Council has directed administration to investigate and return with information on the creation of a policing committee later this fall.
Sunset Ridge resident Kevin Burns delivered a presentation to council on an action strategy to better address “needless nuisance from noisy vehicles” and to strengthen RCMP and bylaw enforcement of noisy vehicles that impact quality of life for Cochranites.
Burns is pushing for enforcement of illegally-modified vehicles and those with altered exhaust systems.
“This issue is personal to all of us,” said Burns citing his own experiences with a repeat offender in his community who “wears citizen complaints like a badge of honour” and boasts bad behaviour on social media.
In his presentation he said that last week he filed a noise complaint about a “chronic vehicle owner who insists on gunning their extremely loud and illegally-modified exhaust vehicle up and down Highway 22, Sunset Boulevard and Sunset Road” who “will interrupt our quality of life up to a dozen times per day, at times as late as 3 a.m. and as early as 5 a.m.”
While the offender is known to municipal enforcement, Burns said officers are looking for a statute that would “provide the teeth to order these vehicles off the road and to be repaired.”
Last week, Burns stumbled on a newspaper article from the Red Deer Advocate, which highlighted that RCMP who have been able to issue tickets through the enforcement of section 82 (prohibiting excessive noise, fineable by $155) and section 87 (prohibiting unruly driving habits in residential areas from 10 p.m.-7 a.m.) of the Traffic Safety Act .
The article cited that RCMP will be following up with drivers who have been issued a warning and neglect to fix their vehicles a $233 fine and the loss of four demerit points.
Burns appealed to council to direct law enforcement to enforce the Traffic Safety Act more strictly; to increase resources for enhanced enforcement strategies among RCMP and bylaw officers; and to create a policing committee that would include members of the public-at-large.
His presentation was well-received by council.
