Fredericton noise bylaw ignored for loud motorcyclists

The Fredericton police have failed to hand out a single ticket or warning to motorcyclists for breaking the city's noise bylaw in the last two summers, according to documents obtained through the Right to Information Act.

The documents, obtained by CBC News, revealthatbetweenJan.1, 2014 and Oct.10, 2015 there were noprosecutiontickets and no warning orcompliance tickets issued tomotorcyclistsin violation of the city's noise bylaw.

The back-to-back motorcycle seasons with no documented offences comeafter the city tried to pass a bylaw targetingnoisymotorcyclesin the summer of 2013.

That bylaw attempted to seta limit on the amount of noise bikers could make at -92 decibels. It was narrowly voted down aftermotorcyclists hostedlarge proteststhroughout the summer preceding the vote.

Doug Williams, the owner of the King Street Ale House, arestaurantwith a sidewalkpatio, says thelack of ticketing is perplexing.

"It kind of surprises me, actually because there areinstances where this happens," he said.

"I think it would be sort of like saying, 'Oh there's no speeding tickets this month because nobody was speeding? No. I do own a car and even I speedsometimes, so it does happen.'"

Williams, who also lives downtown, saidthe noise doesn't always bother him. But, he said, the noisecan be a nuisance to his customers when they aredining outside.

"You do hear vehicles that arenoticeablyloud," said Williams.

"Any distraction isn't good forcustomers.Youwant them to have anenjoyableexperienceandif any kind of vehicles are too loud it doesdetract from the experience."

CBC Newsrequested a comment from Fredericton Police, butwere told no one wasavailableto speak on the issue.

The noise bylawcarries a $250 fine and states no one shall make a noise that would cause a publicdisturbance or disturb the inhabitants of the city.

It defines disturbing noise as"any noise or sounds of such volume or of such nature as to cause annoyance to residents of the city including shouting, singing, whistling, music, motor vehicles (including motorcycles and motor bikes), snowmobiles, pneumatic hammers, vehicles of business and trade, construction equipment and machinery and animal noises."