Noise cameras which clamp down on engine revving and noisy exhausts to be trialled

30 April 2022, 07:57 | Updated: 30 April 2022, 08:00

Noise cameras which can detect when cars are breaking legal sound requirements could appear on Britain's streets in a clampdown on "boy racers", engine revving and illegal exhausts.

The Department for Transport [DfT] wants MPs to find the noisiest roads in England and Wales and four areas will be entered in a £300,000 trial of the cameras.

They automatically detect when vehicles break legal noise requirements and give police real-time reports.

Police can fine drivers who flout noise rules but they can struggle to gather evidence.

Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, 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.

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"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."

The cameras can identify individual vehicles and assign noise levels to them.

Exhausts and silencers on vehicles must be properly maintained and not changed to increase noise. Flouting sound rules can lead to a £50 fine.

Research has linked noise pollution over the long term to problems like heart attacks, high blood pressure, type two diabetes and stress, research suggests.

And people living in deprived areas are up to three times more likely to complain about noise than people living in more affluent areas, the Government believes.

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Westminster Council is getting ready to use noise cameras near Waterloo Place and Exhibition Road after long-running issues over noise and dangerous driving, including cars performing doughnuts early in the morning.

The trial will be led by Atkins and Jacobs, two professional services companies.

Andrew Pearce, practice director of Atkins-Jacobs Joint Venture, said: "This scheme is a critical development for people living in areas affected by anti-social driving.

"It demonstrates how we can use technology to take a highly targeted approach to solving these problems.

"Testing different noise measurement technologies with a range of vehicles in this controlled environment means we can ensure tickets are only sent to drivers with illegal and anti-social cars or bikes.

"Highway authorities will be able to automate noise enforcement and get on top of the problem without using up valuable police resources."

AA president Edmund King said: "Excessive noise from modified cars used by 'street racers' or 'pimp my ride' racers are normally associated with defined areas where these individuals meet.

"Whilst this new noise technology can be targeted at known hotspots, it remains to be seen whether this just encourages the racers to find a street with no cameras.

"There is no doubt that anti-social excessive noise can cause health problems so targeting the culprits will be welcomed by local residents."