Ah, the “Cities Against Loud Pipes” file, the never-ending stories of Canadian cities battling it out with decibel-happy bikers.
Turns out Kingston, Ontario has also had enough of loud vehicles. A reader’s tip sends us to this story in the Whig Standard detailing a police “initiative to target drivers who choose to express themselves through the noise their vehicle makes.”
Noisy vehicles, eh? A Kingston cop told the newspaper that “It usually starts in April when motorcycles start to come out,” and then added it wasn’t just bikes, but also cars, pickups, and commercial vehicles. Funny, though, how he mentioned the bikes first.
No doubt we’ll hear more of this in the months to come, no pun intended, but expect only a few token tickets which are then thrown out in court. Police have better things to do than chase down noise complaints, which is the reason so many cities are now considering automated “noise cameras” (like a speed camera with a microphone—invented in Alberta after a dad got tired of bikers waking up his child).
One thing to note is, Kingston’s police are also looking to crack down on speeding, stunt driving, and other antisocial behaviour on the roadways as well. Best to cool it with the Wild Angels impressions for a while.
And then, off to Fredericton. New Brunswick’s capital likes to keep a clean white-collar veneer, but not everyone in town is happy over the city’s latest loud pipes ban. The province’s social media-savvy bikers have been grumbling about the decibel limit for weeks, and Global reports there was a protest on June 5 as a result.
No previously-unexplored arguments in that article—bikers say their loud-pipes protest is all about freedom, and a city councillor says the bylaw is in line with North American standards, and loud pipes are disrupting people’s standard of living. No doubt the result will be the same as Kingston: A few thousand bucks spent outside Fredericton by bikers, a few token tickets met with judicial nonchalance. Nothing will seriously change, resulting in loud-pipes proponents presuming police inaction equals a victory against The Man. And maybe they’re right? This issue continues to surface every year, and motorcycles are louder than ever.
I feel that HDs are the worst offenders of the noisy bunch. Splitting my head open is my response. No they don’t need to be so noisy. Also many diesel trucks and imports with louder pipes than necessary. They need to be ticketed and second time impounded.
The law needs to curb the loud Harley’s and Diesel trucks. Too many excuses.
The evening the curfew ended in Quebec was the first time in months that I heard cars with fart cans ripping it up the highway that’s a kilometre from my home.
How ridiculous. Motor vehicle exhaust mufflers are required by Provincial law. So Fredericton appears to be getting itself ready to enforce the law? Whatta surprise…!
‘Freedom’ LoL
“Stephen Wallace, first chair of the Atlantic Confederation of Clubs and Independents, said most Harley-Davidson bikes come off the production line at 110 decibels.”
A comment so insane I will not dignify it with a response.