What can be done?

#Exhausted’s research to date can be summed up in seven words: noise is easier to tax than ban.

Noise is hard to ban because:

Noise is surprisingly hard to measure at roadside.
The car industry knows how to dodge noise rules.
Noise rules are set by many competing interests, leading to weak and confusing legislation.

Arming the police with decibel meters won’t lead to more peaceful homes and fewer noisy vehicles. Instead, the supply and demand for vehicle noise must be addressed – by taxing it at source.

A tax-led approach has worked well against diesel vehicles, sales of which are in steep decline. Diesels got more expensive, owners voted with their feet. Noise too should now go up in price. A “noise tax” is a more realistic solution than expecting police officers and MoT testers to double up as acoustic engineers.

A noise tax would be also consistent with the decarbonisation policies that most voters want. Governments have already decided to sunset the internal combustion engine and will ban the most polluting engines first. #Exhausted believes most voters would like intrusively noisy engines banned too.

#Exhausted proposes:

New and used cars should be taxed by noise output in addition to CO₂, via higher road tax and higher parking charges.
Owners of modified exhausts should be obliged to declare their modifications to the DVLA when applying for road tax, or face significantly higher penalties if caught with an undeclared modified vehicle. A DVLA registry of modified vehicles would mean excess noise can be taxed.
Noise should be a license-endorsable offence i.e. points on a driver’s licence. Currently no UK tariff exists to award penalty points for noise.
Impose late-night levies on driving the loudest vehicles in built-up areas, through ANPR.
Tighten legislation around the sale of modified exhausts and consider a retrospective ban for removable-baffle exhausts. Impose much tougher penalties for “de-cat” exhausts fitted to road vehicles.
Refine MOT and police guidelines for better detection of illegal vehicles.
Noise cameras in known hotspots – if the technology ever gets there. Noise cameras are not yet fully reliable in court. In any case, speed cameras did not eradicate speeding and noise cameras won’t eradicate noise.
Local councils to widen their role. Councils have noise powers, including measures such as ASBO’s and Public Spaces Protection Orders, but seem reluctant to use them. It would help if they could levy higher fines than allowed for by current legislation – a £100 fixed penalty notice is the current maximum. Councils say it’s no deterrent.

#Exhausted will publish more research on these policies in due course.

Getting tough on vehicle noise can be done partly within existing legislation, at the cost of very few votes and possibly at a net gain to the public purse.

Quieter roads are plainly better for us, but there is another reason to take a stand against noise: quieter roads would expand the nation’s stock of viable and desirable homes. We all want a home with good transport links, but no-one wants to live next to a noisy road. It rarely occurs to us that our roads and homes could be made much quieter, as a matter of policy.

There will always be a tiny hardcore element opposed to higher vehicle taxes, but #Exhausted believes a far larger group would choose peaceful homes over loud vehicles. During Covid lockdown, those who live close to a road discovered a more tranquil and civilised world. They liked what they heard and now refuse to take second place to a tiny minority of anti-social motorists.

If you’d like to help #Exhausted in its research and lobbying, please get in touch: info@exhausted.org.uk

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