Do you enjoy playing your favorite songs at full volume while driving home from work? How about pumping yourself up with A State of Trance to commence your Thursday routine? Well, if you live in Toronto, you may find yourself with a hefty fine from law enforcement. Thanks to the ‘Awareness and Enforcement for Unnecessary Noise Campaign’, violators could face a ticket ranging from $110-$155.
Loud music, a car with a noisy muffler, or simply a loud conversation, are now all ticket-worthy. Anything that is witnessed to be causing a disturbance to neighbors, restaurants, or shops, could be written up. Construction work is the only exception to the new bylaw.
According to CityNews, the new bylaw will come into effect on October 1st of this year. Furthermore, Mayor John Tory has a strong belief to who is responsible for making such disturbances.
“My wife has explained this many times to me as being simply an outcropping of the inadequacies that certain people feel – mostly men who drive these cars around…”
It seems a bit harsh that the mayor is placing most of the blame on men; let alone creating a bylaw based on that assumption. Still, there haven’t been proper studies to document who these offenders really are. Then again, you would expect that those who choose to live in a city would foresee a louder than normal environment. Oddly enough, the campaign working for the new bylaw was started due to “numerous complaints from residents in Yorkville and other areas”.
It’s hard to say how strict police will enforce this new bylaw. It will definitely cause commotion within Toronto once more people find themselves receiving a ticket for playing their favorite songs. We can also expect many more ‘noise offenders’ to fight back in court to appeal their tickets. Would you support this law in your town?