For that reason, Amsterdam wants to tackle noise pollution in traffic and will experiment with a “noise speed camera”. No fines will be issued for the time being, it is still a temporary trial.
Since COVID-19, the lament about noisy motorcyclists seems to have almost exploded, whether or not based on facts by groups of complainants who manage to unite via Facebook and sound the alarm in many municipalities about alleged noise pollution.
Although it concerns only a minority who think they can do everything by roaring with open exhausts (that includes everyone who has removed the dB killer from his muffler), and that often at a terribly antisocial pace does, it has already led to unpopular measures in several places.
And not only in the Netherlands, also in Germany several roads have already been closed for motorcyclists, or the maximum speed for motorbikes is limited. In Austria there is a driving ban on some roads for motorcycles that make more than 95 dB according to the reference measurement.
However, a better solution than closing roads is to tackle the causes of noise nuisance. In 2019 Paris started a trial with a noise radar, which measures the dB level every tenth of a second and can determine where the noise comes from.
Because it was an experiment, no fines were handed out in Paris, but it has proved so successful that it was expanded to several other French cities last summer. There too, it is still a trial for the time being, but that will be until the systems are approved.
Amsterdam is the first Dutch city to start a trial with a noise radar, which alderman Egbert de Vries has given the mood-setting name of “noise safety pole”. A noise radar will soon be installed on three streets, Between Meer in Nieuw-West, the Valkenburgerstraat in the Center and at the RAI in South.
Alderman de Vries does not know exactly how big the problem is in Amsterdam, except that he has recently received many petitions and piles of signatures, petitions that we now know are often signed by the members of the Facebook groups against noise nuisance, which makes the ‘problem’ much bigger than it really is.
For example, a recent measurement on the Lekdijk from Amerongen to Wijk bij Duurstede, by the KNMV in consultation with the police and under the watchful eye of both mayors (Utrechtse Heuvelrug and Wijk bij Duurstede) showed that of the 150 motorcycles that had passed, only one produced too much noise.
Alderman de Vries in Amsterdam today sent an inventory to the council of the options available to the municipality and the police to tackle noise nuisance from cars and motorcycles.
An open exhaust can currently result in a fine of 400 euros, plus a WOK (Wait for Inspection, with which the license plate is taken and the vehicle must be inspected again at the RDW), but enforcement is currently far too complex.
Despite the fact that enforcement is currently far too complex, De Vries wants to meet with the police to see whether there are other enforcement options in addition to the development of the noise radar.
For example, ‘causing unnecessary noise’ in traffic is already prohibited, so officers can already hand out fines for this by ear. There could also be an app that immediately recognizes whether an exhaust has been modified illegally.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.