Q: Tom Lenzo of Pasadena shared with On the Road a recent newspaper article about the use of roadside noise-detecting cameras to combat the problem of loud vehicles. Over the years, there have been many complaints from readers about this persistent problem, which is difficult to enforce because excessive noise is hard to measure on the spot, and the law requires a peace officer to catch violators in the act.
Lenzo said the use of noise-detecting cameras that record decibels of sound and photograph violators’ license plates would help law enforcement. A growing number of agencies nationwide are trying out noise cameras as a way to “combat revving engines, blaring stereos, honking horns and earsplitting mufflers, some illegally altered,” the article said.
So … will California use them too?
A: California has studied this issue, but for now it seems the use of noise-detecting cameras is a no-go.
Here’s the situation: the State Legislature in 2022 asked the California Highway Patrol to study this issue. Caltrans was asked to install noise-detecting cameras in some test locations to determine whether they were effective to monitor exhaust noise and enforce vehicle noise laws. Devices from three different companies were installed on select freeway on-ramps in the Sacramento area in late 2023 and 2024.
In a report to the Legislature in January 2025, the CHP said that of the three devices installed, only one generated data which the CHP could analyze on a web-based interface. All three devices were found to be “inadequate as a standalone enforcement tool and unsatisfactory in their ability to identify individual offending vehicles to the degree necessary for enforcement action,” the CHP concluded.
The devices had technical problems, location limitations, there were privacy concerns, and there also was the possibility that any revenue generated from tickets using these noise cameras would not cover maintenance and staffing costs for them, the CHP report said. Based on the study’s results, the CHP did not recommend using the cameras as a standalone enforcement tool for ticketing drivers suspected of exhaust noise violations.
New landscaping?
Joe Blackstock, an Upland resident who also writes a local history column for this publication, asked when the dead landscaping on the 10 Freeway around the Euclid Avenue bridge in Upland would be replaced. Caltrans built large beds apparently for new plants or to replant the orange trees that were on the bridge prior to road work being done in the area, but the planter beds remain empty.
We sought an update from Tim Watkins, chief of legislative and public affairs for the San Bernardino County Transportation Authority. The 10 Freeway project that added express lanes through the area used a design-build approach, Watkins said, and while the freeway and bridge widening elements are done and the express lanes are open, some finishing details remain. New planting work should get underway soon, he said, and the work will continue in phases.
“The landscaping and irrigation were structured as a separate contract to ensure the plantings are properly designed and established. We are finalizing agreements now to bring the new landscaping team on board. That work is scheduled to begin in the coming months, with irrigation installation and planting followed by a period of care to help the vegetation thrive long-term,” Watkins said.
As a side note about landscaping along California freeways, Caltrans spokesperson Emily Leinen said Caltrans is moving away from adding new landscaping to freeways due to drought concerns.
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