Calgary councillor wants more enforcement, penalties for excessively loud vehicles

A Calgary city councillor wants to strengthen the city’s noise bylaw amid community complaints about noisy vehicles.

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott is sponsoring the notice of motion which goes before an executive committee Thursday.

He is calling for increased enforcement, as well as a review of the current noise bylaw to potentially change fines and penalties for drivers of vehicles that are too loud.

Walcott also wants Peace Officers to be able to conduct traffic stops to enforce the bylaw, and aims for all of this to be in effect by 2023.

“I was speaking with our bylaw officer, and going as far back as Jon Mar – a previous Ward 8 councillor – people have been advocating for better enforcement of the noise bylaw, but increasingly the response always came back the same,” Walcott said.

He says there were several barriers stopping the City of Calgary from taking action against the drivers of noisy vehicles in the past.

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“The technology is undercooked, it doesn’t always fit with the requirements needed in the court system, and then of course our ability to make sure that we have officers on duty doing noise traffic stops… because they are the only ones who can enforce the traffic safety act,” Walcott said. “Those were some massive barriers.”

The largest obstacle to enforcement, according to Walcott, is Calgary police officers are the only ones who can conduct traffic stops to enforce the noise bylaw, and they aren’t always available to do it.

Walcott says city bylaw officers are being “upgraded to a different class” beginning Jan. 1, 2023. They will technically be able to conduct traffic stops next year, as long as they go through the correct training with Calgary police and get permission from the province.

He says enforcement of the noise bylaw has been lax for years, as it’s been difficult to enforce. Now, he says, the city has an opportunity to change the way it deals with excessively loud vehicles.

“A bylaw is only as good as it’s enforcement,” Walcott said.