City approves $50K automated pilot project to curb noisy vehicles

Edmonton city council is trying to crack down on noisy vehicles using automated enforcement, approving a $50,000 pilot project. CTV'S Jeremy Thompson reports.

The city has approved a new pilot project that wants to use cameras and microphones to crack down on the recurring issue of noisy vehicles.

Edmonton city councillors voted in the $50,000 venture on Wednesday morning to address increasing noise complaints from citizens.

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It’s not an untested solution, Ward papastew Coun. Michael Janz said, although it is an improved one. He brought forth the original motion.

“It’s not the old billboard noise monitoring technology of the past,” he said. “This is a new technology that works extremely precisely.”

Currently, he explained, the city does manual enforcement of noise complaints from the road. By the time officers can get to it, he told CTV News Edmonton, the vehicle has disappeared “miles away.”

“This is one of the issues I’ve heard the most about from Edmontonians across the city. This is not a Whyte Avenue problem. This is not a Whitemud Drive problem … everyone, wherever you are in Edmonton, is sick and tired of the noisy vehicles, the banging and the flaunting of the law,” Janz said.

Janz specified that the technology being used is not about issuing tickets so much as providing the police data.

He’s also more confident in this project, he said, because the tech is already being used in other countries.

Still, the idea is reminiscent of the 2020 project that aimed to accomplish the same thing. The city installed microphones in noise hot spots in a $200,000 project that was eventually written off for its flaws in automation.

Challenged tickets would not hold up in court unless an officer had been present to corroborate the offence.

For some, like Ward Dene Coun. Aaron Paquette, the current project is still a marker of “irresponsible governance.”

“Look, the noise bothers me too … But I think there was time to take a breath, maybe pull it back for a week or so, just to work on it,” Paquette told CTV News Edmonton after the meeting.

He fears the project doesn’t have a proper budget and will be slow-acting. Currently, the technology isn’t set to hit the streets until summer 2027.

“Should we actually be spending $50,000 on a technology that we do not know will work or not? Is that the best use of public funds, especially if there’s no immediate outcome?” said Paquette.

According to most who voiced their opinion on Wednesday though, like Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, the cost was worth the experiment if it meant finding a solution to law-breakers.

Janz said the point of the approval is to get a “proof of concept” that the technology can work in Canada, or specifically, Edmonton.

He also said he’s discussed it at length with the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). In an emailed comment, EPS said they await more details about the project.

“I think all of us realize that traffic enforcement is a major issue, and it’s extremely expensive, extremely time-consuming, and anything we can do to make safer roads, more efficiently, more effectively, it’s just a no-brainer,” Janz said.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson