Heavy Lorries: Noise (Hansard, 9 February 1984)

Lord Belhaven and Stenton
My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, a three decibel reduction in the permitted noise from new lorries—that is, from 91 decibels to 88—was implemented last year, and a further reduction of around two decibels will result from the implementation in 1985 of a more onerous noise test procedure. The European Commission have made proposals to reduce lorry noise by an additional four decibels from 1989, and these proposals are being discussed in the Community.

Lord Belhaven and Stenton
My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that Answer. Can he tell the House what measures the police are taking, and with what success, to enforce the limits? Can he say, further, whether the Government are taking any other steps to reduce the noise from these vehicles?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I can tell my noble friend Lord Belhaven and Stenton that vehicles are checked at the roadside and also in HGV testing stations. Vehicles with faulty exhaust systems are prevented from being used until the fault is corrected. The police have brought about 11,000 successful prosecutions a year involving vehicles of all types emitting excessive noise.
In so far as concerns the steps which the Government are taking to help in the reduction of noise, I can say that the Government announced in December the launch of a collaborative programme costing £10 million, shared equally between Government and industry, to produce a number of quiet lorries. This is called the QHV(90) scheme. Research is continuing to develop effective in-use noise tests, and both the Transport and Road Research Laboratory and the Motor Industry Research Association are engaged in these researches.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, the Minister referred to roadside tests. Can he say whether any arrangements are being made for the compulsory annual testing of heavy goods lorries to include the testing of noise from engines and exhausts?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, we do not have a practicable method of doing this in the confines of a heavy goods vehicle station. The noise-testing procedure is quite complex, requiring a great deal of space and a lot of very sophisticated machinery. However, while the annual HGV test does not include a specific test for noise, it does include inspection of the exhaust system. We are satisfied that that is adequate at this time.

Lord Paget of Northampton
My Lords, is there perhaps a rather simpler method of reducing the noise of heavy lorries, and one with certain spin-off advantages—that is, to drive them rather slower?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
No, my Lords, that is not a factor. Lorry noise emanates from a number of sources: road noise, engine noise, combustion noise, fan noise, intake noise, exhaust noise, wind noise, transmission noise and many other noises.

§ Lord Somers
My Lords, would the noble Lord not agree that the majority of the noise from heavy lorries is not exhaust noise but purely mechanical noise from the engine?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
No, my Lords, I could not agree. It is a combination of a number of factors, the subject matters of which I have tried to describe to your Lordships in my last answer.

§ Lord Fanshawe of Richmond
My Lords, is my noble friend aware that many of the residents who live along the side of the narrow and winding South Circular Road suffer great disruption from heavy lorries? Would he give an assurance that when responsibility for this road is passed from the GLC to the transport department heavy lorries will be banned on this road and will be diverted on to the now M.25?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I cannot give my noble friend that assurance. I do not have to hand details of that piece of road construction. If he cares to put down a Question, I shall be delighted to answer it.

§ Lord Elwyn-Jones
My Lords, could the noble Lord the Minister enlighten the House as to what the QHV(90) scheme may be? May not at least a partial solution of the decibel-producing, heavy-lorry nuisance be elminated by requiring these vehicles to keep away from the centres of our cities and towns?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, the QHV(90) scheme is the Quiet Heavy Vehicle (90) scheme. So far as removing vehicles from our city centres is concerned, the noble and learned Lord will appreciate that it is these lorries which probably take his meat and vegetables to the market place where he may buy them and it is essential that they go there. Removing the noise from the perception of the pedestrian or others is not just a question of imposing a screen between the lorry and that person.

§ Lord John-Mackie
My Lords, would the noble Lord the Minister care to do something about the appalling noise of two-stroke motor-cycles, which are worse than heavy lorries?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, that is quite a different Question.

§ Lord Constantine of Stanmore
My Lords, will the noble Lord the Minister bear in mind, in making these statements regarding decibel intensity, that 60 decibels is the intensity of normal speech and that when one talks about reducing sound by two or four decibels one is not really talking about any significant figure?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I regret that I am not able to agree with my noble friend. Although these reductions of two or four in numbers of decibels to which I have referred sound rather small, the explanation is technical. The decibel scale is based on a physical measurement of sound pressure. Low numbers on the scale, from 0 to 10, are at the threshold of hearing; the highest numbers, from 130 to 140, correspond to noise so loud that it will cause pain and damage to the ear. Tests have shown that a 10-decibel reduction in the conditions which I have described corresponds broadly to what people perceive as halving the noise.

§ Lord Kennet
My Lords, when answering the noble Lord, Lord Paget, the Minister read out a list of bits of a lorry which make a noise as it goes along. Can he tell the House which of those bits make less noise at a moderate speed than at a high speed?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
No, my Lords, I cannot do so without detaining your Lordships for the best part of the afternoon. I said that it is a combination. If I isolated one from another it would put a different accent upon the other.

§ Lord Underhill
My Lords, in reply to my earlier supplementary question the Minister said that because of the complicated nature of the machinery it was not 1270 practicable to have the annual testing in the testing stations include the testing of lorry noise. How is that complicated, heavy machinery random tested along the kerbside? If that is impracticable does it mean that there is no proper testing and enforcement in regard to heavy lorry noise?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I did not say "heavy". I said complex and complicated machinery. There is, we believe, an adequate roadside check and an adequate annual testing check on exhaust condition. I said earlier that the noise from heavy lorries is a combination of a number of factors, exhaust being only one. One can normally visually examine the exhaust system which will indicate excessive noise from that area of the lorry.

§ Lord Constantine of Stanmore
My Lords, will the noble Minister bear in mind that 120 decibels is the threshold of pain at any level?

§ Lord Lucas of Chilworth
My Lords, I am much obliged to my noble friend for reminding me of that.