Improperly muffled vehicles are impacting people enjoying the outdoors, according to a Saint John councillor.
David Hickey wants police to provide an update on how the city’s excessive noise bylaw is being enforced.
Hickey, who chairs council’s public safety committee, introduced a motion during Thursday’s meeting.
“The intention isn’t to go really strict and really hard on this. It’s really just to get an understanding of what the impact is and how we can better mitigate it and better enforce the bylaw,” Hickey told committee members.
In a report to the committee, Hickey said enforcement of the city’s existing bylaw is difficult as police need to be on the scene and collect evidence.
As part of his motion, which was passed unanimously, the committee requested a pilot project introducing decibel monitoring as a means of curbing the “unnecessary noises.”
“This isn’t squarely directed at motorcyclists. Motorcycles need to be loud in order to keep motorcyclists safe, but there’s a threshold,” said Hickey.
“There’s loud and safe and then there’s deafening and difficult to deal with, which I think we’re hearing more and more on this side of things more often.”
The committee requested that members of the Saint John Police Force appear at its next meeting.
