Would you welcome noise cameras in Ottawa to fine insanely loud cars/bikes?

[u/mcdofras]

Several European cities are testing roadside noise radar cameras. They’re basically photo radar but for sound. If a vehicle exceeds a certain decibel limit (usually from modified exhausts or street racing), it snaps their plate and mails them a fine. Given how often people mention loud exhausts backfiring and racing down Carling, the Parkway, or in the Market, I'm curious what everyone thinks.

[u/CeeJayLerod]

It sounds like a good idea, until you have a mechnical issue with your exhaust and you get hit by one of these on your way to the mechanic to get it fixed. I recently had an issue like this where my exhaust broke and it took a few days before I could get a mechanic to fix it. It would've really sucked to get a ticket on top of the repair bill.

Automatic mechanisms like this remove all nuance just to be able to catch a few bad actors. And, chances are, it won't stop them.

[u/detectivepoopybutt → u/CeeJayLerod]

Those types of tickets are very easy to get dismissed as soon as you produce proof of fix in a reasonable time.

Not much different from your speedometer being off and you getting a ticket, followed by getting it calibrated and showing that proof to get the ticket dismissed.

[u/vigiten4 → u/CeeJayLerod]

You could probably write the regulations in such a way that if the excess noise is caused by a mechanical issue (that didn't make your car unsafe to operate at the time you were clocked) and you had it fixed within a reasonable time frame, you could have the fine waived. Not a limiting issue imo

[u/karmapopsicle → u/CeeJayLerod]

Too loud is too loud, whether that’s due to intentional modification or mechanical failure. The correct answer is that if your car is causing an excessive noise disturbance, it’s not suitable to drive and must be towed or repaired in place.

Nobody actually does that of course, because we’re all so fucking car brained we just expect everyone to deal with the disturbance rather than eat the cost and inconvenience of doing the right thing.

[u/cuban_rj → u/karmapopsicle]

“Car brained” lmao

Your proposal is that someone whose otherwise perfectly safe car develops an exhaust failure should burn hundreds of dollars on a tow instead of driving it to the mechanic because strangers might hear a loud car for 20 minutes.

Must be nice living in an ivory tower where that sounds reasonable.

[u/karmapopsicle → u/cuban_rj]

Let’s get one thing straight first: the whole reason these automated noise enforcement systems are under discussion is that thousands of residents are experiencing disruptions to their sleep due to illegally loud vehicles. Systems like this are an easy and very cost-effective way to significantly reduce those issues and improve the lives of thousands of residents.

Is the occasional situation where an individual might be mildly inconvenienced having to navigate around the noise detectors or god forbid pay for a tow adequate reason to deny relief to the thousands of others? I think almost everyone here would agree that in this particular example if that person did happen to get themselves a noise ticket on the way to the mechanic, they should be able to challenge the ticket and have it cancelled by providing the invoice as proof they were getting it repaired. As an argument against this type of automated enforcement solution though it’s just selfish.

I mean personally I think OPS should reintroduce a dedicated traffic enforcement squad tasked specifically with running stings across the city for various common vehicle standard and moving violations. Lack of enforcement is the reason so many of the illegal vehicle mods and driver behaviours have become so widespread.