Project Noisemaker is just over a week old, but has helped make the streets a little quieter by muffling the sounds of intrepid vehicles.
The project, which has been the focus of police departments across Ontario, has seen many offenders fined $85 ($110 after surcharges) and deals with vehicles that have loud mufflers or modified cars that make excessive noise.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon told BarrieToday the campaign has been successful over the last week as officers deal with different types of infractions.
“A week ago Wednesday is when we started this and we’ve laid just over 20 charges in that time,” Leon said. “That deals with anything from no muffler to improper muffler and could include unnecessary noise as well. Those are the three primary charges we’re looking at when dealing with this continuous complaint.”
The original story from BarrieToday was published last Sunday and, since then, many readers have commented on the story and the benefits of the overall project.
Leon understands people having opinions, but said there is a simple way of altering your vehicle.
“It has created a little bit of social-media frenzy with some. But at the same time, what I’ve been saying is when you purchase a vehicle, it doesn’t come from the dealership that way,” said Leon. “If you’re going to modify it, it should be modified within the Highway Traffic Act regulations and laws.
"Unfortunately, people are going beyond that.”
Leon says concerns around noisy vehicles have been around for a long time, but the current health crisis has only amplified it.
“The complaints came into us during the spring time when people started getting their summer vehicles out. Obviously, people are home more during COVID-19, likely working from home, and they were hearing more than they would have if they were off to work,” he said.
Police organized some of their specialty units and put them into an enhanced COVID-type scheduling. It wasn’t until June 14 that the local traffic unit was reformed and they were able to start dealing with a number of complaints.
“One of our traffic guys put together a complete training guide for the entire service and shared it with pictures: what to look for, how to go about doing it,” said Leon. “Sometimes you hear them before you see them and obviously it is important when you pull over the vehicle to know exactly what you’re dealing with and we have that ability to do so.”
