The sirens of new emergency vehicles will make less noise in Brussels from 2025. From then on, the noise level of ambulances, police and fire trucks may not exceed 100 decibels. At night, that standard drops even further, to 90 decibels. “An ambitious level that will improve the sleep quality of Brussels residents,” says Environment Minister Alain Maron (Ecolo).
The Brussels government adopted a decision in final reading this Thursday. Until now, there was no legal noise limit for emergency vehicle sirens in the Brussels Region, but demand was high. Sirens are among the top 3 forms of noise pollution that Brussels residents experience the most, together with traffic and aircraft noise.
“Brussels residents should be able to live and relax in a peaceful environment, both on the outskirts of the city and in the center,” says Maron. “That is the aim of the many consultations we have organized and thanks to which a legal framework now exists to limit the volume of emergency vehicle sirens.
Ambulance sirens currently sound at 105 decibels during the day, and 95 decibels in the evening. Red fire trucks peak at 120 decibels during the day while at night they are set to 105 or 100 decibels.
The reduction to 100 decibels during the day and 90 decibels at night is significant. Decibels follow a logarithmic scale. Roughly speaking, a reduction of 10 decibels is perceived as half as loud.
Reduce stress and anxiety
More than 2,000 vehicles (outside the private sector) are currently equipped with sound devices and circulate in the Brussels Region. This concerns ambulances, police trucks and fire trucks, but STIB and Sibelga also use sirens. However, this noise has a significant impact on health – especially when it comes to hearing and sleep quality. “By reducing noise in the city, we also protect the hearing of Brussels residents and reduce their stress and anxiety levels,” says Maron. “We protect their physical and mental health and improve their quality of life,” adds Alain Maron.
The limit, which is set at 100 decibels during the day and 90 decibels at night, was also subjected to a series of acoustic tests to ensure that emergency vehicle sirens are always perfectly audible to other road users and that emergency services can carry out their missions in complete safety. continue to perform.
This measure will apply to the new vehicles of all emergency services in the Brussels-Capital Region that will be registered from January 2025.
This article is originally published on bruzz.be
