According to Paul de Vos, strategic advisor at engineering and consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV, European policy forces local authorities to make huge investments in traffic noise reduction.
Until 2017, European governments will be spending US$168 billion for noise barriers, quieter roads and measures related to the negative effects of traffic noise, including damage to health. However, by simply making cars quieter, the total cost to the taxpayer could be reduced by a factor of twenty.