Photo credit: Levent Simsek
by Arline L. Bronzaft, Ph.D., Board of Directors, GrowNYC, Co-founder, The Quiet Coalition, and Honorary Chair, Quiet American Skies
Authorities in Victoria, Australia, are concerned about the impact of noise on our well-being. To this end, they have set up a program, HADES-2023, to identify excessively loud vehicles. Once identified, the owners of these vehicles are directed to a vehicle testing center for a “certificate of compliance.” The owners who fail to comply with the notices may lose their vehicle registration or get saddled with hefty fines. This program will be carried out in several cities around Victoria over the next twelve months.
The Victoria Environmental Protection Agency wants to send a strong message to drivers of loud cars and bikes – noisy vehicles annoy other people and drivers cannot install noisy aftermarket devices. Writer Emma Xerri informs that suppliers of these noisy aftermarket devices are also not complying with the law.
So far, 11 motorists in two cities received fines of $1,000 each. We will have to follow the program over the next year to see how many motorists receive fines and whether these fines actually reduce the number of vehicles in violation. Programs to curb excessively loud cars and bikes are being enacted worldwide and will hopefully reduce noise pollution.
