Toronto Woman Brings Excessive Vehicle Noise Issues to City Hall – Toronto | Globalnews.ca

Two years have passed since Ingrid Buday went to sleep comfortably at home. The Toronto woman says her restful night’s sleep is being robbed by noisy motorcycles, failing exhausts and cars revving her engines.

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It led her to purchase an $8,000 ambient noise meter to track what was going on at night. For a year, she has sat with a noise meter in her yard and tracked changes in sound coming from the roads. She showed Global News her findings and presented them to the City of Toronto Community and Economic Development Committee.

The Toronto woman knows that living in a city has a certain volume level, especially near the Gardiner Expressway, but she said the usual pace of traffic averages 70 decibels. But the roar of the engines and exhausts has caused the noise to peak at 120 decibels.

“I love where I live, but the only thing that would drive me away is the noise,” he said.

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The 70 decibels of sound is comparable to that of a washing machine or dishwasher, and the noise reaching your condo patio is lower than expected (80-85 decibels) according to a report from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) In the USA.


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At 120 decibels, things can get ugly, with the CDC writing that it can cause “pain and damage to the ears” and is the equivalent of “being next to or near sirens.” While his hearing has not been affected, Buday said she has dealt with a host of health issues due to his erratic sleep schedule.

“(It’s) negatively impacting my health. It has caused me discomfort, frustration, lack of sleep, depression, anxiety.”

The challenge of addressing this issue is what has brought Buday to City Hall. She first complained almost a year ago to 3-1-1 and wrote emails to the city of Toronto.

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“The system didn’t work,” he said.

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The app is quite limited in its capabilities. While the Toronto Police Service said they can issue tickets of up to $110, which can help deter drivers, they can’t permanently reduce car noise.

“From my point of view, there is no law, or way to really end the situation or law that is applicable or reasonable to solve the problem forever,” said Officer Sean Shapiro of the Toronto Police Service.

It is not just a problem that affects Buday. In an interview with Global News Morning, Councilwoman Ana Bailao says the problem is growing throughout the city.

“We were hoping there would be good people and it didn’t work out, especially during the pandemic, you can talk to any Toronto city councilor and they can tell you the problem has escalated in recent years,” he said. he said she.

The outgoing councilman said that police enforcement is not necessarily the best use of resources or a way to solve the problem.

“If we think we’re going to deal with this just by having cops everywhere, we’re not going to succeed,” he said.

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Bailao, who previously brought the issue to the attention of city staff, said there are better ways to tackle the problem. He mentioned that designing highways, which would take years, is a good move, while also looking to incorporate technology similar to speeding cameras to penalize offenders.

The city’s economic and community development committee has received motions they intend to present to council, including increased fines for excessive vehicle noise, demerit points, suspension of auto body facility licenses illegally modifying exhausts and investigating technological measures to curb excessive noise. sound.

“We’re going in the right direction, but I’m not sure there is the political will to do what needs to be done,” Buday said.

The City Council is expected to present the measures on July 19 and 20.


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