Deployment of Technologies to Enforce against Excessive Vehicular Noise

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Sustainability and the Environment whether NEA is able to deploy advanced technologies to enforce against excessive vehicular noise on the roads.

Excessive vehicle noise is caused by a variety of factors, including vehicle design, illegal modifications, poor maintenance and inconsiderate driver behaviour. The National Environment Agency (NEA) sets noise emission standards for new vehicles, as well as for vehicles that are in use, to ensure that vehicles are well-maintained and do not emit excessive noise.

Unlike speeding offences, which can be visually captured using speed cameras, it is challenging to accurately measure and attribute the source of the noise to a specific vehicle on the road, due to interference from surrounding vehicles and other sources of noise. The current approach is to pull aside suspected noisy vehicles for separate noise emissions testing during enforcement operations.

To strengthen enforcement, NEA has been monitoring and studying developments in technologies that could overcome these challenges. NEA will consider the effectiveness of deploying such technologies on our roads in the future.