III The European Parliament wants to impose limits on the amount of noise truck tyres produce.
Page 11
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Until now, there has been European type approval legislation on the books regulating the size and durability of tyres. But under proposals that have just been discussed by MEPs to update directive 92/33/EEC, noise levels would also be capped.
Legislation would force manufacturers to conduct "coasting tests", in which lorries and cars would be slipped into neutral arid rolled past microphones.
Complicated formulae taking into account the tyre size and make of the vehicle would then determine whether the tyres were too noisy.
The deadline for the phasing out of illegal tyres would be 2005. An EC official said that it would be up to member states to determine whether hauliers would have a responsibility not to use noisy tyres, or whether there would merely be a Lan on their sale.
An EU report says there Is a "need to reconcile the safety requirements with the need to limit the noise arising from contact between tyres and road surfaces".