Motorcycle noise pollutes and leaves health damage

Once the confinement was declared for the health emergency, the use of motorcycles increased in Cuenca, mainly for the delivery of products at home. With this came a series of events, including the Noise pollution that in recent days has generated repercussions through citizen complaints.

In response to requests, on June 17, the Municipal Mobility Company (EMOV EP) carried out an operation in the main sectors of Cuenca, where motorcyclists circulate and gather. That day, agents detained 17 motorcycles, of which the vast majority had been modified with resonators.

According to the norm that regulates the permissible limits of noise levels in Ecuador, and that is included in the Unified Text of Secondary Legislation of the Ministry of the Environment (TULSMA), motorcycles can generate up to 88 decibels (dB)However, in the EMOV EP operation, motorcycles were found that exceeded 100 dB.

Exceeding the limit responds to the modifications made by motorcyclists to their two-wheeled vehicles despite the fact that it is prohibited in the Comprehensive Organic Criminal Code (COIP), through article 389, numeral 7.

For Julia Martínez, responsible for the Environmental Noise Monitoring System in Cuenca, the noise generated by motorcycles and vehicles on city roads has been a constant that only decreased when there was a vehicle restriction due to the pandemic. "If we review the data, what is in accordance with the TULSMA environmental standard is not met on the roads, which is where the greatest amount of noise is generated," explained Martínez.

The complaints about the exaggerated sounds generated by the altered exhausts of the motorcycles also reached the Environmental Commission of the Cantonal Council, which is chaired by councilor Cristian Zamora. According to the mayor, before the controls carried out by the EMOV EP there were already complaints from people who complained about the sounds of motorcycles that, in some cases, came from the groups of motorcyclists that meet in the city.

It was then that last week a meeting was called in which the Environmental Management Commission (CGA) of the Municipality of Cuenca and the EMOV EP participated to discuss the issue of controls of fixed and moving noises that is the responsibility of these two entities. “What we are looking for in general terms is why adequate controls are not being made when there is noise pollution, even in the Historic Center with speakers. The idea is to know if the problem is in a control deficiency or if there are legal loopholes, ”said Zamora.

The result of the meeting was the request for technical reports from the EMOV EP, Control Urbano and the CGA on the current ordinance that regulates noise pollution in the canton, in order to know the procedure to be followed by the institutions to control noise.

Havoc

For the person in charge of the Environmental Noise Monitoring System in Cuenca, it is also necessary to look at the other noise sources that wreak havoc on people's ears: the beeps of vehicles, vehicular traffic, speakers on the sidewalks or pointing towards the streets.

“What these noises produce are psychological affectations, it even gives you anxiety, gives you loss of sleep, gives you insomnia and this also affects your heart and stomach affections, that is to say, it is a chain of alterations that cause the noise ”, said Martínez.

Within the noise, the Environment Commission also considers the vehicles that sell gas cylinders, since these circulate at different times, without a unified route from the distributors. "What we ask for as a possibility is that it be technically analyzed if routes can be established for distributors, that companies can sweep street by street to avoid this type of saturation, in which everyone passes in half an hour and in hours usually prompt, ”Zamora said.

31 monitoring points

In the coming weeks, the Institute of Sectional Regime Studies of Ecuador (IERSE) will publish the results of the noise analysis of Cuenca that were registered in 2020, through the 31 monitoring points that the city has.

At the moment it is known that Yes, the sources of noise pollutants were reduced between March and September of last year. However, once the vehicle restrictions were lowered, the noise increased.

Until the publication of the data on what happened in 2020, citizens can review the IERSE records, through its Ambient Noise Monitoring System, which also has real-time measurement points.