Offensively Loud Car Drivers Could Face Fines With New Acoustic Cameras

Noisy cars could face up to £100 fines after noise-detecting acoustic cameras were set up in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Between February 2021 and 2022, four cameras in the London borough caught motorists driving their cars at over 100 decibels.

The legal limit for car noise is 72 decibels for vehicles registered after 2016, as prolonged exposure to anything higher than 85 decibels can cause permanent hearing damage.

Lamborghini in Sloan Square (Alamy)

According to a report from The Sunday Times, the loudest vehicle recorded by the cameras was a Lamborghini, which sounded off at 112.9 decibels.

The publication also found that BMW drivers were those most often caught by the cameras, with 118 vehicles going over the noise limit. Next was Lamborghini with 109 cars, then Mercedes with 104.

The cameras were also installed in Westminster last month, with one instance of a car registering 111.1 decibels being recorded already, as per the Daily Mail.

Both of the boroughs are now issuing fines of £100 for the noisy car drivers. However, any emergency vehicles and people who have used their car horn for a legitimate reason will be discounted from fines.

The scheme is hoped to tackle the problem of noise pollution in the capital, as acoustic cameras get triggered when cars break the legal noise limit.

When a camera is triggered it takes the vehicle registration and a picture, which then enables a fine to be sent to a driver.

Cars in Chelsea (Alamy)

However, some have speculated that the cameras may not be able to pinpoint exactly which vehicle is breaching the noise limit on busy roads.

According to health experts, living in noisy areas can have a serious impact on health. Researchers who analysed the data of 8.6 million people living in London between 2003 and 2010 said deaths were 4% more common in adults and elderly people in areas where daytime road traffic was noisier than 60 decibels, when compared to areas with less than 55 decibels.

The researchers proposed that the deaths are likely to be linked to cardiovascular disease and that the problem could be due to an increase in blood pressure, sleep issues and stress produced by excessive noise, as per the Express.

The new scheme and fines aims to help keep noise pollution within a legal range.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Topics: Cars, Health, Life, London, UK News

Shola Lee

Shola Lee began her journalism career while studying for her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary, University of London and Columbia University in New York. She has written for the Columbia Spectator, QM Global Bloggers, CUB Magazine, UniDays, and Warner Brothers' Wizarding World Digital. Recently, Shola took part in the 2021 BAFTA Crew and BBC New Creatives programme before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news, trending stories, and features.