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or do they just annoy people?

 
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Harley did a research project on this and no they won't save anybody's life.

 
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I have been on many different bikes, the ones that were the quietest, I was almost ran over on the highway. Loud pipes makes everyone wake up. My dad's Harley not one person tried to pull out in front of me, tried to change lanes, tried sleep driving. Now for cars good question, loud pipes just sound cool on older cars.

 
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I have loud pipes, I rarely blow the horn. I have had people starting to pull out in front of me and I gave it a blast of gas, they stop and have that "OOPS" look on their face. When I am passing on the highway with multiple lanes, they see me coming with the headlight, but they also hear me coming. It is up to us as drivers to be seen and heard, plus I think it sounds great. Straight pipes that stick out about a foot with fins are a bit too loud for me, but different strokes or sounds for different folks. Ride safe!

 
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No, They make me laugh, HD"s are So slow you can hear them for miles.

 
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they are good for warnings if you have a quite bike the driver of the car can say you were in their blind spots and hit you, but if you have a loud pipe they know you are coming but its not for sure if will you get hit,

 
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Loud pipes damage more peoples hearing than they save lives. Sure, occasionally they do but a bright headlight in front of a moving object does a much better job of capturing one's attention than does noise behind the said moving object. Also consider that a kid listening to 120 db rap music 3 feet from his ears is in no way going to be able to hear your 90 db pipes 500 feet away but he will see your headlight regardless of the volume of his music. Also consider that freight trains are much louder than straight pipes on a bike and people pull out in front of them all too often.

 
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Being heard is a poor substitute for riding safely. The motive for having loud pipes on a bike is the same as doing an extreme lift on a 4X4 --- ***** compensation.

 
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always ride as they are trying to get you!!!my advice loud pipes bring more attention ...in my case i wear a helmet with a red mohawk on it... it has helpe me a LOT!!!

 
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no, they do not, the reason for this is the doppler effect where sound waves are compressed ahead of a moving object therefore your "loud" pipe does not seem loud in front of you where whatever is going to hit you would be, the noise is not "loud" until you are going past the object or already beyond it