Victorian police targeting excessive noise

Operation Pipedown, the Victorian police's two-week special operation to crack down on excessively loud vehicles, has already issued over 700 notices.

Police have been working alongside the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and law enforcement officers from Melbourne City Council in identifying cars, motorcycles and other illegally modified vehicles producing excessively loud exhaust noise.

As part of Pipedown, which is being supported by Harley-Davidson, owners of excessively loud and illegally modified motor vehicles will be issued with an EPA notice requiring the vehicle to be presented to an approved tester and obtain a certificate of compliance

The certificate must be presented to the EPA within 28 days.

If the notice of compliance is not provided within the timeframe, further legal action including suspension of the vehicle's registration may be taken.  Anyone who drives an unregistered car faces a $584 fine.

Pipedown, which will run until May 1, has been given tacit approval by the Motorcycle Riders Association (Vic), but the organisation does have some concerns with the messages being conveyed by the Victorian police, with the following statement from the police literature a case-in-point:

"Excessively loud motor vehicles are a community disorder issue with much of the blame placed on drivers of illegally modified cars and motorcycles, or sport bikes equipped with illegal exhaust systems such as straight pipes, drag pipes or performance pipes."

"Motorcycle riders are a vulnerable road user group. Many riders believe that having a louder exhaust on their bike enhances their safety when using the roads rather than the "civil disobedience" that the statement above suggests" said MRA president Kerry Walton. "In many countries the slogan "loud pipes saves lives" is used to describe how some riders feel driver awareness of a rider nearby is increased.

"Many motorcycle and scooter riders are of the opinion that the noise restriction level for motorcycles has not been set with due consideration to the visibility disadvantage this vulnerable road user group already experiences and is therefore a serious road safety issue.

"On behalf of these riders, the MRA calls for a review of this legislation and for an appropriate scientific study to be commissioned to establish the veracity of the "loud pipes improves rider safety" contention and that "Operation Pipedown" should factor in the debate on safety issues related to motorcycle volume levels."