KELOWNA — To some motorcyclists, it’s music to their ears, but to most it’s noise pollution.
Kelowna city councillor, Luke Stack, says noisy motorcycles is complaint number one.
“People phone and say: ‘Why do we have to listen to these excessively loud motorcycles?’”
So Stack and council went to the police.
“We’ve asked Superintendent Nick Romanchuk to make it part of the traffic enforcement policy and zero-in on really loud motorcycles. That’s what we asked him to do and he said he was going to make every effort to do that this year.”
Romanchuk says he was ready to launch a crack-down on loud motorcycles, using provincial legislation as his primary tool.
“We did have a technique in mind that we thought we could enforce through the Motor Vehicle Act regulations,” says Romanchuk.
But those plans have suddenly been muffled.
“I was just made aware this morning of a court decision in the Lower Mainland ruling that’s an avenue we can’t pursue now.”
Romanchuck says provincial laws dealing with noisy vehicles are too vague to enforce.
B.C.’s Attorney General, Suzanne Anton, says she’s aware of the problem and is promising change.
“We’re working on a provincial standard to give police additional tools”
It’s the news councillor Stack is disappointed to hear.
“I am actually because what I was hoping for was a period of time where we could crack-down on the really bad offenders”
And for Inspector Romanchuk, it’s back to square one.
“I think in some respects it’s back to the drawing board. We have to look at other mechanisms to see how we can deal with this issue.”
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