Swiss government wants to sanction excessive road traffic noise

Following a pilot test in Geneva, the Swiss government is considering penalties for excess traffic noise. In an initial pilot test in Geneva, a system for recording the noise of vehicles in traffic was tested. The Hydre noise radar that was tested has a very high level of technical performance, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The noise radar works like a speed trap for speed monitoring. The device measures the volume of the vehicles and triggers a photo if a certain predetermined value is exceeded. The pilot project took place last summer in Geneva in an urban environment with maximum speeds of between 30 and 60 kilometers per hour. Tests were carried out on four stretches of road. Every day, about 100 to 200 vehicles were flagged by the radar trap, as reported by the CH-Media newspapers. The noise limit was set at 80 decibels. About 70% of the offending vehicles were motorcycles with every tenth motorcyclist flagged. Cars accounted ...