Paris — Loud whines from motorcycles will be silenced, homes near airports will get insulation and airlines will pay more noise tax under measures announced Monday to make France quieter.
“Noise is among the concerns that citizens place at the top of the list of nuisances,” Environment Minister Roselyne Bachelot said in announcing the plan.
Airlines will pay the equivalent of $85-million Canadian in noise taxes next year, up from $27-million this year. The money will be used to provide sound insulation in homes near airports and other noisy zones, including major highways and rail lines.
Regulations will also allow police to seize and destroy motorcycle mufflers that break noise limits.
The head of SOS-Bruit (SOS-Noise), a group that advises French citizens how to lodge noise complaints, called the plan “interesting but insufficient.”
Thierry Ottaviani said the funding to insulate homes in noise corridors falls far short of the $1.55-billion needed.
France has fought against noise since the end of the Second World War, when a law forbade aircraft from flying over the city of Paris.
By 1963, noise was counted as a factor provoking illness on the job. A 1992 law setting noise limits was elaborated on in 1996 with a new text governing the volume of portable radios.
