Living on main road

Never get used to it, from 2003-2019 I lived on a main road and had a beautiful back garden that you could only sit out in when the morning rush hour traffic had gone and before the evening traffic began, weekends were a complete waste of time. Now I live up a country lane and it is bliss.

I live near a busy dual carriageway. I have been here for 30 years now but the first few days the noise was awful. Now I miss it and if it goes quiet we usually know something has happened, i.e. an accident or someone jumping of a bridge. When lockdown started it was so quiet and I really enjoyed it. So yes you do get used to it and I do find it soothing at night.

How I wish all I had to worry about was traffic noise! As children we lived by a railway never stopped us sleeping or our parents enjoying the garden. Seemed strange moving away but got used to quieter times. Now live by the sea which was ok till about 3months ago a new neighbour moved in next door. Treated to his very loud music from morning to night. He opens doors & windows & I shut mine but still hear his over tv & radio. So maybe check noise pollution of this kind during day & evening as apparently nothing can be done about it! Always worth checking other noise pollution apart from traffic.

I would not live on a main road. Think of the fumes from traffic...

The noise becomes a background rumble that most people do get used to. But I would certainly consider the pollution element. It can be awful near main roads and you'd be sucking it into your lungs all the time.

Never got used to it, especially in the summer when the windows are open. Sitting in the garden wasn’t peaceful either. The house was lovely if we could have moved it things would have been perfect, instead we moved house and made some compromises on the inside but I am much happier without the noise. The traffic is getting more not less, bear that in mind too.
Good luck whatever you decide.

Your post has reminded me of my childhood home kissngate, which was on a bend in a busy road, also a bus route. We didn't notice the traffic noise, but over the twenty years I lived there my Mum and Dad did go to the aid of several car accident victims outside, including a motorcyclist.

When we first married, we lived in a flat overlooking a busy main road, and with a motorway not far away to the rear of the building, and had the noise from the traffic directly in front of us, and the incessant rumble from the motorway and after a while none of it regjstered. When we moved to our house in the suburbs, it took some getting used to the quiet!
BTW, not all motorcyclists are inconsiderate boy racers and speed freaks: when I come home late on mine, I crawl it gently down the road so as not to wake anyone.
I attach a photo of the club ride members I went out with on Sunday - have a look at the preponderance of grey/white hair and try and work out our average age!

We moved from a quiet close in a village to a house near a couple of noisy roads. We never got used to the noise and despite having triple glazing fitted in the bedroom closest to the road we could still hear the traffic. We have since moved again to a house in the country with no noise and absolutely love it. We often say we couldn’t live near a road again.

Not only is the noise disturbing my sleep (can't sleep with window shut), I'm also struggling to breathe, due to the air pollution. The difference last year, when the first lockdown ended and Boris told people to go back to work, was immediate and terrifying.
Don't go there.

Until I was 18, I lived on an A road out of London that was busy until late at night as well as first thing in the morning. I went off to college, and found it difficult to sleep because it was so quiet.

If you have cats it could be a worry.

i live just off a main road in a busy part of glasgow, during the day it is okay but at night the emergency vehicles still go along with sirens so no windows open at night, but on the plus side i am less than a minute from the supermarket and all the other shops. if you are in a closed off bit and not on the main road you are more likely to have the noise of kids playing.

I moved to a house on a main A road about a month ago from a house that was on a no through road. The reason we bought it was that at the back there’s a 176 foot garden that backs onto a common, it’s bliss. My bedroom is at the front and took me about a week to get used to sleeping with the traffic. There’s a traffic light junction just outside too. My only issue is reversing on to my driveway, it’s a bit if a challenge !

I live very near a very busy road, I wish the lorries did start at six thirty, four o’clock is normal here! I haven’t got used to the noise in eight years.

Thanks everyone for comments. The bungalow is set back a little and lorries etc are unable to pull off as its blocked. Main bedroom is at the back and second at the side. Also there is a hedge along lay by pruned by council blocking view to road. As someone said if house wasnt on main road it would be far more expensive it's just the noise from the A road in the garden. Will see.

Luckygirl

Gosh - I would hate that! Not just the noise, but also the fumes - yuk!

There are plenty of things to consider in terms of polution not just "fumes" though those were a big thing in our decision making before we moved here.
Yes, it is a main road, but not like a London main road, or a LA freeway!

This may help:
We used a tool like this before we moved here.
naei.beis.gov.uk/emissionsapp/

When we lived in London we had train lines {behind a wooden fence} about 5 meters from the front door and a little further away from the back of the building, Our maisonette was on the 2nd/top floor of the small block. We were not bothered by noise from the busy train lines. Just hearing a gentle hum that never kept us awake, even though only the kitchen window was double glazed. Now we are back up North in a rural area but fear the risk of accidents from the main road in front of our house, rather than the noise as we are double glazed.

Our last house was sideways on to a road that was busy in the rush hour and much less busy outside the rush hour. It was a large very solidly built victorian semi and we didn't really notice the noise because the house had 13 inch thick brick walls and just absorbed the noise. The garden wrapped round three sides of the house, but we moved there as DC both went off to secondary school and developed a whole lot of outside interests and friends who they could walk or bus to visit. It was about the time I went back to work full time and then started commuting to London, so we were all so busy with work, school and outside interests, we did not use the garden much. But with a thick conifer hedge down the side, it was not too noisy at weekends. That was 40 years ago

25 years ago, we moved to our current home and now live 100 yards from the main Bristol to London railway line, with a thick band of forest sized trees between us and the railway.

The first week the three heavy aggregate trains coming up every night from Somerset woke us up, the second week we just incorprated the noise into our dreams. The third week onwards we just slept through them.

Since moving here the line has been completely relaid, ballast, sleepers and continuous rail , which reduced the noise considerably and now the line has been electrified, no more diesel engines, just electric trains, and we can now barely hear them, even in the garden.

Being prepared to live with first the road and until recently the trains, we have been able to buy much bigger and nicer houses than we could have if we had wanted complete tranquility

I hate traffic noise, but our Best Man had a house just under the main flight path at Heathrow. Jets looking as though they were about to land in the garden, couldn't hear yourself talk when they were going over, heavy kerosene smell and black smuts all over the washing. It has to be quiet for me, one of the first things on the agenda when choosing a house.

I lived on the edge of a rural village and when cars and vans came in at speed they would make the house shake. It was the woomph of the displaced air hitting the buildings on either side. We had our share of motorbike noise too. And as for the tractors!

Traffic noise is part of life I’m afraid. And we all love our cars.

I also lived on a main road in the London suburbs. Actually rush hours were busy but the rest of the day and the night wasn’t too bad. And we got a massive 250ft garden backing onto a park.

We wouldn’t have chosen a main road if we had unlimited funds but it was a big house and garden there or a smaller one on a quieter road. But perhaps you can afford both?

I live on the busy main road through my town Never bothered me I don’t notice it or if I do it goes over my head It’s very convenient as I have a bus stop into town just opposite my house literally round the corner is the beach and sea and a fair number of little independent shops nearby so all good for me as I don’t have a car
When I lived in the tropics I thought I would never sleep again when I heard the loud tree beetles at night within a few days I was saying what tree beetles !
Your head wipes it out, well mine does anyway

Growing up in the city next to a trunk road means I don’t mind traffic noise at all. In fact I can’t sleep in dead silence and have the radio on low all night.
When abroad, my husband couldn’t sleep if there was a nearby disco, but it made no difference to me.

We moved to a house that is on a side road off the main road we don't get a lot of passing traffic but the ones we do get we hear especially in the hot weather having the windows open (but lately since covid started a lot of noisy speeding delivery vans) we have put a wall up to buffer the noise but this hasn't helped much and has gradually started slowly annoying me and is making me unsettled please really think about the road as we we're okay at first but then we began to hear it more not get used to it if you can hear it in the garden you will at sometimes in the house and it will effect your health

One of my houses was next to a mainline into London, the other situated on a main road. Did take a few weeks but soon got used to the noise. Still not for everyone, and not sure I would want it now.