Blog: City Blog

City Takes Next Step to Stop Illegal Vehicular Noise Downtown

A City crew installs a noise-detection camera on Gay Street on Feb. 14, 2022.

UPDATE, October 2022: In keeping with the plan to deploy the camera in commercial corridors, the mobile noise-monitoring camera is now in place at Cumberland Avenue and 18th Street. The intent is to continue to gather data and track trends for when excessive noise is most likely to occur to enhance enforcement efforts.

On Monday, Feb. 14, a City crew installed a noise-monitoring camera at the downtown intersection of Gay Street and Clinch Avenue.

Motorists may not see the camera right away, but it's hard to miss the sign: "Excessive noise violations monitored electronically."

This sign is posted on a signal pole, near a noise-monitoring camera, at Gay and Clinch.

This sign is posted on a signal pole, near a noise-monitoring camera, at Gay and Clinch.

For months, downtown residents and business owners have complained about motorists with illegally modified vehicles, or those who choose to loudly rev their engines, disrupting sidewalk conversations, rattling windows or causing rude middle-of-the-night wake-ups.

So the City is taking the next step to remedy the problem by installing and trying out a mobile camera that captures data associated with distinct violations of the City’s vehicle noise ordinances.

The camera is on loan from the manufacturer, at no cost to the City. Data that will be collected includes the time and date of a noise violation, the vehicle type and a photo of the vehicle’s license plate.

While the camera footage alone will not be used as the basis for issuing any noise violation citations, warnings may be issued, and the trends that are verified by the data can lead to more effective enforcement.

How loud does a noise have to be to violate a City ordinance? Think: A jackhammer. Or a moving freight train 100 feet away.

Get all the details HERE.

Posted by evreeland On 24 October, 2022 at 4:38 PM