Can you hear less traffic?

[Whathappenedtothelego]

I'm a key worker, so still driving to work, and there is definitely less traffic on the roads.

But there is still a fairly steady stream of traffic and walkers and cyclists going past my house. DC are in the garden, and so I have an ear out, and I would say there is the same traffic noise outside that there always is at a weekend (I know strictly speaking it's not a weekend) Don't get me wrong, it's never massively busy, it's not a main road, people passing are likely to be local. But still, listening, you wouldn't know we are supposed to be limiting outings.

I see all this drone footage of completely empty streets in central London, but in my small town nothing really seems to have changed.

What's everyone else's experience, and what sort of place do you live in.

I cant hear the hum of traffic at the moment and it's eerie. The odd car noise every so often but not a lot.

We live on the outskirts of a small town, about a mile (across fields) from a dual carriageway. The constant background rumble of traffic has gone, not that I used to hear it really but it's absence is noticeable. Ditto sounds from planes and police helicopters.

I live in a small town which is on the main route to the Yorkshire moors and coast.
I can hear less traffic. I have noticed hearing trains during the day whereas normally I only hear them at night. Yesterday when I went out for a run along the route which goes to the moors there was hardly anything. More strikingly, Sunday last week dh and ds1 went out for a walk which included crossing the dual carriageway to Scarborough by footbridge and it was absolutely empty. Normally on the first weekend of the Easter holidays it would be solid - it's the sort of place that gets tailbacks of tens of miles throughout the summer.

So, yes, here there is absolutely no question, there's far less traffic round here, probably because most of it is normally tourist traffic which has as good as vanished.

I live on a 30mph road in a town

The rush hour traffic is less but generally there’s still a car going past at most times

Also the annoying kids on noisy dirt bikes going past at all hours

The police chase them but because they live on the traveller site outside of town they don’t touch them.

They have no number plays and likely no insurance or tax

Number plays = numberplate

There's a lot less traffic where I am. I live in a tourist spot so usually lots of traffic noise. The other notable difference is the lack of taxis transporting young adult DC (including mine) to their nights out and back again so the traffic through the night is very much reduced too.

Massively less traffic and aircraft noise here.

Yes !! It’s like being back in the 1950s here : no cars !!!!!! Amazing.

Yes, it's lovely. Especially in the sunshine for some reason. The birds seem braver too. It makes me wish I could live somewhere so quiet all the time.

It would be eerily quiet here but the traffic noise (never much compared to most places) has been replaced by birdsong, it's lovely.

Definitely. We live on a busy road near a motorway. Noticeably less traffic noise throughout the day and particularly fewer hgvs.

I live near the main road into Wales which would normally be bumper to bumper by now, and there's just the odd car going past today.

Yes. I live in Brighton. Definitely less commuter traffic

We’ve more traffic through the village than usual, as everything is being delivered at the moment.

Much, much less. We live in West London and walked by the A4 the other day mid afternoon and it was dead. There are also hardly any cars moving in the residential streets which is great as it means it is much easier to stay away from people when walking or running.

I live on the outskirts of a large town and can normally hear the hum of traffic from a main A road , but since lockdown I can’t hear anything. Noticeably less sirens too.

Less traffic here and less air traffic noise.

I find not hearing the hums of planes a bit weurd

*fewer sirens ?

It takes me less than 5 minutes to cross the road outside my house so definitely quieter.

Live in a suburb of a city. Can cross the dual carriage way near my house without using a pedestrian crossing at any point in the day now - usually can only do so late at night. A cyclist colleague has posted photos of main route near our work that are now completely free of traffic.

Is the road near your house the main route to the shops or the only way to a main road?

The M25 is a couple of miles away. The ‘hum’ we can always hear outside or with the windows open is definitely quieter. We’ve had midnight bikers ‘opening up’ their bikes on a long road nearby though, so it’s not all peaceful.

I see almost no traffic at all on my daily exercise, only a small fraction of normal when I go to the supermarket and background traffic noise is almost non existent.

We're on a normally busy A road and it is noticeably much quieter. We still get the heavy traffic in the week, but it's a lot quieter at what would usually be rush hour at either end of the day. The only aircraft are planes from Manchester to the Middle East or the occasional helicopter.

I can usually catch the hum from the m11 about 5/8 miles away and the nearby train line and airplanes. It’s all definitely much quieter by me.

I think it will depend on whether your on a main route to a supermarket or something if you’re still hearing a fair bit of traffic or not.

Definitely less, our back garden has about 4 gardens side on between us and busy (usually) motorway, our bedroom is in the back of house and traffic usually wakes me up and can be heard throughout the day. I commented to DH that there are virtually no motorway sounds this week! I imagine we will notice it so much more when traffic increases again!