Rambling Richie and his Noise Rangers are considering bring loud motorcycles under the same legislation that is being proposed for wind generation equipment. Why not – great opportunity to push around a small group that can’t fight back – something this government seems to see as a positive.
Just for the record, I have a dislike for obnoxiously loud motorcycles. Also for the record, I have two motorcycles. A Ducati which is Eurospec 3 compliant, which means that at 50% of redline the sound level is 80 dB. My BMW, with modified exhaust is (approximately) 96 dB – which I understand to be (or under) the provincial standard.
In my opinion, the good citizens of PEI should not have to have their (mythical) slow pace of life interrupted by window vibrating exhaust sounds from any source. This includes motorcycles.
My observation is that the vast majority of motorcycles on PEI roads are within the prescribed noise levels. There is a minority that is not. Within that minority many will ride their machines in a way that minimizes the noise their machines make when they are in a residential or other sensitive area. They are responsible and they enjoy the sound of their machines in appropriate areas.
There are the few who simply do not care. It would be easy to point an accusing finger at the Harley Davidson crowd, but the sport bike crowd with modified exhaust (often sounds like a crazed insect on crack) can be just as offensive.
In my opinion, the answer to the problem created by a very small group of riders is not to put the responsibility back on the inspection facilities. The answer is enforcement. If the police will enforce the law, there will be no need to create more laws. One might wonder why the police do not. They know who the offenders are – as do most people who ride on PEI.
Noise legislation should not just be applied to (say) motorcycles and wind plants. If we are to have the legislation it should apply to all of the offending sources. The rusty potato truck with no muffler, the scream or roar from the Oyster Bed Driving Park, or the booming base that rattles windows when the car passes can be as offensive as a loud motorcycle.
Will we have double standards?
20 Jul 2009 at 12:00 pm | #
I fear there will be a double standard for the reason you suggest: a perceived soft target that can’t fight back. Like smokers; like French parents; like rural parents with educational aspirations for their kids…
An unpopular government plays with populism. A disappointment of a minister (and presumably a pretty disappointed minister) looks to leave a mark via a cheap shot
20 Jul 2009 at 02:46 pm | #
I had more problem with the noise of the farm machinery around my old farmhouse than any Harleys - not to mention with the spraying. But you live where a judge on that latter point could write:
“The plaintiff rented the greenhouse from the defendant. Both parties were conducting farming activities in a farming community. Crop spraying, especially ground spraying, is a common and ordinary activity on farms on Prince Edward Island. Crop spraying adjacent to the particular greenhouse in question was not unusual and could be said to be in keeping with the character
of the neighborhood.”
Instead of inquiring whether it is unacceptably harmful, things can instead be called common and ordinary. “Common and ordinary” can morph to “different and defining” which somehow becomes “special”. “Special” can mean a lot of things and, as you say, it can include a habit of taking on the easy issues to the avoidance of the real ones.
21 Jul 2009 at 08:47 pm | #
Today as I was giving my bright red Ducati - model # MTD Yard Machine- a good work out on the lawn , my attention was drawn not to the roar of two motor cycles rounding the corner but a very pleasant beeping of the horn and a huge wave. Did I hear an unacceptable noise? Heaven’s no. I was momentarily mismerized by the god-like creature in his leathers with knees pressed lovingly against his lady in red and gripping the handlebars in a way every fair maiden would hope to be held.! For a guy 60 plus years old he cuts a fine figure on his beloved Ducati. Common and ordinary he ain’t!
However, it didn’t go unnoticed that he did to stop to show me his machine. Probably hasn’t gotten over the fact I left fingerprints on his BMW about five years ago.
21 Jul 2009 at 08:50 pm | #
And me right behind him on my magnificent Ducati s4rs. Also waved. Just chopped liver?
22 Jul 2009 at 07:08 am | #
Sorry, Locke...I couldn’t get beyond the first set of leathers and grips. Next time by, stop in and I’ll be happy to leave my fingerprints on your Duati s4rs.
22 Jul 2009 at 11:12 am | #
Ah Mrs. T, trust I will be forgiven. When an old fella finds himself with 100 HP of red throbbing power between his legs, reaching a pinnacle of ecstasy dreamed of my many, experienced by few, it is something that the wise choses not to interrupt. You too will be forgiven for missing the black beauty - after all, red is the fast colour!
22 Jul 2009 at 04:13 pm | #
Totally understand...men seem to have a problem stopping anything half way through.