A particularly loud intersection on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The neighborhood is home to at least one of the noise cameras the city is testing. Sara Naomi Lewkowicz for The New York Times
When we lived in India we used to post frequently on this topic, but it has been a while. Happy to see (thanks to Erin Nolan and the New York Times) that another onetime hometown of ours is taking up the issue:
These Noise Cameras Put a Price on Peace: $2,500 for Loud Drivers
New York City, not exactly known for its peace and quiet, is expanding its use of technology to fine the drivers of loud cars and motorcycles.
New York City is known for its noise. A cacophony of sounds bombards residents every time they step outside — screeching subway cars, jackhammers drilling away, late-night revelers leaving bars and clubs.
Still, roughly 50,000 noise complaints are filed every year with the city’s Department of Environmental Protection by New Yorkers who have become fed up with the commotion, according to a department spokesman. Thousands of additional complaints are handled by other city agencies, including the Police Department.
The noise generated by vehicles, including cars with modified mufflers, loud motorcycles and drivers who honk excessively, accounts for only a small fraction of the complaints the department receives, the spokesman said, but it’s the target of a new tool intended to turn down the city’s volume: noise cameras.
The cameras are activated when they record a sound louder than 85 decibels, which is about as loud as a lawn mower. And they are increasingly being used by the Department of Environmental Protection to ticket drivers, according to Rohit T. Aggarwala, the department’s commissioner…
Read the whole article here.
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