Thread by @trentbaur

In anticipation of Saturday's counter protest in #ottawa, I decided to check out the downtown core on Friday night and here are my impressions. Some interesting data towards the end this thread… #ottawaprotest

My first impression upon parking near Gilmour and Bank at 9:40PM: I could hear nothing. It was a normal, quiet night in #Ottawa. There were no horns. It was dead quiet. (But keep reading.)

I walked north on Bank and the road was relatively empty. Anyone who was around had some sign of trucker support (flags, signs, etc) But still I heard no horns even as I approached the row of trucks that lined up on Bank after Nepean St.

A few blocks later I arrived at Laurier Ave and from my left, there it was: The train horn. Bloody hell, that fucking train horn was just moaning itself down the street towards me at 10PM and I knew it was coming from the ground central of Kent and Slater.

So yea, the horns were still there. But in all fairness, it was a lot better than Tuesday. If I were to describe it, I would say that everyone got a memo to lay off the horn but 4-5 guys just ignored it because they really needed to use their big, new horns regardless of the hour

But they at least tended to tap on their horn more than just laying on it. (The bully stopped punching you in the face and is only punching you in the chest. Where’s your gratitude?)

Overall, my sound meter levels suggested things were generally 10 decibels quieter. On Kent, I couldn't get a reading over 100. Still too loud though. It's still very bad and obnoxious right by apartment complexes. But it's less bad.

I have heard that protesters have agreed to no horns after 8PM. Well, horns were still there. And does that mean that a sonic shitshow at 7PM is considered acceptable by the #ottawaprotest? Any consideration towards people who work third shifts?

These idiotic horns are the own-goal of the #ottawaprotest and, from my perspective, is an unredeemable offence. Do not let this fade in history or it will come to your neighbourhood.

Also the streets still reek of diesel and exhaust. Here's lower Kent that just billowing with exhaust from trucks that have to be on nonstop to keep the occupants warm.

Arriving at Parliament Hill, I found it just as loud as Tuesday. This time I had quality earplugs, my hat and hood over my ears so I felt unphased by the noise. But so, so many people didn't have ear protection.

It’s a steady 105 decibels with a row of trucks just leaning on their horns nonstop. These truckers are absolutely destroying their hearing. Lots of young people. I saw a number of children at that late hour. There were surely more earlier.

Someone should make t-shirts that say, "I occupied Ottawa during the dead of winter and all I got was this t-shirt and permanent hearing loss." The back should read, "I didn't even get to fuck Trudeau"

The road leading down to the Rideau Centre was filled with trucks, people, horns and music.

It was just a full on party, filled with people. This is me walking towards it from the Rideau Centre side.

Still loud as hell

The best way to describe #ottawaconvoy2022 is #Ottawa has become a spring break destination after a grueling 2 year academic term. The vibe is basically Cancun in parkas with everyone blowing off steam, drinking beer and asking to have sex with some french person.

In all fairness, adjacent to the political angst that the truckers are expressing is an energy of just wanting to be out amongst people after these difficult 2 years. It was friendly, good natured and fun looking. (Albeit rather cringe)

But the hippies took over a farm in upstate New York for their music festival. You're taking over a fucking city, pissing and shitting in the streets and tormenting women, children and pets with 24/7 noise.

Having said all that, the truckers are showing what kind of nightlife might be possible in Ottawa. Perhaps @GlowFair should follow their lead and just pick an intersection for an impromptu winterlude themed dance night. Here’s your inspiration.

Finally, once I determined that the horns had de-escalated somewhat, I came up with the new idea of... counting the trucks. Cause you know, #data. @opendataottawa #ottawaprotest

Originally I was just going to do a block or two because I was curious. But as is typical with me, a completist mentality took over and, yea, I basically counted most of the downtown roads that had protest-related trucks.

I fought back the part of me that would have liked a classified list by truck type and just counted each vehicle that was "parked" on the road as 1 truck. Pickup truck, 18 wheeler or compact car. If it looked like it was camped out and had a steering wheel, I counted it.

Here is the quickly marked up map of truck counts for the blocks in the downtown #ottawa core. Most of the trucks are on 3 streets: Metcalfe, Kent and Wellington. I missed some trucks on Wellington west of Kent and I'm sure a few other blocks. C'est la vie.

For those who haven't been to downtown #ottawa during the protest, most of the trucks are packed in like sardines. Here is a view of Kent:

Here are the trucks on Wellington

I don't know what the truck estimates have been for the #ottawaprotest. But it goes without saying that suggestions of 50,000 trucks are ludicruous.

My counts total to 479 trucks. You can look at the map and develop your own impression of the numbers. I expec protesters to simultaneously say, "That's not that many trucks, what's the big deal?" and "There are way more trucks than that!"

Again, I missed a few roads, including Byward Market. I obviously didn't count Coventry or any other area of the city. But this is ground zero and that's what I counted.

One important insight these numbers provide is that downtown was mostly accessible on Friday night. Sure, it was late on Friday. But as I showed, the party was still raging at Rideau Centre.

I'm sure more trucks are due to arrive on Saturday. My numbers are nothing more than what I saw on Friday night from 10:30PM - 11:30PM.

End thread

One postscript: For me, the overriding principle coloring my view is that the ends do *not* justify the means. This #ottawaprotest is completely rooted in that belief, all of their defenders express it constantly.

Everyone sympathetic to the truckers, everyone who opposes the mandates, everyone screaming FREEDOM, realize that where the rubber hits the road, you do not want to live in a world where people think that the ends justify any actions they take to accomplish it.