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Comment by wizardforhire | Hacker News Reader

If one were so inclined to be civically active in the US at least, it should be possible to set up an api with local law enforcement that would be able to take in data from always on microphones such as with widely deployed door bell cameras, smart assistants and phones coupled with ai sound recognition and automatically report and triangulate offending sources of noise which would probably go a long way towards making enforcement more plausible. Over a decade ago when I first proposed this I was against its development for obvious privacy concerns. Seeing as how that ship has long sailed it seems that were long over due to have such a background system in place. I mean at this point its no worse than the litany of cameras we see already deployed by municipalities on traffic lights.

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Amongst other things, you have to define a system of calibration that will stand up in court. I've read about speeding tickets getting tossed for lack of same.

That said, for all these communities surviving on / leaching off of ticket revenues, I've wondered why they haven't gone after these noise rats. Or a private entity whose business is selling equipment/systems to law enforcement. Put detectors on squad cars, and sell them a calibration setup. Pass and/or enforce some local noise ordinances, and...Ka-chinge!

I've been tortured by neighborhood subwoofer dicks as well as straight pipe pricks. I'm sorry to be derogatory in tone, here, but those are the mildest words I can bring myself to use for them. A steady rush of tire noise or the like would be welcome by comparison.

I too have serious privacy concerns WRT modern technology. However, seeing as that ship has sailed, stick such systems, with license plate readers, around town, and go after the violators. Triangulation, running video, and repeat logging to confirm the specific offender.

In my county, ostensibly repeat offenders can escalate to having their vehicle impounded. Of course, in real life, nothing is done -- not even a ticket.

People should be given a bit a time to e.g. fix a damaged exhaust. But for those who choose to inflict their noise on others? Better to ruin their lives, than let them ruin ours.

(Can you tell the recent bout of warm weather had left me dealing with this in my neighborhood... :-/ Sorry for being a downer, here. But this is a real, significant stress, and one many friends share. One that is the result of another's willful, selfish choice.)

The absolute void of interest to enforce the law is the problem here, not finding offenders.

I'm my area, all it would take is a cop to watch the main drag and start enforcing speed limits and state and local noise ordinances and it would stop. But they don't because they are not interested. In part because they or their children partake in the hobby of harassing people in their homes a mile and a half away. Another part is its easier to ticket people late for work because they won't run like the noise makers do.

>The absolute void of interest to enforce the law is the problem here, not finding offenders.

A couple of reasons come to mind:

1. Cops in our area are super busy handling call associated with theft, drug abuse, mental illness and homelessness that i’m not surprised they are not interested in bringing more work upon themselves by initiating contact for a relatively minor (to the above) infraction.

2. A lot of cops are into hotrods and imho the most flagrant of noise making vehicles, Harleys.

Or maybe we could finance some kind of scheme where law enforcement officers traverse cities, towns and countryside using a variety of transport options, primarily two- and four-wheeled motorized vehicles on a rotating basis. If we then equipped these officers with some kind of method to audibly detect abnormally loud noises, they could proactively investigate such offenses with minimal response times and take appropriate action.

Of course one issue with my plan is that it depends on the cooperation of the dispatched law enforcement officers. If they were to symphonize with the people committing the noise infractions they might simply refuse to punish them.

It is probably illegal, and I'd risk doxing myself, but I've considered just making a "Complain about drivers, keyed by their license plate" website. Then you can shame people publicly and treat it as a quick background check on anyone.

Interestingly, France and Germany are getting serious on this. Looking forward to see more of these.

https://www-adac-de.translate.goog/verkehr/recht/verkehrsvor...

Law enforcement actually already has something very similar in the US: Gunshot detectors. Supposedly backfiring cars can trigger them (which is another insane mod that some people apparently do intentionally these days – one of these has given me temporary hearing loss in the past...)

Other than that, New York City is apparently considering the introduction of noise-activated cameras: https://abc7ny.com/new-york-city-council-traffic-laws-noise-...

I think having occasional law enforcement compliance checks at auto mechanics (with escalating fines for performing illegal installations) would probably be more effective at reducing the problem.

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