R.I. General Laws — Title 31 Motor and Other Vehicles
Chapter 41.2 Automated Traffic Violation Monitoring Systems / § 2-2. Legislative findings.
“It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state of Rhode Island to authorize and utilize
the best available technology for the monitoring and prosecution of civil traffic violations,
including automated traffic violation detection systems.”
Providence has long been deficient in addressing a wide range of excessive noise sources, but vehicle noise is most frequently cited by residents: “non-compliant” mufflers — some of which have been inadvertently damaged, but most of which are deliberately disabled or modified to make them louder — and over-amplified audio systems, which comprise over-sized speakers and related equipment installed at considerable expense to disrupt the community while traversing the city.1
Of the absurdly low total of just 19 citations the Providence Police issued for all sources of excessive noise in 2022 (in response to 5,500 complaints), two were for non-compliant mufflers and ten were for excessively loud music from vehicles — or, in other words, nearly two-thirds of all 2022 noise citations were vehicle related.
In the absence of more consistent enforcement resulting in tangible improvements in noise levels, Providence residents are desperate for ways to reduce rampant vehicle noise throughout the city on both a daily and nightly basis.
In early 2024, Mayor Brett Smiley announced his interest in following Newport as Rhode Island’s second municipality to explore the use of noise cameras to reduce excessive vehicle noise. If it does so, it would join major U.S. cities such as Albuquerque (New Mexico), Chicago, Knoxville (Tennessee), Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento (California), and Washington, DC; U.S. states such as California and Connecticut; major international cities including Barcelona, London, and Paris; and entire countries including Australia, Canada, Singapore, and Taiwan.
Noise cameras are very similar to older and better-known speed cameras and red-light cameras (which indicate a vehicle has gone through an intersection after the light changed), but instead of sensors to measure speed or linked to traffic lights, they use a microphone to measure noise and locate the source. When they detect noise above the legal limit, they record the sound level (not the actual sound itself2) and photograph the vehicle generating it.
As a means of reducing excessive and unnecessary vehicle sound levels and improving the health and well-being of Providence residents and visitors, noise cameras have several beneficial features:
- Noise cameras are essentially the same as the speed and red-light cameras — and far less intrusive than Flock license-plate readers3 — already in use in Providence. And with PVD and other cities now monitoring levels of unhealthy air pollution such as carbon monoxide / dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, and particulates (PM 2.5) in multiple locations, measuring excessive noise pollution simply represents an additional element of urban air-quality analysis.
- Noise cameras enable cities to detect and deter harmful noise levels without diverting law-enforcement officers from other duties — or requiring the city to hire additional personnel — and thus offer a comparatively low-cost means of implementing long-standing public policy goals.
- Noise cameras alleviate concerns about inconsistent code enforcement and potentially dangerous vehicle stops — They do not photograph a vehicle’s license plate unless their sensors detect that it is generating sound levels above the legal limit. This eliminates the potential for human bias (e.g., based on driver / passenger / vehicle appearance, the sound being made, or other invalid pretexts) in the decision to record loud vehicles’ identifying information, cite them for other violations, and or indeed to stop the vehicle at all.
No legitimate public purpose is served by allowing a relatively small group of people — many of whom are not even Providence or Rhode Island residents — to deliberately disrupt the daily well-being of those who actually live here. Noise cameras represent a reasonable effort to reduce the scourge of mobile noise and make our city a healthier and more peaceful place to live, work, and visit.
Selected media coverage of noise cameras
“Connecticut to Install Noise-Enforcement Cameras,” WPRI TV-12, Providence (May 23, 2024)
“Quiet, Please: New York’s ‘Noise Cameras’ Are Listening,” New York Times (Dec. 5, 2023)
“Obnoxiously loud car? A traffic camera might be listening,” Associated Press (Jan. 21, 2023)
“Proposed legislation would bring ‘noise cameras’ to DC. Here’s how they work.” WUSA Channel 9, Washington, DC (Jan. 26, 2023)
“Three-Quarters of Brits Would Welcome Noise Cameras on Our Roads,” Lancashire Times (Oct. 27, 2022)
“Kirkland [WA] testing automated noise-detection devices to combat illegal vehicle noise,” KIRO – Channel 7 (Oct. 20, 2022)
“Noise camera trials take off,” UK Authority (Oct. 19, 2022)
“Bradford [UK] noise-detecting camera to crack down on boy racers,” BBC (Oct. 18, 2022)
“Noise cameras may help enforce new state law against loud music and vehicles in Miami Beach,” WPLG-10, Pembrooke Park, FL (July 7, 2022)
“California Targets Loud Exhaust with Sound-Activated Camera Enforcement,” Autoweek (May 5, 2022)
“Noise camera to be tested in downtown Knoxville,” WATE, Knoxville, TN (Feb. 14, 2022)
“Noise Cameras: Longmont Will Try Catching Loud Vehicles, ” ABC-7, Denver, CO (Jan. 9, 2022)
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1 Rhode Island state law also prohibits both non-compliant mufflers and over-amplified audio systems in vehicles.
2 In selecting noise cameras to deter vehicular noise, Providence should select a model that is also capable of continuous ambient noise monitoring, as a means of establishing a base line for environmental noise levels around the city.
3 Flock cameras reportedly capture far more data than standard license-plate readers, which photograph only the plate itself. They can profile vehicles by color, type, roof rack, and even bumper stickers; track how often a given vehicle passes any of the cameras; and even predict their routes. And Flock data is apparently shared with the National Crime Information Center. They were introduced during the final term of supposedly “progressive” mayor Jorge Elorza.