Police could trial noise detectors on cameras to track down loud vehicles.
People across York and North Yorkshire have raised concerns about speeding and noisy cars and motorcycles on the roads.
Assistant chief constable of North Yorkshire Police Mark Pannone said teams have been out with speed cameras across the county.
Related
But he added: “Police recognise that not only are speeding cars and bikes dangerous, they are incredibly annoying.”
He said that noise detectors could be added to numberplate recognition cameras to tackle the problem by helping to track down cars and motorcycles with noisy exhausts.
“There’s a pilot going on in London at the moment where attached to ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) cameras are noise monitors,” he told a meeting of the North Yorkshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner.
The commissioner, Phillip Allott, said: “We are leading into post lockdown and people are now hearing noises that perhaps they didn’t before and we need to balance the sensitivity of our communities with the rights and freedoms of others.
“As a force North Yorkshire Police need to be proactive and caring but if people are speeding we need to hold them to account.”
The Department for Transport launched camera trials in several locations in 2019 to crackdown on drivers who disturb residents and who break legal noise limits.
Currently, enforcement is mainly reactive and relies on subjective judgement. The trials of the new technology will determine whether the legal noise limit has been breached by taking into account the class and speed of the vehicle relative to the location of the noise camera.