Police are able to hand out tickets for motorcycle noise, based on officer discretion

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Was your weekend bliss shattered by the loud cackling of cars and motorcycles with illegal mufflers? It seems it’s a problem you have to deal with around this time every year.

“We’re obviously looking at more people leaving their windows open and we’re seeing an increase of motorcycles in the warm weather and motor vehicles. As well, [there are] cars that have alterations done to them. They’re out on the streets and then people are opening their windows — The two things kind of counteract each other, when we’re looking at noise from a motor vehicle or a loud motorcycle,” says VPD Sgt. Jason Robillard.

The good news is since 2012, police have been able to hand out tickets based on an officer’s discretion.

“Basically, based on the officer’s personal experience and their subjective observation, they can write and assess and enforce the noise-related offense. So, they can write a ticket for that. But we do like to use education and warning before we have to write this ticket,” says Robillard.

Before that, they’d need to be carrying proper equipment.

“It’s under the Motor Vehicle Act regulations. And it’s an unnecessary exhaust system noise ticket. We can use subjective observations of a police officer to enforce noisy exhaust systems without a sound-measuring device,” explains Robillard.

A new amendment means police in Seattle can give a driver a ticket if they can hear the vehicle from 75 feet away.

You can call in a complaint if things are getting routinely loud. But the police need to see and hear it happening to take action.

“An officer will have to be present and witness it to come up with the evidence necessary for [issuing a ticket]. Someone can always call it in — I don’t necessarily think it’s an emergency, but they can call our non-emergency line if it’s a continuing problem in your area,” says Robillard.

If your neighbourhood has become a hangout for loud bikes, Robillard says they can address that.

“We can send these complaints through to our traffic section to pay some special attention to these areas that might have a lot of loud noises. They can be disturbing the peace quite a bit.”

– With files from Alison Bailey