people you feed, I don’t care how much snow you shovel. The use of these train horns will cause you to lose the moral high ground and this is what will be discussed and remembered.

Voicing your anger on how pandemic measures have caused hardship on you should not involve delivering suffering and anguish on innocent people. Stop the horns. Stop the use of noise as an instrument of abuse. #ottawaconvoy

.@OttawaPolice, if you do ONE THING, enforce R.S.O. 1990, c. H.8, s. 75 (4) with respect to these train horns. How hard is this? Do you have no shame? #ottawa