Traffic noise: the vehicle regulations and their enforcement / report by a working group of the Council.

  • Great Britain. Noise Advisory Council
Date:
1972
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Traffic noise: the vehicle regulations and their enforcement / report by a working group of the Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mended by the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) in a “‘Regulation”’ which member countries may adopt!. More recently the Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC) has issued a technical directive to the six member countries on this subject. The maximum noise levels prescribed for the major classes of vehicle by the ECE Regulation, the EEC Directive and the UK Regulation are set out in columns 2-4 of Table 1 on page 4. Improved vehicle design 13. There is no great technical problem in making cars which are quieter than the average model of today. The limit of 84 dB(A) imposed by UK Regulation 23 has been fairly easy for most vehicle manufacturers to meet; the only models which have required attention are some of the sports cars and special high-performance versions of normal saloons. Noise of high performance cars can often be reduced by more efficient silencing equip- ment; the main commercial objection is that this usually results in some loss of performance and, of course, the noise itself may have sales appeal. Already progress in design has made a reduction to 80 dB(A) possible in the very near future; and looking further ahead still lower limits should be feasible even for high performance cars. 14. Motorcycles present a less tractable problem. Quantitatively the nuisance they cause is diminishing as their numbers have tended to decline at an annual rate of about 10% over recent years. In 1967 the total motor- cycle population of the United Kingdom was 1,350,000, in 1970 only 1,048,000. But in terms of the noise created by individual machines, motor cycles are perhaps the most annoying of all vehicles to the great majority of the population. The British motorcycle industry relies to a large extent on the production of motorcycles with exposed single-or double-cylinder air- cooled engines—a combination of characteristics which is not conducive to quietness. A change to water cooling might be one answer, but such a requirement made unilaterally in this country would have a severe effect on our motorcycle industry, with its high proportion of exports. Although there are real technical difficulties in quietening the conventional British air cooled motorcycle, we do not think that these are insuperable. On the other hand the industry is not without its troubles and perhaps is not in the best position to mount the heavy research and development effort needed to make possible a substantial reduction in motorcycle noise limits. Clearly an effective stimulus is needed to bring about improvements. We are of the opinion that the Government itself should devote resources towards the research and development of quieter motorcycles; and we are glad to learn that a programme of Government sponsored research into motorcycle noise aimed at developing quieter machines is at present being planned. 15. Heavy diesel-engined vehicles are not only the noisiest type of vehicle but also the most difficult and costly to quieten because (apart from the (1) Regulation 9 annexed to the 1958 Geneva Agreement concerning the adoption of uniform conditions of approval and reciprocal recognition of approval for motor vehicle equipment and parts. (2) Directive No. 70/157/EEC of 6 February 1970.
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