Noise Cameras

[AWD Chaser]

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/11/15/c...-to-automatic/

By*Zach BowmanRSS feed
Posted Nov 15th 2011 10:29AM
169
7
Comments58

Police in Calgary have partnered up with a company to install the Noise Snare, a sound-activated traffic camera designed to automatically ticket loud vehicles. According to The Calgary Herald, the device would typically cost municipalities around $112,500 Canadian, though the company behind the technology has been kind enough to supply one unit free of charge as part of a pilot program that could see the system spread across North America.

Those cited by the technology will likely be forced to pay a $200 fine, though the final amount will be decided by Calgary's city council soon. The city also plans to offer free clinics to motorists who may be concerned that their vehicles are too loud.

The Noise Snare was originally invented by Mark Nesdoly after a motorcycle woke up his daughter one evening, and the system seems to be geared toward targeting loud bikes.

We aren't of the mind that loud pipes save lives, but we do see more than a few issues with the plan if it were to be applied in the States. Most states lack concrete ordinances on vehicle noise, relying instead on improper equipment citations to discourage loud aftermarket exhausst. Then there's the question of what happens when a factory vehicle earns its owner a crisp new ticket in the mail.

[Paxton]

There is one on Mount Ousley, south of Sydney. It sits there, about two thirds of the way down, catching the trucks using their compression brakes. The camera looks like a normal speed camera, with sensors embedded in the road, but is for sound only. The microphone sits behind a sign warning you of the Noise Camera.

[Mechan1k]

Wow ... I actually didn't think that was a noise camera ... interesting to know.

[Franco Cozzo]

I guess sales of Varex variable mufflers will go through the roof over there now.

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by Mechan1k

Wow ... I actually didn't think that was a noise camera ... interesting to know.

Yeah; been there a couple of years. (2008)

Mt Ousley camera homes in on noisy trucks
BY JODIE MINUS
21 Oct, 2008 04:00 AM
It may look like a speed camera and it may take photographs like a speed camera, but it's not a speed camera.
The boxy camera installed on Mt Ousley Rd last week has been set up to catch out the noisy, vibrating "bark" caused by trucks' engine brakes.

The noise detection camera is part of a trial of new equipment set to test whether trucks are adhering to the approved national engine brake noise standard, established by the the RTA and the National Transport Commission in August last year.

"Noise from engine compression brakes is a particular source of concern and complaint for many NSW residents," an RTA spokesman said.

"The RTA has been working with the National Transport Commission to help develop a standard for in-service engine brake noise. A national standard has been approved for use."

The loud bark, which is not measured in decibels, but algorithms, is caused by engine brakes on heavy vehicles fitted with worn, defective or inferior mufflers.

When the Mercury visited the site of the noise detection camera, on the southbound bend just before the New Mt Pleasant Rd overpass, it heard one in five trucks using compression brakes, despite signs warning truck-drivers to limit their use.

The RTA said trucks caught not adhering to the national standard would be warned, but not penalised.

"Operators detected exceeding the standard are sent a letter advising that they take appropriate action to modify their behaviour or the vehicle," the RTA spokesman said.

[Ben73]

Play a loud noise into the microphone everytime a Cop or Government cars drives past.

My car is very quite, but this form of revenue raising is over the top.

Why can't they just get cops to defect the loud cars. Oh wait sorry, sill question, that cost money and doesn't make as much in return.

[Luke Plaizier]

We have a downhill run on the New England highway, with large signs saying 'No compression brakes' - and yet every night there are trucks that run down there with the compression brakes full on in the wee hours of the night echoing off the hills and waking everyone up.

And we're also in an area with dozens if not hundreds of Harley's, and not one of them would still have the muffler in it. At least those guys are decent and don't run around at all hours of the night.

Revenue raising my ****.


Lukeyson

[Ben73]

Where on the NEH is that sign, Luke?

[Bossxr8]

Just be a matter of time before the Vic Gov realized they can use this to revenue raise by busting cars with load exhausts.

[Jim Goose]

OMG... more nannyism....

[LethalLeigh]

They trialled one on Portrush Road in Adelaide a few years back being the first suburban road trucks use after the South Eastern Freeway but I never heard what the results were of it.

[CarTooner:-)]

Originally Posted by AWD Chaser

[... The Noise Snare was originally invented by Mark Nesdoly after a motorcycle woke up his daughter one evening, and the system seems to be geared toward targeting loud bikes...]

I can relate to this one! The noise isn't just a problem in the evenings though, nor just on highways...
I used to have a Harley owner lived around the corner; I live on a hill and have a toddler that needed a regular afternoon nap... Unfortunately nap time often coincided with the time Mr Harley would come roaring home up the hill... scared the "sleep" out of my young girl... she used to scream out for Daddy and was terrified. Very distressing. A 'Noise Snare / camera' would've been appreciated then.

[jrfttf]

putting a noise camera on a hill is pretty crap, compression braking in a truck is there for a reason! It's a safety feature!!!!

[Tobey]

There is/was a noise camera on the Great Western Highway out near Minchinbury I think...

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Just be a matter of time before the Vic Gov realized they can use this to revenue raise by busting cars with load exhausts.

Pretty sure it's already happening. my mate last year got done when he did the exhaust on his Harley, in Prestony area I believe (this is from memory so I could be wrong)

[flappist]

Originally Posted by jrfttf

putting a noise camera on a hill is pretty crap, compression braking in a truck is there for a reason! It's a safety feature!!!!

Well yes and no. The brake is a safety feature but if it is faulty then it should be fixed.

It the result from the noise camera is "get this fixed, you have 30 days" then it is probably a good thing.
It is only when this type of technology is perverted into a money machine that its use becomes questionable.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by lotski

Pretty sure it's already happening. my mate last year got done when he did the exhaust on his Harley, in Prestony area I believe (this is from memory so I could be wrong)

Anyone can dob a noisey car or bike into the EPA, I don't think they are using these noise cameras as yet.

[2011G6E]

The camera I was worried about a few years back was one that was from the USA (of course) and was tested in, I believe, NSW for a while.

What it did was as well as being a speed camera, it would sheet a laser across the road, and measure the air before and after the vehciles as they pass. Something to do with the particulate and gasses, probably by means of the spectrum of light recieved by the reciever.
Then, if your car was putting out too many emissions, you get another nice fine in the mail.
It never got any further than testing and I never heard of them again...probably because such a finely tuned scientific measuring tool just couldn't be relied on to give consistant figures out in the harsh ever-changing environment beside a busy highway.

...much like radar and lidar speed measuring devices themselves...

[Ben73]

Would you rather be woken buy a compression brake from a truck, or woken buy a loud crunch and the explosion of a fuel tank.

I don't want to hear a truck outside my window at 4am, so I don't live on a main road.
I don't want to hear trains rumbling by, so I don't live near a railway track.


We stopped our train at a platform one morning about 8am. We were up all night and were pretty keen to be relieved and go home. As we were walking to the car this guy come running out of his house screaming at us "You can't stop your train there, its to loud in my house blah blah blah"
Seriously genius, why do you live next to a train station if you don't like trains stopping near your house.

Next town down the people who live next to the railway crossing complain our whistle is too loud as we blow it approaching the crossing. Again, you bought a house right next to the track, what did you expect?
The reason we have to blow a whistle is because time and time again idiots decided to drive around the gates, or simply stop across the track. If people were not stupid we wouldn't even have to do it.

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by Ben73

Would you rather be woken buy a compression brake from a truck, or woken buy a loud crunch and the explosion of a fuel tank.

I don't want to hear a truck outside my window at 4am, so I don't live on a main road.
I don't want to hear trains rumbling by, so I don't live near a railway track.


We stopped our train at a platform one morning about 8am. We were up all night and were pretty keen to be relieved and go home. As we were walking to the car this guy come running out of his house screaming at us "You can't stop your train there, its to loud in my house blah blah blah"
Seriously genius, why do you live next to a train station if you don't like trains stopping near your house.

Next town down the people who live next to the railway crossing complain our whistle is too loud as we blow it approaching the crossing. Again, you bought a house right next to the track, what did you expect?
The reason we have to blow a whistle is because time and time again idiots decided to drive around the gates, or simply stop across the track. If people were not stupid we wouldn't even have to do it.

like buying a house in town then complaining about saturday night noise..

[jrfttf]

or a house next to a race track and sooking bout nosie and tyre smoke

[deadlywill]

would it be set off by loud music as well?

[Spudz27]

Originally Posted by jrfttf

or a house next to a race track and sooking bout nosie and tyre smoke

The classic one is people who build next to the already established airport then complain that the planes are loud and have to be moved.

[burnz]

yep planes, racetracks, even nucular reactors they complain..

the sign say "please limit the use of compression braking"
sound like a request yet you get fined for it.

and they are allways on very steep hills with no brake down lane so you cant stop and cool your brakes if you dont use it.

[HenryFordJr]

They spoil all our fun, time to buy a Prius lol..

[Lotte]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Anyone can dob a noisey car or bike into the EPA, I don't think they are using these noise cameras as yet.

From what he was saying, it was a noise camera, because he was ranting about how he thought it was a red light camera. Mind you, not the brightest spark at times, so could be wrong.

[ltd_on20s]

Originally Posted by HenryFordJr

They spoil all our fun, time to buy a Prius lol..

add train air horns.

[Olbucko]

Originally Posted by Spudz27

The classic one is people who build next to the already established airport then complain that the planes are loud and have to be moved.

What about the people who buy a house next to a pub then complain about the noise.

[kaniSS]

TO be honest I wouldn't mind one out the front my house. Some of the idiots that rev their cars at 3am give me the ***** big time.

[fat4D]

wont happen, if you got done you could easily get off saying there was a loud car behind you or something along those lines, not to mention if there is more than 1 car in the pic