The fundamental problem with that type of device is that it is not making a measurement according to any sort of defined test procedure. The distance from the device to the noise source will not be consistent (if it's at the side of the road, a vehicle in the far side of the adjacent lane is further from the measurement device than a vehicle on the near side) and dB readings are extremely dependent upon the distance to the source.
The other thing is that the operating procedure is not defined. (What road speed, what gear, how much acceleration, etc.)
If the noise threshold is set sufficiently high that any vehicle that conforms to Federal standards is guaranteed to pass then it might not be an issue. But the first time they hand out a ticket to a vehicle with a stock and unmodified exhaust system, this is going to court.
They give an arbitrary noise level ("96 decibels") but don't specify under what circumstances.
I know that my stock-exhaust ZX10R makes more than 96 dB if you have the revs high enough and the measurement is made close enough to the muffler outlet.
SAE J2825 permits 100 dB at 5000 rpm no load for that type of bike.
It won't be the bikers, it'll be the truckers that take up arms over this. I don't have a scientific decibel reader but sometimes standing beside a big mack truck I want to cover my ears from their squeaky brakes, insane engine breaking, or just acceleration.
edit: even beside an open pipe cruiser it's not that bad as the above.
I see "$112,500" and know that there is little danger of it coming here. There's a website for this thing, it's definitely light on the technical details though. http://www.snrsystems.com/index.htm
I see "$112,500" and know that there is little danger of it coming here. There's a website for this thing, it's definitely light on the technical details though. http://www.snrsystems.com/index.htm
“Now we’ve had a very successful pilot that has proven the technology works,” said Bill Bruce, the city’s director of bylaw services. “We’ve had it tested by a very reputable local acoustic engineer.”
"Electrical engineer Mark Nesdoly invented the snare after a loud motorcycle awoke his sleeping daughter one night."
A mysterious engineer and an unknown motorcyclist. No definition of what constitutes excessive noise. Are the tickets contestable? Do they affect insurance? Notice that STC was invoked as well.
^ That's exactly why the first time they hand out a ticket to a bone stock vehicle that conforms to Federal motor vehicle standards, this is going to court. I do not believe that this apparatus is in use anywhere, and it hasn't been tested in court.
The standards that we have nowadays for the allowable noise from motor vehicles, haven't always been in place, either. Vintage vehicles may have a problem with this, unless they set the threshold high enough that all known production vehicles regardless of age will pass it ...
A more logical approach for a device like this, is rather than to have it immediately send out a ticket, instead have it send out a request for having the vehicle in question be brought in to an official inspection station, where a more formal test using proper procedures and calibrated instruments can be applied and *then* tickets handed out if the vehicle is found to be non-compliant (e.g. SAE J2825 for motorcycles ... unfortunately, no comparable standard yet exists for other types of vehicles).
Of course, most owners of a noisy vehicle would do something to make them quieter before bringing them in ... but that's the objective, and presumably most people would eventually give up and leave their vehicle in quiet mode to avoid the aggravation. But if there is a $100k-plus cost for the device to earn back ... it ain't gonna happen this way.
I would just sit under the camera and when smart cars and bicycles drove by I would blow an airhorn and see what they say when every ticket goes to smart cars and people riding bicycles. lol
There are plenty of countermeasures for automated, unattended enforcement devices if you know where they are and how they work. Yellow sticky-note over the camera lens is one that has been used. I'm sure folks from Texas would have a solution for the ones that are mounted too high up to reach.
Actually, for this particular one, a speaker playing continuous loud white noise right next to the microphone is a good idea. An ordinary cardboard box is another one, and that'll work for any camera-based device.
In the website for this gizmo, it's said to be vehicle-mounted. If that's the case, same situation we had here for photo radar years ago ... just get to know what the vehicle looks like.
I would just sit under the camera and when smart cars and bicycles drove by I would blow an airhorn and see what they say when every ticket goes to smart cars and people riding bicycles. lol
if they place this in a "covert" vehicle, print out a photo of license plate, place on similar model car, disconnect muffler, drive past car a few dozen times, let them figure that one out in a month...
They would have to get decibels within a range of frequencies. The whine of a sport bike and the sub-bass tuning of a new Audi TT car engine are very different, equally loud, but annoying in different ways. In terms of frequencies, presumably sirens would be exempt? What about horns? Stereos?
Start with leaf blowers and lawn mowers, hedge trimmers and snow machines that drone on in the same location for hours, then talk to me about my bike.
Electric and gas powered saws on construction sites are far worse. It's so noisy because people are too cheap to hire an engineer who can ensure the parts are cut off site so builders could do all the cutting somewhere else and just actually build just the thing. Neighbours tolerate it because they have no recourse to stop someone disturbing the street with their unending renovations, and the guys making the noise at 7am were picked up by the contractor in a lot somewhere and have no incentive or power to stop.
Motorcycles aren't the problem, we're just the easiest target.
Lets do what they did in Texas when they tried to introduce speeding picture cameras, people/vandals spray-painted the lens at night costing $700 to fix each painted lens, the counties gave up after constant paintings.
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