Have you ever had to put a conversation at a cafe on halt because a thundering motorcycle is flying by, and it sounds like a huge steam train is speeding right past you? Well, Amsterdam isn’t accepting this anymore. 🙅🏻♀️
Since last Friday, both Amsterdam and Rotterdam have started measuring the noise levels of vehicles using their roads.
Is your car too loud? A sign a few metres away will tell you (and everyone else!) in big red letters that it’s time to make some changes, reports Het Parool.
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For now, the city will only use warnings to discourage loud-sounding vehicles but soon hopes to replace them with automatic fines for too-noisy vehicles.
Loud noise, day and night
Amsterdam will soon be launching noise meters at Stadhouderskade in the city centre and Molenaarsweg in the North. More meters will continue popping up until the end of August at locations such as Europaboulevard and Tussen Meer.
A study by the GGD Amsterdam found that motorcycles pose the biggest problem, accounting for 19% of serious noise nuisances. But they aren’t the only ones, with mopeds and modified cars also among the top troublemakers.
The study also pointed out health risks associated with long-term exposure to loud noises, such as those made by noisy vehicles.
In the Dutch capital, vehicles were found topping the decibel charts both day and night — some of them even registering decibel ratings similar to a fighter jet flying overhead.
It is already illegal in Amsterdam to have a vehicle louder than 5 decibels above the standard, risking a €400 fine. However, this is too hard to regularly enforce, and so, the city hopes that these automatic sound meters will help.
What do you think about noise warnings for vehicles? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
I totally agree and I think they should step up the efforts and increase the fines/penalties. Amsterdam is so nice and quiet now that there are much few cars in the center, only to be interrupted by an attention seeking (why else would they do it) motorcyclist driving way too fast down a narrow pedestrian street. And even though I’m not usually politically active in the community, I would definitely support such action. Especially as they have banned amplified music on boats (which has somewhat dampened my boat trips), which I would argue are much less annoying and less pervasive.