Dear Mayor, Council, Police, Municipal Enforcement and Town Administration,
In October of 2017, I had the opportunity to address the previous Town Council about a growing scourge in our Cochrane neighbourhoods: loud vehicles breaking the law. At that meeting, three resolutions were proposed, including this one that passed, that Town policing would step up their efforts to crack down on vehicle owners whose vehicles did not meet the requirements of the Traffic Safety Act, specifically the Use Of Highway And Rules Of The Road sections 82 and 87 which state:
Noise
82 A person shall not create or cause the emission of any loud and unnecessary noise
(a) from a vehicle or any part of it, or
(b) from any thing or substance that the vehicle or a part of the vehicle comes into contact with.
Disturbance of residential area
87 A person driving a vehicle shall not, during the period of time commencing at 10 p.m. and terminating at the following 7 a.m., drive the vehicle on a highway in a residential area in a manner that unduly disturbs the residents of the residential area.
At that time, I was kept in communication with Municipal Enforcement Peace Officers. But that communication has since died off and the numbers of offending vehicles within our community continues to rise at all hours of the day and night.
These loud-muffler (or no muffler) vehicle owners are bullies, plain and simple. They bully their way into our communities and homes. They interrupt our sleep at all hours of the day and night. They interrupt our quality of life. They annoy, aggravate, and lower the acceptable standards of being either good neighbours or decent citizens. They thumb their noses at those of us who complain. They vilify us on social media. They engage in degrading levels of social conduct and claim to be “by rights” people (by rights I can interrupt whomever I want and do whatever I want whenever I want and there’s nothing you can do.)
These are the textbook actions and definition of a bully.
But what about our rights; the law-abiding citizens who offer much good to our communities? When did Council and Police turn their heads in favour of the bullies?
Step up Council, Administration and Police. Make the enforcement of the law a priority and rid our community of the bullies, the arrogant, and the angry, small-minded lawbreakers. Our community demands leadership from our elected leaders and our administration. And at the very least, we expect the police to uphold the laws that have been cited, the laws that other communities continue to enforce vigorously, and the laws that the rest of us abide by voluntarily.
Kevin Burns
