New Zealand must include a standard noise test as part of a car's warrant of fitness if loud exhausts are to be banished, a transport expert says.
Chris Kissling, transport studies professor at Lincoln University, said testing noise emissions had to parallel the introduction of testing exhaust emissions.
Vehicle testing stations nationwide
apply a subjective test to exhaust noise and will fail a car if it is judged to be too noisy.
The Ministry of Transport is looking into the possibility of an objective noise standard for cars.
Dr Kissling said any vehicle that had modified exhausts should face a more stringent test during a warrant of fitness check, and pay an extra fee, to discourage modifications.
He said New Zealand lagged behind the rest of the world in introducing noise standards because it was too small a market to dictate to vehicle manufacturers.
That meant New Zealand had to wait for other countries to apply more stringent conditions and then import those vehicles.
"As other major markets start getting tougher on noise emissions, New Zealand will benefit," said Dr Kissling.
Any noise regulations could be enforced by authorities equipped with audio-monitoring equipment.
He said the technology existed in New Zealand to combine such monitoring equipment as part of speed and pollution-monitoring equipment.
An Australian study into the cost of traffic noise on the community - completed when Australia was amending its vehicle-noise legislation - estimated a mid-term benefit of tougher noise levels would be worth A$2 billion ($2.19 billion).
Benefits included increased property values and better health from a quieter environment.
The cost of tighter regulations was in vehicle owners having to install higher-quality exhaust systems.
Sleep expert Chris Drennan said that while a person's health would probably not be affected from one or two nights of lost sleep because of noisy exhausts, quality of life would definitely suffer.
- NZPA
Comparison
NEW ZEALAND
A vehicle must be fitted with an exhaust system in good working order.
Modified exhaust equipment is allowed, provided the noise from the system is not "noticeably or significantly louder" than the noise from the vehicle's original system.
AUSTRALIA
New cars must not be louder than 74 decibels (dBA) in a drive-by test.
Each new car model will be tested after manufacturing and given a signature stationary exhaust noise. If a car is found to be more than 5dBA louder than the signature level for its model at later warrant checks, it will be failed.
Cars made between 1982 and 2005 must meet a noise level no greater than 78dBA in a drive-by test and 90dBA in a stationary test.
Experts say raucous cars should be muzzled
New Zealand must include a standard noise test as part of a car's warrant of fitness if loud exhausts are to be banished, a transport expert says.
Chris Kissling, transport studies professor at Lincoln University, said testing noise emissions had to parallel the introduction of testing exhaust emissions.
Vehicle testing stations nationwide
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