The only regulation that limits traffic noise is the Regulation on limit values for ambient noise indicators, which was adopted in 2006 and is based on an even more outdated EU directive from 2002.
Recently, there has been a significant increase in freight traffic on the Eastern Europe - Italy route. Noisy and dirty lorries are travelling in convoys, as intensively during the day as at night. This is a completely new situation, since a few years ago night traffic was practically non-existent. Convoys of lorries make an unbearable noise. Particularly disturbing are the low frequencies, which are reflected as a dull drumming and vibrating sound that cannot be cancelled out by even good soundproofing of buildings or noise barriers. Low-frequency noise is very harmful to health, much more so than audible noise, according to scientific findings. This noise is perceptible and disturbing even at distances of several km from the AC!
Above all, it is a permanent noise that should be subject to much stricter limits than the occasional noise covered by the Regulation.
I call on the Government to protect the country from the harmful noise caused by lorries, from which the country has no benefit whatsoever. These are trucks that supply Italian industry with cheap raw materials (food, wood, etc.). The only money that the drivers of these trucks leave with us is the toll, which does not even cover the damage they cause to the road, let alone the damage to human health.
I call on the Government to adopt appropriate regulation to limit noise to a level that is not harmful to human health. It should also include a limit on low-frequency noise in the regulation. Only by adopting appropriate legislation will DARS be forced to take measures to reduce noise pollution in the surrounding area, otherwise lawsuits will follow. These measures could be e.g.:
- limiting the speed of goods vehicles to 60 km/h at night
- increasing the toll for lorries using tyres with higher rolling noise levels
- use of less noisy asphalts