Noisy vehicles to be penalised with decibel limit

Drivers in Guernsey with excessively noisy vehicles will in future be penalised under a new law.

Deputies agreed to make it an offence to drive a motor vehicle in public if the exhaust system does not comply with a decibel limit.

The law will come into force after a trial when the decibel limit will be decided.

Deputy Adrian Gabriel, Vice President of Environment and Infrastructure who put forward the idea, said he was "pleased to come to a pragmatic solution".

Before the law comes into force, a trial will take place to determine how high the decibel limit should be, how it should be measured and how it should be enforced.

Deputy Gabriel said it was likely Bailiwick Law Officers would be able to use handheld speed guns to see how loud a vehicle was in a static test.

He said the law would not stop anyone from modifying vehicles and those people "will still be able to enjoy that hobby" once they know what the set limit was.

But he said others would be be able to better enjoy being at home and in their back gardens "quietly" without "vehicles screaming at them".

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