Complaints to Traffic Police about Noisy Vehicles in Last Three Years

From 2017 to 2019, the Traffic Police (TP) received 147 pieces of feedback on noise generated by speeding vehicles. Of these, 11 pertained to Nee Soon South.

In response to feedback on speeding in Nee Soon South, including along Yishun Avenue 1 and Yishun Street 51, TP have stepped up its enforcement operations. Also, there are now three speed cameras in the area; the latest was installed in March 2019 towards Yishun Avenue 8. The TP will continue to monitor the situation in Nee Soon South, and further adjust their operations as needed.

Thank you, Sir. I have three supplementary questions. It seems like the Senior Parliamentary Secretary only mentioned CCTV or speed camera. I would like to ask these three supplementary questions. A Swedish report published in 2009 found people who were regularly exposed to traffic noise in excess of 50 decibels, were 40% more likely to suffer a heart attack than those who live in quieter neighbourhoods. So, my question: is there a cap on the upper limit of decibel or noise emitted by vehicles in Singapore?

The second question is there are many other technologies used in other countries. For example, the United Kingdom uses automatic number plate recognition technique to dish out fines to drivers over excessive noise. Calgary, a Canadian city, is using sound camera and fine motorists with excessively loud vehicles. And similarly, Abu Dhabi police has invented noise-measuring cameras, which will help officers take action against abnormally loud cars and also intelligent speed bumps flattened when you are driving slowly.

So, is Singapore exploring some of these new technologies instead of just depending on speed cameras? They may not speed, but then it is very noisy and wake the residents up.

And the last question is, will there be any action taken against workshops who illegally modify or do the modification to the motorcycles or the cars?

Ms Sun Xueling: I thank the Member for her questions. Noise pollution from roads could be due to a number of factors including speeding and illegal modification of vehicle exhaust systems, which can generate excessive noise. So, motor vehicles that ply Singapore's roads are required to comply with the noise emission limits stipulated under the Environmental Protection and Management regulations. New vehicles must meet the set noise admission standards before they can be registered for use in Singapore. In-use vehicles are also required to comply with the stipulated in-use noise emission standards during the mandatory periodic inspection and vehicles that do not meet the in-use noise standards will not have their road tax renewed and cannot be used on the roads.

So, I have talked about speeding as well as the illegal modification of vehicle exhaust systems. The Traffic Police and LTA work together to address these issues. When there is feedback received, TP and LTA can conduct enforcement operations together. TP will look out for speeding offences and when they come into contact with vehicles that may have illegally modified their exhaust systems which lead to excessive noise, they refer these to LTA who then conducts the checks as to whether or not there was illegal modification done.

On the Member's point about the new technologies, I will have to find out more from her. If the Member does not mind and surface those reports to me, and I will have my TP and LTA colleagues take a closer look at them.