Photo credit: Ashley Fontana from Pexels
by Daniel Fink, MD, Chair, The Quiet Coalition
The Guardian reports that Paris has launched the first noise radar in a bid to quiet its streets.
Paris is apparently one of the world’s noisiest cities.
The device isn’t really a radar, but rather a combination of microphones and cameras to record the license plates of noisy vehicles, so that fines can be issued for violating vehicle noise ordinances.
The device will be tested for accuracy–can it accurately identify the vehicle making the noise?–before being used to actually issue tickets.
Automated speed radar camera systems are already in use in Europe, so extending the concept of automated enforcement to noise isn’t a giant leap there.
After all, as the Paris mayor says, noise has effects on health and quality life, but as the director of the local noise agency notes, police have better things to do with their time than enforcing noise ordinances.
We wish Paris luck, hope that the new technology is effective, and if it is would welcome it on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
