Noise pollution puts Belgium on edge
The noise of motorcycles is the subject of the first debate brought by a citizen before the Brussels Parliament.
Survey in Wallonia
The noise of motorcycles is the subject of the first debate brought by a citizen before the Brussels Parliament.
From our correspondent Max HELLEFF (Brussels) – The Walloons place noise in fourth position in the order of damage done to the environment, just after climate change, the disappearance of biodiversity and air pollution. This is the result of a “survey on the perception of the sound environment in Wallonia” carried out among 1,300 people by the NGO Inter-Environnement Wallonie.
Such a theme is rather rare in the Belgian politico-media landscape, written essentially The evening which gave him an extensive record.
In question: the noise of road traffic which has continued to grow in a country limited to 30,000 km², but served by an extremely dense network, traveled each year by millions of cars. Periurbanisation obliges, peaceful countrysides have become hostage to the automobile in two decades. Traffic jams are no longer concentrated only around the big cities, but are flooding villages that have been spared so far.
SUVs, heavier and noisier
Surprisingly enough, it is not the occasional noises (horns, skids, etc.) of vehicles that are pointed out in priority. They only come second. By far the most annoying is the background noise produced by the rolling of the tires on the asphalt and the car’s penetration into the air. Here, Belgians clearly pay the preference that many of them give to SUVs, heavy cars suffer a noisy drag when they pass.
Other noise pollution comes far behind. Contrary to what the legend says, it is therefore not the rooster crowing in the early hours of the day that enrages the neighborhood.
An action plan targets bikers in Wallonia
Chance of the calendar, the release of this survey in the press crosses an action transmitted by the Walloon government in certain valleys to reduce the noise of motorcycles. The action plan “Be a nice biker, lower the gas!” » is concentrated in the valleys heavily used by bikers, where the switchbacks encourage you to achieve lap times. The recipe is simple: if it goes slower, the motorcycle makes less noise. The police are therefore responsible for intensifying speed checks while ensuring that the exhaust pipes are not tampered with.
Is this the end of the backfire? Environmentalists doubt it. The motorcycle lobby is considered particularly powerful. As for the electric car, it should perhaps make it possible to lower the sound level as soon as it keeps the dimensions of an SUV. European incentives to move towards smaller cars would be more likely to contribute to noise reduction.
A sponsored petition
In recent years, the various regional governments have put in place a series of measures intended to set the tone. Reducing the speed to 30 or 50 km/h on the Brussels axes contributes to this. On the Walloon side, noise pollution is mainly taken into account along the most popular roads. But the area is vast and the noise several steps ahead.
Nothing is lost however. In any case, this is what a Brussels resident thinks who has obtained the thousand signatures necessary to launch a debate in his Parliament. The first of its kind is a civic action. Here, it is the noise of motorcycles that is particularly targeted.
Noise, again recalls the survey, is responsible for many pathologies affecting in particular the nervous system and the heart. In 2016, for example, the Brussels Region alone assessed the societal cost of noise at 500 million euros due to the resulting “annoyance” and “sleep disturbances”.
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