Once a staple of every accessory shop, loud modified exhausts could soon be removed from vehicles regardless of age under new proposals from the Department for Transport.
DfT has invested in a trial of ‘noise cameras’ which can be installed in residential areas in order to catch drivers or riders with exhausts that are louder than the prescribed limit.
Having an excessively noisy exhaust is already an offence which can result in a non-endorsable fine, but these are rarely given out by police as collating evidence of how loud a vehicle is can be difficult.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “We want those in Britain’s noisiest streets, who are kept up at night by unbearable revving engines and noisy exhausts, to come forward with the help of volunteer areas to test and perfect the latest innovative technology”.
“For too long, rowdy drivers have been able to get away with disturbing our communities with illegal noisy vehicles. It’s time we clamp down on this nuisance, banish the boy racer and restore peace and quiet to local streets”. You can read Schapps’ full remarks here.
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The trial led by the Atkins-Jacobs Joint Venture to provide technical consultancy including acoustics expertise, design, modelling and asset management. The announcement follows preliminary testing of a prototype noise camera by DfT back in 2019, which showed the technology can identify individual vehicles in certain circumstances and assign noise levels to them.
A white paper written for the government’s ‘Levelling Up’ agenda found that residents of areas deemed to be socially deprived in the UK are three times more likely to be disturbed by anti-social noise.
i totally agree with noise cameras , the apparent use of all the “Blow no Go ” on the little boys cars , mainly standard fiestas, standard 1.4 civics , and corsas are a bain on society with their “popping and banging ” on over run..its pathetic ..if they were fast cars, then the track is the place..lol
Certain cars have switchable exhausts, from quiet to loud/sports, so its simple, keep on quiet mode
Mr. Schapps comments “boy-racers” & “rowdy drivers” is disgusting. Not all drivers with “noisy exhausts” should be judged to be rowdy or “boys”
Stereotypical and judgemental.
Similarly to DPF removal, the law should be on supply and fitment of such exahausts, as for some cars this is the only solution to replacing a deteriorated exhaust system on older vehicles where replacement OE parts are unavailable.