New technology designed to detect and track noisy drivers is now being trialled.

It is being tested in Bradford, Bristol, Great Yarmouth and Birmingham.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed the four locations will host the new ‘noise camera’. This follows a Government-backed competition to tackle noise pollution on some of the loudest streets in Britain.

Feel the noise

The technology uses a video camera in conjunction with a number of microphones. This aims to accurately pinpoint excessively noisy vehicles as they pass by.

Drivers who break the law by revving their engines unnecessarily or using illegal exhausts will be automatically detected.

A camera takes a picture of the vehicle and records the noise level to create a digital package of evidence which can be used by local police to fine drivers.

On the road

The trials, backed by £300,000, start with the camera in Keighley, Bradford this week. It will then be placed in the other three locations over the next two months.

Transport secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “Rowdy road drivers beware – these new cameras will help the police clampdown on those who break the legal noise limits or use illegal modified exhausts to make excessive noise in our communities.

“I hope that this technology paves the way for quieter, peaceful streets across the country.”

Silence is golden

The department launched a competition to identify the areas to host the cameras in April.  Testing at a private test track facility took place to test and fine tune the technology.

Locations for roadside trials have been decided based on local issues with loud vehicles. MPs across the country applied for the camera to be set up in their local area based on resident complaints. If successful, the cameras could be rolled out nationwide.

Turn up to eleven

Noise Abatement Society chief executive Gloria Elliott said: “Excessively noisy vehicles and anti-social driving causes disturbance, stress, anxiety and pain to many. It is unsafe and disrupts the environment and people’s peaceful enjoyment of their homes and public places.

“Communities across the UK are increasingly suffering from this entirely avoidable blight.”

Atkins-Jacobs Joint Venture is acting as a technical consultant for the trials, providing acoustics expertise, design, modelling and asset management. The noise camera is designed and developed by MicrodB.

Atkins Jacobs Joint Venture practice director, Andrew Pearce, says: “We are fully expecting the trial in these four chosen locations to confirm what we have seen in testing, which is a highly targeted use of technology to ensure only those motorists making excessive noise will be subject to enforcement.”