Barrie pilot project to address loud vehicle noise

The Barrie Police Service and the City of Barrie are teaming up to try and tackle loud vehicles on city streets.

Starting Wednesday night, volunteers with Barrie police's citizens on patrol unit will use noise detectors in each of the city's ten wards to track and report loud vehicles.

"A microphone that leads out to the roadway shows a series of green, yellow and red lights to community members driving by whether or not their vehicle was registering a low decimal level or a high decimal level," said Const. Keira Brooks, Barrie Police Service.

Vehicles exceeding noise standards will then receive a warning letter in the mail informing them of the issue. A second warning could result in a fine.

The City of Barrie supports the new pilot project, and the mayor says it's about time something is done about the loud vehicles.

"It's a problem we're facing around the city, and we're really happy to see the police department stepping up the efforts to try and deal with it," Alex Nuttall said.

Barrie resident Jake Vroom admits he has a vehicle that has been modified.

"I like loud cars. I have nothing against them. People going around 3 a.m., blasting like two-stepping that kind of stuff, maybe a bigger deal, but overall in the middle of the day, there's lots of other noises because there's construction going on," he said.

The 17 members of citizens on patrol were trained on the new noise monitoring devices last week. The program is expected to continue through August.