Have you heard about the Noise Snare, a new traffic noise surveillance product?
If you haven’t, perhaps it is because a motorcycle was zooming past you with an engine roaring at such a high decibel level that you missed the news. In any case, City of Calgary bylaw officers have recently proposed implementing a new technology to regulate vehicle noise that exceeds a yet-to-be-determined new decibel maximum.
The Noise Snare technology was invented by Mark Nesdoly, an electrical engineer in Edmonton. In a Calgary Herald story Nesdoly explains the inspiration for the
device saying, “I still remember the day, laying down my daughter to go to sleep and [a motorcyclist] went roaring past -and her eyes just popped open.”
The City received 1,310 vehicle complaints last year. Among these vehicle complaints there are some noise complaints, but they also include many other issues such as oil leaking on the street.
The majority of noise complaints are not vehicle-related. According to the City of Calgary bylaw services, 2500 other (non-vehicle) noise complaints were received in 2010. The Noise Snare is an expensive device that would crack down on only a fraction of complaints.