Paris has just introduced its first of many noise radars, as they are described. The new system is meant to help curb noise pollution, and it will not issue fines just yet. However, the city's administrators want to make sure the system works perfectly so that they can automate everything by next year.
The noise radar, as it is described, is fitted high on streetlamp posts, so it cannot be touched by pedestrians or anyone else. The system involves a noise level monitoring device, as well as one or multiple cameras, and both work together with an integrated system that helps identify vehicles by their license plates. So slow and quiet should be the norm in La Ville Lumière from 2023.
The first noise “radar” was fitted on Monday, February 14th, and the second unit was fitted the next day. French authorities have not specified how many of these devices do they plan to install, where will they fit them, and, most important, what will be too loud. The latter part is a bit concerning, as vehicles have different noise levels depending on when and where they were homologated. At first, it may seem that motorcycles are the biggest offenders, but we cannot wait to find out what was the loudest vehicle when French authorities publish the findings of their test.
What is legal in a country may not be legal somewhere else, even if the setup is bone stock, and it operates as the factory intended. The explanation? Noise limits have become stricter, so newer vehicles must be quieter. Authorities have a few months to figure things out, as they plan to make the system fully automated in 2023.
For the moment, French authorities still have to ensure that they have procedures present for automated traffic fines on certain offenses, and this system will need to be homologated to become legal.
For now, these “noise radars” of Paris are just devices that measure noise levels and then try to identify the vehicle that is the cause of the noise. Today, if police officers notice a noisy vehicle, they need to stop it, check its papers, measure its loudness, and only then can they issue a fine for its driver.
The goal of the system is to have a quick and straightforward way to issue fines for drivers or riders of loud vehicles. However, some innocent people might get fined along the way once the system is implemented if they are unfortunate enough to drive next to a very loud vehicle, as the camera system might not figure out what vehicle was responsible.
It is unclear how the system operates with that perspective in mind, but citizens will have to wait and see if the technology is smart enough to figure that part out. It is clear that you will never see something like the 1976 "C’etait un Rendez-Vous" on the streets of Paris without a fine or jail time. We embedded it below, next to Tweets by Paris's mayor, David Belliard, along with other people posting images of the new devices.
[Thread] Le premier radar sonore a été installé par @Bruitparif. Comme un radar de vitesse, il permet de mesurer les émissions sonores d'un véhicule et de prendre en photo la plaque d'immatriculation en cas de dépassement d'un certain seuil, pour une verbalisation automatique. pic.twitter.com/p2OhpxaU7D
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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