HOW CAR NOISE CAMERA ARE BEING USED TO SILENCE ANTI-SOCIAL DRIVERS

THE MAJORITY OF READERS SUPPORT TOUCHIER RULES ON CAR NOISE. WE EXPLORE THE TECH CRACKING DOWN ON ANTI-SOCIAL EXHAUSTS

- Tom Jervis [e-mail]

CARS are quieter than ever these days thanks to the presence of exhaust filters and electrified powertrains. However, there are many people who still enjoy the roar of a revving engine — although it's something that others might understandably see as a nuisance.

In fact, when Auto Express surveyed 1,000 motorists, our data found more than half are disturbed in their homes by loud exhausts several times per month. One in three (33 per cent) of those affected complained about the impact on the quietness of their garden, while almost a third (30 per cent) said their sleep was disturbed by noisy passing vehicles.

The issue is now so common that police forces have started deploying specialised noise cameras, which can identify and subsequently penalise those driving with anti-social exhausts.

Roughly three years on from their first trial deployment in the UK, we're taking a deep dive into how these devices work, what the noise limits are in the country, and what the penalty could be if your car’s too noisy.

WHAT ARE CAR NOISE CAMERAS?

CAR noise cameras feature both an automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR) camera and a microphone. The latter can listen for unreasonably loud exhaust notes, while the former scans the number plate of the offending vehicle and informs the police, in much the same way as a traditional speed camera.

The effectiveness of these units is hard to qualify, but a study by the Department for Transport following initial trials found that although “at some locations not many excessively noisy vehicles were detected, the noise camera's deterrent effect resulted in changes to driver behaviour and avoidance of the installation site.”

ARE MORE CAR NOISE CAMERAS BEING INSTALLED?