Nick Ferenchak likes his quiet — whether sleeping at night or hiking in the Sandia Mountains — and he has a plan to preserve his quietude from noisy vehicles.
Ferenchak, an assistant professor in the Gerald May Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Mexico, is the president of Not-A-Loud, a local company that creates noise camera systems that take pictures of the license plates on vehicles that produce too many decibels. The systems are made in town, he said.
The company says its NoiseTracker system can help local governments identify the noise offenders. The system consists of a device that measures sound levels, along with cameras, and a microphone array. When the acceptable decibel level is surpassed, the company says, the cameras capture the license plate and a wide-angle shot. The microphone array, according to Not-A-Loud, “localizes the noise source for indisputable identification of the offending vehicle on single-lane or multi-lane roads.”
Each client municipality can set its own decibel limit.
How it works
Ferenchak told CityDesk ABQ that NoiseTracker will pick up any noise from a car, which coincides with most vehicle noise ordinances. He said the company has had cameras in place for several weeks in unofficial pilot programs.
In New Mexico, he said, NoiseTracker has mostly picked up modified sports cars engaged in racing.
“Every capture has been muffler-related, so we haven’t captured any loud stereos yet,” Ferenchak said. “Although the system would if the stereo was loud enough.”
The local view
The Albuquerque City Council in 2022 approved a resolution establishing a pilot program to see whether noise cameras are a viable tool for police in reducing noise violations.
At a November council meeting, Albuquerque Police Department leaders said the automated enforcement technology hasn’t reached the desired level of reliability. Department spokespeople did not respond to requests for an update on the program’s status as of publication time.
Ferenchak said the company has periodically discussed putting the cameras to work in Albuquerque with Mayor Tim Keller, city councilors and the environmental health department.
“We’ve been talking on-again-off-again … for several years, and while they’re interested, it seems like no one wants to be the absolute first to try out a brand new technology,” Ferenchak said.
He said there is a company in the United Kingdom that also makes noise cameras, though Not-A-Loud holds a U.S. patent on the technology. Ferenchak said the firms “developed fundamentally the same technology at the same time.”
Some drivers already being ticketed
He said noise cameras are working in New York City and police there are issuing citations to operators of loud vehicles.
“So the technology does work — much like speed cameras,” Ferenchak said. “But it is taking a while for implementation, as cities are figuring out how to administer the programs and figuring out the legalese of how this will work in the courts.”
More than 90% of contested noise violations in New York initiated by noise cameras have been upheld, Victor Chang wrote in a column published in the Brown Daily Herald.
About privacy
Ferenchak said the NoiseTracker systems include multiple privacy protections.
“The cameras only record when the noisy vehicle is driving past — no one else will be recorded,” he said. “The data is stored in a locked cabinet and can only be accessed by Not-A-Loud. Furthermore, we don’t capture the pictures of actual drivers, just the license plates of the offending vehicles.”
The local government can then use plate information to identify the vehicle owner and send a citation by mail.
Ferenchak believes his team is doing some of the first research in Albuquerque connecting road noise with vehicle speeds and crash rates.
“If we can crack down on that road noise,” he said, “I think we can also crack down on traffic safety issues.”
Nonprofit journalism like this depends on readers like you. This story is supported by City Desk ABQ, a nonprofit newsroom project of Citizen Media Group supporting news and politics coverage that inspires readers to participate in local democracy. Become a supporter to keep City Desk free and support nonprofit, independent journalists covering politics and policy f0r New Mexico newsrooms.