Define ‘excessive noise’ and enforce the law

We, the Guernsey electorate, dutifully and hopefully, troop into the polling booths every four years to elect a new States in the vain hope that we will get a new administration that finally addresses the wishes of the electorate.

After two years we begin to realise that nothing is going to happen. We then find that formal letters and emails remain unanswered, and more seriously, not even acknowledged. (I can provide chapter and verse of this if required).

Every single day, thousands of households, pedestrians, cyclists, horse riders and visitors are subjected to painful levels of vehicle noise. This is inflicted upon them by a relatively small number of very selfish road users who make as much noise as they can, because they know that no one will stop them.

Our current law states that no vehicle must make an ‘excessive’ noise. Our timid Police do nothing about this because they say that they cannot legally define ‘excessive’ in court, so they take the easy option and do nothing.

We have been complaining about this for some 20 years and successive States do nothing. This is a major environmental problem. The UK has long since defined a maximum decibel limit of 74 for vehicle noise. I know that our current Environment Minister has been trying to get the Guernsey ‘excessive noise’ defined at the same 74 decibels as the UK but is obviously being blocked by somebody or some organisation. I hope that this is not the case but, if it is, then we, the electorate of this island, who vote in the States members and pay their salaries, demand to know who, or what organisation is blocking it, and why?

You cannot hide any longer.

The decibel scale is logarithmic, not linear.

I am regularly recording passing vehicles in excess of 95 decibels. 95 decibels is more that 100 times louder than 74 decibels and is an industrially damaging noise level that we should not be subjected to.

To the States of Guernsey, for God’s sake act immediately and define ‘excessive noise’ as 74 decibels and formally instruct our timid Police to rigidly enforce the law. The States can make this simple change in a day and dramatically improve the quality of life. If you do not do this, why should we vote for you and pay your salaries?

The public want action now and no more kicking the can down the road.

R WHARTON

Pleneuf Court

St Andrew’s

PS. This letter is sent on behalf of the thousands of residents of this island who have simply had enough. If the States do not believe it, they should hold a referendum on the subject.

Deputy Rob Prow, President of the Committee for Home Affairs, responds:

Thank you for the opportunity to respond to concerns surrounding noisy vehicles raised by one of your correspondents. Our committee has previously acknowledged publicly that we know noisy vehicles is a recurring concern raised by some members of the community. We have discussed this issue with our colleagues on the Committee for the Environment & Infrastructure and are developing plans to address the concerns raised. However, as with all government work this needs to be prioritised. This is not possible from a staffing resource perspective at the moment, but that does not mean that seeing this progressed and addressed is not something our committee would like to address.