Fix Road Safety 4: Use Tech to End Deliberate Noise Pollution

Modifying a muffler is anti-social behaviour. Automated enforcement can solve this problem.

Excessive noise in cities is mostly caused by cars. Honking, but primarily modified mufflers on cars and motorcycles.

Chronic noise is a public health issue. It affects sleep and stress, which in turn contributes to high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.

It is also a road safety issue. Excessive noise makes others feel unsafe, particularly pedestrians, cyclists and wheelchair users.

Unfortunately, that may be the objective of modified mufflers.

Noise is the point

The sort of modified mufflers we hear at night, or cruising on a Sunday afternoon, are generally not legal. Most jurisdictions in North America have a noise limit of 80-100 db. Modified mufflers are after-market products designed to break this barrier. They don’t provide a performance boost. They are loud for the sake of being loud.

And loud for another reason. First-of-its-kind research from the University of Western Ontario found, not surprisingly, that young men were most attracted to loud cars. But the research also found it was those men who exhibit traits of psychopathy and sadism who were most attracted to excessively loud vehicles.

In other words, the purpose of loud cars is to intimidate and bully others. Let others know who owns the road.

The transition to electric vehicles makes this point clearly. The engine of an EV is effectively silent. But the Dodge Charger — one of the most notorious of the muscle cars — is artificially recreating the sound of an engine as it transitions to electric. The soon-to-be released 2024 electric Charger will include a rear speaker that emits the sound of an engine at reportedly up to 126 db.

New solution

There is a new technology to address this problem.

Automated noise cameras.

Think of speed cameras, but instead of measuring the speed of a car, they are measuring its noise. Cars with mufflers above the noise limit get their licence plate photographed and automatically sent a ticket.

Cities adopting automated noise enforcement

Automated noise cameras are still in their infancy.

New York is one of the first cities in North America to use them to issue tickets, starting late 2023.

The number of cities trying them out is growing quickly. In Canada, pilots are already under investigation in Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton, and likely elsewhere.

As with any new technology, there will be a number of associated issues that need to be addressed — such as privacy, equity and what other data the camera is collecting. But on balance, this is a solution worth further exploring.

It’s time for all cities to start looking into automated noise cameras.