To fight against pollution and road violence, a sound radar will be tested in early February in downtown Toulouse. These radars of a new kind have for mission to calculate the sound volume of the vehicles which pass under the nose, and to verbalize them in the long term.

It’s a new technology that is likely to cringe some road users. At the beginning of February, the city of Toulouse will test an anti-noise radar, like seven other French cities.

Located on rue Louis Planat, (section including between rue Arthur Legoust and chemin de Heredia) this device will be fixed on a mast, equipped with a 360 ° camera and 5 microphones.

It will capture the level of decibels emitted nearby and its origin, the “acoustic trace” and will also have at the same time a photo of the vehicle or the vehicle. two-wheelers too noisy. DInitially, the maximum sound level is set at 90 decibels.

The town hall of Toulouse wished to participate in this experiment of the State with other French cities to continue its fight against road crime and the nuisances it generates. Among them, the noise pollution emitted during urban rodeos, very numerous in the pink city.

In a first 6-month experimentation phase, there will be no statements of offense. The time to check that this anti-noise radar works well, that it associates the right sound level with the right vehicle.

Once this experimentation in real conditions has passed, there will be observations ofviolation with the device but no ticketing for the moment. This phase will also last 6 months.

Then, the city of Toulouse will send the summary of this experiment to the State services, which will decide on the validity of this device and on a generalization of this type of radar in France with verbalizations.

This experiment is made possible by an amendment to the LOM law (orientation and mobility law) voted in 2019. The Ministry of Ecological Transition has selected several pilot cities, including Toulouse (but also Paris, Nantes, Bron, Nice, Rueil-Malmaison, Villeneuve-le-Roi, Saint-Lambert and Saint-Forget).

On the side of the French Federation of Motards in Anger (FFMC), the experiment is denounced nationally. Jean-Marc Belotti, coordinator of the FFMC Paris and Petite Couronne, criticizes a “logic of repression“.”We like to set traps and ambushes in France, he laments. Certain road users have unsuitable profiles, to be sure, but motorized two-wheelers are far from being the only ones concerned.“

“The efficiency will be limited if several vehicles pass together, he also asserts. And as with speed control radars, people will cut throttle and then accelerate.”

Bikers who make noise are in the minority. Unfortunately we only remember those. But the majority of words have compliant exhausts.

Jean Marc Belotti coordinator of the FFMC Paris and Petite Couronne

“If this experiment is conclusive, we can then develop this means”, an already said Jean-Luc Moudenc, the mayor of Toulouse.

Once approved, this radar will issue a ticket, but not before the end of 2022. It will be 135 euros for all those who make too much noise.