Monday 11 February 2013

Honk-honk

Another draft law that the European Parliament voted on last week concerned sound level of motor vehicles. The standard for cars would be lowered from 74db to 68db in the next 6-8 years (with some margin of error for more powerful vehicles, incl 81db for lorries). Additionally, the new cars should be labelled on their noise performance so that consumers were informed what type of vehicle they are purchasing (just like currently they can see the fuel efficiency or CO2 emissions' labels on cars). An idea was also brought up in the discussions on this new law that e-cars should have a sound added to it - so that pedestrians are in no danger of being silently run over. (Parliament backs law to tone down harmful traffic noise)