I Can't Hear You!
Noise Radar Is Being Tested In France To Find And Fine Loud Motorcycles!
When the world has turned to fully electric vehicles, motorcycles will glide silently through the streets like swans on a stream. Is this something you welcome? Well, silence could prove pretty popular in France where the sounds of a noisy bike are a cause for complaint. They have caused such a stir that technology is being developed to put a stop to it!
Back in 2019, noise detecting equipment was installed on the streets of Paris to monitor sound levels with a view to catching and fining the loudest offenders. As of yet no one is being prosecuted because the scheme is at the trial stage still, but the technology is spreading across the country as it waits for final testing and legal clearance. By early 2023 it is expected to be in action, fining the loudest machines.
The monitor is a 360 degree camera with acoustic antennae in the shape of four outward facing sensors, each listening out to catch any loud noises from any direction and home in on where they are coming from. If you ride past these listening ears too loudly they will hear you and the cameras in the device will take a picture of your number plate - bish, bash, bosh - you've got a ticket and a fine!
So if you drive a noisy bike in France you could soon fall foul of this earwig in many different regions as it is rolled out!
What are your thoughts about this, is it something you welcome as you hate noisy bikes or do you growl as you ride along to alert drivers that you are there in an attempt to prevent SMIDSY incidents? A Euro for your thoughts...
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Comments:
02/09/21 - A similar device (accoustic camera) has recently been installed on the A272 just outside Wisborough Green, on the Petworth side of the village. Kensington and Chelsea and Holland Park have had them installed for about a year and caught a lot of "noisy supercars" in Park Lane as the wealthy young oil-princes race Lambos and Ferraris after coming out of the casino's at 3.00 am (!!!) (a neighbour is a recently retired Met Pol traffic cop)
02/09/21 - I live in the Vancouver BC area and I ride a stock CBR BB, a fairly quiet bike. I like quiet. This area however, is loaded with Harleys. Some of the touring models stock have a nice mellow tone. But, there are many with tiny mufflers barking away and I find them quite obnoxious and it tends to give motorcycles a bad name. However, I am not in favour of this method of policing. Plus, I don't know how people ride in France but here, the noisiest bikes often ride as 2 or more so such a method may not be appropriate anyway.
01/09/21 - Good idea especially as it would also catch the noisy cars.
01/09/21 - Idiots with race cans on resin rockets caused this . Aftermarket exhausts that are just a little bit less restrictive yes no problem. Every year people say noisy bikes are a problem
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