Sorry to hear about your classical music’s correspondent’s enjoyment of music being disturbed by sirens at the Royal Albert Hall (Sparkling concerto for piano – and siren, 5 August). Sadly, this is a common experience at homes throughout the land, as day and night, emergency vehicles blast, shriek and howl their way to an incident – or a false alarm. Yes, there must be benefits, in terms of seconds saved en route to an emergency. But there are costs too: not only the incalculable costs of added stress and anxiety that these sirens induce (scientists say that loud, unexpected noises are the worst); but also accidents caused directly by panicked drivers, and indirectly by the disturbed sleep and shattered peace of the large numbers of households anywhere within several hundred metres of the routes these vehicles take.

Today’s cars are bristling with electronics; accepting that saving a few seconds of travel time is essential for genuine emergencies, we can, I’m certain, come up with more subtle and focused ways of asking road users to move to one side.