27th March 09
Green Party calls for ban on noisy cars with modified exhausts.
Cllr. Dominick Donnelly, the Green Party member of Passage West Town Council and candidate for the Carrigaline electoral area of Cork County Council, has welcomed proposals by the Road Safety Authority to tackle noise pollution from cars with modified exhausts.
Cllr. Donnelly said: “I’ve have been contacted by many residents suffering sleepless nights because of boy racers in noisy cars on residential roads in the early hours of the morning. Residents have to endure the loud grating sound of roaring exhausts while the dangerous drivers make donut rings on the roads.”
Fitting modified exhausts and silencer equipment is now illegal and the new NCT test is proposed to check car exhaust noise levels in order to ensure acceptable noise levels are not exceeded.
Under proposals released by the Road Safety Authority, a suggestion has been put forward to check car exhaust noise levels during the NCT. The RSA states: The nuisance caused by excessive noise from vehicle exhausts is regularly the subject of complaints received by the RSA. A new test is proposed at NCT whereby sound levels will be checked in order to ensure acceptable sound levels are not exceeded.
Dominick Donnelly 
Hear hear! There’s a prime example of such a nuisance parked outside my house right now. You can hear him coming 30 seconds before he actually arrives, as his exhaust is so offensively loud.