Excessive vehicle noise debate returns to council chamber

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Excessive vehicle noise, whether it’s loud mufflers or engines, it’s an issue that comes up at least once a term.

Excessive vehicle noise debate returns to council chamber Back to video

While it’s not a major problem in some rural portions of the county, Ward 7 Coun. Glen Lawrence said the decibel level of Sherwood Park streets has been cranked up a notch with an “endless amount of loud trucks, motorcycles, and various other small vehicles with very loud exhaust systems.” “I don’t understand what that’s all about. I find it quite annoying. I’ve spoken to a few urban people about it and they feel the same way,” Lawrence said. “I’m not big on rules and regulations but this noise thing has just gotten insane.” At the latest Strathcona County council meeting on May 26, Lawrence proposed a motion for administration to provide a report for options to regulating excessive vehicle noise by the end of 2020, including approaches taken by municipalities and costs.

As recapped by Ward 2 Coun. Dave Anderson, the previous council approved the purchase of sound testing equipment by Enforcement Services to handle this problem. He noted it would be prudent to get an update on how that program is going and suggested there might be a problem with tickets being able to stand up in court. “I know this has certainly been an issue for the past seven years that I’ve been on council and I would hate to see us trying to continuously recreate the wheel,” said Anderson. Peace officers can’t be everywhere all of the time to track violators, he added. “We definitely have a problem with (this) and we can throw all kinds of resources at it, but if the issue is trying to find the guy in my neighbourhood who is cranking on his muffler at 11 o’clock at night, it’s kind of like if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to see it happen, did it actually happen? I’m frustrated because I definitely know there is a problem in the community, but I just don’t know if there is a fix for it. I know Edmonton put noise assessment machines up on Groat Road and people were using it as a challenge,” said Anderson.