A Sydney council to trial noise-activated cameras to crack down on hooning
New camera technology that can detect loud vehicles is set to be rolled out in beachside suburbs of Sydney in a bid to combat hooning and anti-social driving behaviours.Bayside Council which includes the suburbs of Arncliffe, Botany, Brighton-Le-Sands and Mascot announced their intentions of working with the NSW Government, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and NSW Police to trial noise-activated cameras to detect loud and illegally modified vehicles after ongoing concerns raised by locals of anti-social behaviours on local roads.
Dubbed ‘hoon-cams’, the noise-activated cameras switch on and capture vision of anti-social behaviour including hooning and can even catch anyone defacing local businesses with graffiti.
NSW environmental laws set a noise limit of 90 decibels for most car exhausts and 94 decibels for motorbikes. A $150 fine is given to those who have vehicles exceeding this level by up to 5 decibels, a $200 fine for 5 to 15 decibels over and a $600 fine if the noise coming out of your vehicle hits 15 decibels or more over the limit.
Highly noisy and illegally modified vehicles can also be reported to the NSW EPA which can issue fines or deregister vehicles in more serious cases.
“Bayside Council is already using sophisticated high-tech cameras incorporating licence plate recognition technology to help curb anti-social behaviour, and I believe we are well placed to take part in any trial of noise-activated cameras,” Mayor Dr Christina Curry said.
The council in collaboration with the local police, began trialling Licence Plate Recognition cameras in the suburb of Sandringham a few years back that can read and record licence plates of a vehicle, capture illegal activity and anti-social behaviour. These cameras saw a significant reduction in the number of incident reports and complaints from the community.
Back in February 2022 the idea of installing noise-activated cameras in known hoon hotspots was suggested at a council meeting after many locals raised concerns about the noise pollution which included backfiring, extreme deceleration and acceleration, and crackle tuning - which is what makes guns-shot-like noises.
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