New York Secretly Recording Cars To Issue Driving Tickets

New York officials confessed to using cameras with microphones to ticket some drivers.

On Sunday, Lowered Congress posted a photo of an order issued in New York to warn other drivers.

"A meter that checks the sound of your car when you pass by," Lowered Congress wrote on Facebook. "Takes a picture of your car and plate and sends the ticket to you. NYC is on a different level of crazy right now."

The notice told the driver of a BMW M3 the vehicle's muffler was too loud.

"I am writing to you because your vehicle has been identified as having a muffler that is not in compliance with Section 386 of the Vehicle and Traffic Law, which prohibits excessive noise from motor vehicles. Your vehicle was recorded by a camera that takes a pictures of the vehicle and the license plate. In addition, a sound meter records the decibel level as the vehicle approaches and passes the camera," the notice read.

The New York City driver was told to bring the car to a Brooklyn wastewater treatment plan so "noise testing" could be conducted on the vehicle. Failure to appear could result in an $875 fine.

The New York City DEP confirmed to Road & Track the notice is legit. It's part of what's described as a small pilot program that started in September 2021.

"Instead of a speed gun, this new system uses a strategically placed sound meter to record decibel levels on the road, matching it to a license plate using a camera," Brian Silvestro writes in the Road & Track article about the program.

The program is said to not be related to Gov. Kathy Hochul's bill that raised fines for an exhaust noise violation from $150 to $1,000.

The New York City Department of Environmental Protection will reevaluate the pilot program on June 30. Officials will then decide to expand the program or stop it.