The Australian state governments have decided to start using a “noise camera” technology that has been in development since 2005 in their districts. The device is just a camera with microphones that detects noises over a certain loudness and locates where it’s coming from, gets the license plate and sends the person a ticket. Yikes, politicians love money.

Most of the objections we have to speed cameras apply to these “noise cameras” as well. The thing is, I’m not really opposed to this legislation in principle, it’s just the fact that I know it’ll get out of hand.

When I was living in Center City Philadelphia, the worst part of the whole experience was the bikes. There is a surprisingly large population of dicks who try to make their bikes as loud as possible. Now, I’m a fan of motorcycles, really. I love the sound of a quality motorcycle, what I don’t love is the sound of a ridiculous douchebag who took the stock exhaust off his bike and put on aftermarket exhaust specifically for extreme loudness. Plus, anyone who wears a “loud pipes save lives” t-shirt should be banished from civilized society.

So I’m torn on this issue. Of course it’s a crazy idea that’ll do more harm than good, but what other way does society have to stop absurd loudness?

That’s the questions I put to you, RideLusters… What other ways can society decrease the number of drivers with overly loud douche-mobiles, besides using 1984-style noise cameras? Let me know in the comments.

(via The Newspaper)