Bradford noise-detecting camera to crack down on boy racers

A noise-detecting traffic camera is to be trialled as part of a crackdown on "boy racers", the government has said.

The camera is fitted with microphones to record vehicle noise and provide digital evidence to police.

It will be used for two weeks in Keighley and then Birmingham, South Gloucestershire and Great Yarmouth.

The Department for Transport says it is part of a £300,000 scheme to reduce the social impact of road noise, which it says costs the country £10bn a year.

The government said road noise pollution contributed to health problems, such as heart attacks, strokes and dementia and lost productivity from sleep disturbance.

The camera will first be used on an undisclosed road in Keighley.

The locations were chosen after MPs were asked to nominate noisy roads in their constituencies.

Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said "rowdy road drivers" should beware.

"These new cameras will help the police clamp down on those who break the legal noise limits or use illegal modified exhausts to make excessive noise in our communities," she said.

"We'll be working closely with the local authorities and police to share any findings, and I hope that this technology paves the way for quieter, peaceful streets across the country."

The technology was tested on a race track and the road trials will assess if it works. If successful, additional cameras could be rolled out nationwide.

Similar cameras were tested in a six-month trial in 2019.

The Department for Transport said the new trials would help test the technology "in a range of conditions and environments with different background noises".

"We are looking to see if noise cameras could simplify the process of enforcement against excessive noise i.e. whether it can automatically and reliably detect when vehicles are excessively noisy and produce an evidence package that could be used by the police or local authority to take enforcement action," it said.

Drivers can be fined £50 for vehicles that do not meet noise regulations under road traffic laws.

Gloria Elliott, chief executive of the Noise Abatement Society, said communities were "increasingly suffering from this entirely avoidable blight".

"Excessively noisy vehicles and anti-social driving causes disturbance, stress, anxiety and pain to many," she said.

"It is unsafe and disrupts the environment and people's peaceful enjoyment of their homes and public places."

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