TAKING excessively loud vehicles off roads does more to ease the nuisance of
noise than reducing the amount of traffic.
Researchers from Gothenburg University in Sweden and Hokkai Gakuen University
in Sapporo, Japan, studied 15 urban districts in Sweden, counting vehicles and
monitoring the noise levels at the roadside. They also asked people living
beside these roads to rate the noise on a scale from 1 to 5鈥攚ith 5 being
鈥渧ery annoying鈥�.
There was only a weak link between annoyance and the amount of traffic. But
in the Journal of Sound and Vibration (vol 223, p 775), the team
reports a strong correlation between scores and the maximum noise level reached
at least three times in a 24-hour period.
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This indicates that the distress caused by traffic noise could be reduced by
taking action against the loudest vehicles, such as heavy goods vehicles and
those with faulty exhausts. 鈥淵ou could certify vehicles as being quiet enough to
enter sensitive areas,鈥� suggests Martin Bj枚rkman, a member of the
Gothenburg team.
But Roger Higman, transport campaigner for Friends of the Earth in London,
doubts this will solve the problem. 鈥淭here must still be occasions when the
sheer volume of traffic keeps people awake,鈥� he says.