New Jersey legislators should take action on noise levels

It was very interesting to read the article about Route 18 noise in Marlboro (“Talk of Route 18 Noise Draws Crowd in Marlboro,” News Transcript, Oct. 10, 2007).

I was even more interested to read that state Assemblyman Michael Panter “promised to go to bat on this issue for the residents.” He made similar claims to the residents who deal with the noise from Raceway Park in Old Bridge a few years ago, but nothing came of it.

State Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck is then quoted as saying, “The fight has just begun.” Fight? If you need to fight to solve the Route 18 problem, maybe your approach is wrong.

Route 18 is not a private business for profit, like Raceway Park. Maybe that is why there was no organized effort at the Route 18 meeting yelling “Route 18 was here first! Why did you move so close to a highway?”

It is amazing to me that similar problems represented by the same people get different attention.

I see one of the requests was to reduce the speed limit to 55 mph. What is this based on? What is the decibel decrease when you lower the speed limit? I believe the difference to be unnoticeable.

There are so many other factors that contribute to the noise level, such as tire type, exhaust type and vehicle weight. For example, a diesel truck driving at 45 mph will make more noise than a luxury car at 75 mph; add a compression release engine brake to the equation and the noise becomes unbearable.

A number of times over the past few years, I have pointed out to Assemblyman Panter that the state of New Jersey has absolutely no noise restrictions on motor vehicles. This continues to be a problem for residents near Raceway Park on “street muffled” nights because there is no clear definition of how much noise a “street muffled” car can produce.

Many local towns have noise ordinances (I don’t know about Marlboro), as do other states. It is not anything complex to pass a similar law in the state of New Jersey, limiting vehicles to a specific noise level.

Marlboro has an advantage that Manalapan does not have with Raceway Park, which is in another town and county. They have the power to pass an ordinance (if they don’t have one already) limiting the amount of noise that a vehicle can produce within the boundaries of the town.

Then, train officers on how to take sound pressure level (SPL) readings. Issue a summons to drivers whose vehicles exceed the limit. This can be done without the need to spend state money to build sound barriers, or increase travel time by reducing the speed limit (which will be inadequate).

Assemblyman Panter, Assemblywoman Beck, maybe you can solve two problems with one solution. Restrict the noise level of vehicles at the state level, and train officers on how to use SPL measurement equipment to enforce the law.

This will reduce and possibly eliminate the need to continue to punish the victims of noise pollution, forcing us to pay for noise abatement solutions and instead hold those creating excessive and unnecessary noise accountable.

Marc Levy Manalapan