Toronto asking province for higher fines, stricter rules to curb excessive vehicle noise

Toronto will take steps to curb excessive vehicle noise in the city by appealing to the province for higher fines and stricter rules on modifications to exhaust systems that make cars sound louder.

The city will also, as part of its noise bylaw review next year, introduce a sound level limit for vehicles when their engines are idle. Currently, the noise bylaw has a decibel limit for motorcycles only.

Councillors approved these measures this week, among others, after receiving hundreds of complaints about excessive vehicle noise from Toronto residents throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents have said the city and police aren't doing enough about the problem, enforcement is lax and the city's past efforts to crack down on vehicle noise have largely failed.

"I would like to see robust enforcement everywhere," Coun. Paula Fletcher, who represents Toronto-Danforth, told council on Thursday. "I don't think we have it under control, or even a smidgen under control, to the way that citizens and residents expect that we do."

Council also decided at its marathon meeting to direct Toronto police to conduct more joint enforcement blitzes with city bylaw enforcement officers and to provide officers with sound level meters, all in an effort to crack down on unnecessary vehicle noise offences under the Highway Traffic Act.

Coun. Shelley Carroll, who represents Don Valley North, agreed the city needs to do more to lessen vehicle noise. She noted council has passed motions about excessive vehicle noise for years.

Carroll said she lives close to the Don Valley Parkway and wears orange earplugs every night because vehicle noise disrupts her sleep. Her constituents experience the same problem, she said. Complaints are building and the province needs to listen, she added.

"It's not going away until you're really putting the full force on it. I hope they're listening loud and clear," Carroll said. "We have to get a hold of this."

In a news release on Friday, Mayor John Tory also acknowledged the problem.

"Excessive vehicle noise, which in most cases is a result of vehicles that have been deliberately modified to create such a noise, is a major nuisance to residents in many neighbourhoods across Toronto," Tory said.

Specifically, the city will ask the Ontario government to:

Council also decided that the city will remind licensed car repair shops that muffler cut-outs, straight exhausts, gutted mufflers, Hollywood mufflers, by-passes and similar devices are prohibited under the Highway Traffic Act.

And when it reviews its noise bylaw in 2023, the city said it will:

As for leaf blower noise, the city said it will launch public information campaigns in the summer and fall to educate residents about the appropriate use of the machines and alternative ways to keep yards clean. It will also give residents tips on green technologies.