Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to limit severe car noise disturbance.

The Government takes the impact of traffic noise on health, wellbeing and the natural environment seriously. Vehicles are required to meet strict noise limits before being placed on the market and police have powers to act if they suspect a vehicle is making excessive amounts of noise.

On 2 August, the Department published the results of research into enforcement against excessive noise pollution from vehicles using “acoustic cameras”. This research has shown that the technology has the potential to be used for enforcement, but that there are still difficulties in accurately measuring noise from individual vehicles in busier traffic conditions. There is an active research programme to address these challenges and, in the longer term, create new tools for enforcement.