‘The noise can be ear-splitting’

What solutions are there for your city or town when it comes to automotive noise at night?

Peter Yeung writes for “Bloomberg CityLab” about how Paris is trying to turn down the volume.

To combat the ill effects of urban noise pollution, Paris is deploying automated sensors to crack down on loud vehicles.

Europe’s Noise Capital Tries to Turn Down the Volume

Municipal authorities have installed “sound radars” that are equipped with multidirectional cameras and eight microphones.

Operating on a principle similar to that of a conventional speed radar, the devices measure noise precisely. They also link the noise to the vehicle that is causing it and photographs the license plate.

At how many decibels will the vehicles be in violation of the sound radar? The threshold could be between 85 and 90 decibels — a sound level that can lead to long-term risks for hearing. Exposure to road noise generates sleep disorders, cardiovascular diseases and also causes a loss of life expectancy of eight months.

Research also found that a single unmuffled scooter crossing Paris at night can wake as many as 10,000 people.

Yeung adds, “France’s mobility orientation law, which was passed in December 2019, defined noise as a form of ‘pollution’ for the first time.”

Photo by Joshua Rawson-Harris on Unsplash