Fredericton City Council says 'no' to new noise bylaw

CTV Atlantic: Fredericton says 'no' to new bylaw A debate is heating up in Fredericton after city councillors struck down a noise bylaw at council on Monday.

A debate is heating up in Fredericton after city councillors struck down a noise bylaw at council on Monday.

The proposed bylaw called for all vehicle sounds to stay under a certain decibel level. For motorcycles, the proposed decibel limit was 92 – a level that experts say, with long-term exposure, could cause hearing damage.

The man who introduced the proposed bylaw says the current regulation doesn’t set clear decibel limits.

“In other words, if you’re a biker and someone complains about your bike being annoying, well, that’s sufficient to have a charge laid, and I don’t think that’s fair to the biker,” says Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase.

Chase has been pushing for the province to create one uniform vehicle noise law for every city and town.

“That’s always been our preference to get the province to do it,” he says.

However, it’s not on the provincial government’s to-do list at this time.

“We feel that our excessive noise Motor Vehicle Act that’s in existence today, which is an act that deals with modified mufflers or anything changed from a manufacturing standard, is in effect and we don’t look at adding anymore,” says New Brunswick Public Safety Minister Robert Trevors.

Salon owner Sue Lawrence, and dozens of others motorcyclists, were out in full force at Monday night’s council meeting. They feel there are enough laws in place dealing with vehicular noise and that better enforcement is needed, as opposed to more rules.

“The culprits who are out there, if you think you’re going to be speeding up and down Fredericton cranking your pipes, smarten up, because you’re not welcome.”

With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore