A CLOSER LOOK
/Denman and Barclay on a busy, noisy afternoon.
WHAT WAS THAT NOISE?
Decibel Levels On The Rise
by John Streit
(Milan Streit Photos / click images to enlarge)
Three men riding motorcycles slowly rumble south down Denman Street towards Nelson. A car is making a left turn. All three bikes then hit the gas and pass the turning vehicle in the curb lane, each emitting a loud roar that everyone in the intersection and beyond in the West End can’t help but hear, leaving some people on the street shaking their heads in disgust (and some, perhaps, in awe). All three bikes most likely have modified exhaust systems.
A Cadillac Escalade slowly cruises down busy Davie Street past the Gabriola mansion near Cardero. The two people inside the giant SUV have rolled down their windows and have cranked up the tunes. It’s very loud and they don’t seem to care. Sitting at the bus bench you feel the bass rattle through the small shelter. You wonder if the glass will shatter, like it does in the movies.
It is 1:30 p.m. at See-Em-la Lane near Bidwell Street. You can hear the garbage truck approaching. It hits the brakes, then backs up “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP.” Its forks then pick up the metal bin and you hear a slam several times as the refuse is roughly dumped into its cavity. A short time later, a recycling truck arrives. The unbelievably loud sound of glass bottles being crushed against each other from recycle bin to vehicle is quick but startling. It happens a few more times before the recycling truck moves on to the next block.
Delivery truck on Davie Street.
The physical makeup of the West End with its tightly packed apartment buildings, houses, businesses, restaurants and bars makes it a very noisy neighbourhood to begin with. Sounds echo and amplify up and down the concrete, wood and stucco canyons. Add to that fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, construction, high-end audio systems, fireworks, boom boxes, leaf blowers, delivery vehicles, horns, garbage trucks and yes, people screaming, and it all gets to be collectively a little uncomfortable and frenetic for some (including hardened long-time West Enders who’ve seen and heard it all).
Martin Addison is executive director of the West End Seniors’ Network, a role he appears to be loving in his first year on the job. He served in civic and not-for-profit organizations over the past several decades, including the mental health sector and St. John’s Ambulance. As a 40-year West End resident, he knows our neighbourhood well and cares about its seniors.
The West End Seniors’ Network’s Martin Addison (WESN photo)
He’s also been hearing from folks about noise. “We get quite a bit of feedback on various issues from inflation through to the delivery bikes whizzing up and down the streets. But noise is one of the bigger issues.
“I think it falls into three categories; construction noise, traffic noise and party noise. Party noise includes fireworks and events like Car-Free Day. We understand construction noise has to go on and everyone generally follows the bylaws. So that's okay and our seniors accept that, except for the fact it can be really loud. If you have a bad night and want to stay in bed the next morning, there's always someone out there with a leaf blower, jackhammer, power saw or a garbage truck. That kind of noise is almost unavoidable if we're going to be a vibrant downtown city,” Addison says.
But Addison says traffic noise has been a bit excessive as of late. “We hear quite a bit about Denman Street traffic and especially during rush hour where it's bumper to bumper. We hear that seniors generally like the fact that traffic is being sort of throttled back more and more by the fact that restaurant patios are expanding into outside lanes and that has a tendency to slow things down. But one of the complaints that I heard is how those motorcycles have those fancy exhausts on them that turn a fairly regular engine into something really quite loud. They really crack, don't they?” he says.
He believes West End alleys are also getting noisier. "To be clear, it's not just Denman Street, it's the side streets where you get folks whizzing up and down there in their motorcycles, and what have you. And that's coupled with garbage trucks, especially early in the morning. We literally have a garbage truck coming down our alley every morning.
“My question to our strata here has been “why the hell don't we organize with the building managers in the alley and go with the same company? Get them to come once a week on a Tuesday morning and then four days a week there's no one truck around. But organizing something like that is a fairly big job and probably not possible,” Addison says.
For residents, especially seniors, this boost in urban volume can have a negative impact. “I think it creates anxiety and fear for some folks, especially for those who are hard of hearing and have mobility issues. Traffic in particular, because speed and traffic noise go together. It also disturbs your sleep if you happen to be napping,” Addison says.
A recent United Nations Environment Program study titled ‘Listening to Cities’ backs Addison up. Included are two 15-year-long studies of long-term residents of Toronto which found “exposure to road traffic noise elevated risks for acute myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure, and increased the incidence of diabetes mellitus by eight percent and hypertension by two percent.”
The UN study deemed urban noise pollution “a major environmental problem, cited as a top environmental risk to health across all age and social groups and an addition to the public health burden.”
Delivery truck on West End streets.
When it comes to traffic noise, the City of Vancouver has the Motor Vehicle Noise and Emission Abatement By-Law No. 9344, enacted by former mayor Sam Sullivan’s council in 2006. It lists a number of noises “objectionable or liable to disturb the quiet, peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort, or convenience of individuals or the public.”
They include:
The squeal of a tire, made by a motor vehicle that is accelerating or changing direction.
A loud, roaring, or explosive sound emitted by a motor vehicle.
The amplified sound of a radio, television, player, or other sound playback device or amplification equipment, or the sound of a musical instrument, that emanates from a motor vehicle and that someone outside the motor vehicle can easily hear.
The sound from vehicle-mounted sound amplification equipment made continuously for more than two minutes at the same location.
The sound of an automobile security system made, either continuously or intermittently, for a period exceeding one minute, or the sound of an automobile security system, not including its activation status signal, made more than three times in a 24 hour period.
The sound of a motor vehicle that is idling (except exempted vehicles).
The by-law states the fine is no less than $250 and not more than $10,000 for each offence.
Vancouver Police can also issue fines to drivers under the Provincial Motor Vehicle Act which states: “No person shall start, drive, turn or stop any motor vehicle, or accelerate the vehicle engine while the vehicle is stationary, in a manner which causes any loud and unnecessary noise in or from the engine, exhaust system or the braking system, or from the contact of the tires with the roadway.”
A violation can result in a $109 ticket. The legal limit in B.C. is 83 decibels for cars and 91 dB for motorcycles.
TWEJ has asked the VPD how many noise violation tickets have been issued in the West End in 2022 but has not heard back by press time.
In White Rock two years ago, RCMP conducted a loud vehicle enforcement crackdown which resulted in 45 violation tickets over six months. In a press release, Constable Chantal Sears had these observations during enforcement:
Although you can legally buy a loud muffler, this does not mean it is legal to use on public roads.
If an auto dealership sells you a vehicle with a loud muffler, it can still be illegal to operate.
The inner joy or sense of expression by some loud vehicle owners is not shared by many, and generally creates the emotions of anger or annoyance.
Diesel bus on Stanley Park Causeway
Constable Sears added “we have had motorcycles and vehicles hit 110 decibels, which is in the sound range of a turbo-fan aircraft taking off or a live rock concert. Noisy vehicles seem to be an issue throughout the region, however we would like to emphasize that if you come to White Rock in a loud vehicle or motorcycle, there is a good chance you may leave with an inspection order.”
Other cities have tried non-traditional ways to tackle vehicle noise. In 2018, Edmonton put up four LED boards displaying car and truck decibel levels. However, that backfired when drivers started gunning their engines for fun to see how loud they could get their vehicles to go. In Bucharest, Romania, the city is planning to ban noisy cars in the country’s capital at night. The ban would run from 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. and would target noise over 95 decibels, according to Agerpress.
In terms of some of the other urban noises we’ve discussed, most are covered in the City of Vancouver’s Noise Control By-Law No. 6555 enacted by former mayor Gordon Campbell’s council in 1989.
Garbage trucks are allowed to operate from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Construction is allowed from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturdays. There are also extensive rules regarding music and decibel levels depending on where you live or do business in the West End. If you operate a club or restaurant on Davie Street between Bute and Burrard for example, you’re allowed to crank up the volume. Also, “no person shall make or cause, or permit to be made or caused, any noise or sound in a street, park or similar public place which disturbs or tends to disturb unreasonably the quiet, peace, rest, enjoyment, comfort or convenience of persons in the neighbourhood or vicinity.” Again, minimum fines are $250.
TWEJ asked Martin Addison at the West End Seniors’ Network what he thought of that age old argument many people hear about life here "you knew the neighbourhood was loud coming in, you just have to live with it!"
"To a point, we're not Shaughnessy, Richmond or West Vancouver. There are a lot of folks here and a lot of people squashed into a small space. But some of the noise is excessive and can be avoided.”
For noise concerns/complaints e-mail: noise@vancouver.ca, call the Noise Hotline at 604.873.7753, or go to the city’s online noise complaint page here.
WE ASKED YOU - AND YOU SAID …
TWEJ asked on Facebook “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗶𝘀𝗲? Is it getting louder in the West End? What are your thoughts on revving motorcycles, cranked up stereos and insanely loud car exhausts? Is it time for more enforcement?” We lowered the volume, bass and treble to present some of your excellent answers!
Carolyn Victoria Mill: Car alarms...do they actually prevent crime or just sleep?
Kat Wielgus: Yes to ticketing vehicles exceeding db limits and to the ones with the repeating car alarm issue. Kick out people having loud parties at the beach at 10 p.m., everyone out at midnight. Other than that I'm fine.
Anthony Lee: Why do people have the urge to scream "whoo hoo!" at the top of their lungs after coming out of the bar?
Stuart William: I don’t know, it was like this since the 1980s. Just part of the community.
Don Allison: I complained weekly about four years ago to the city 311 number and police non-emergency. The response was, “we understand your issue”, but that was it. I actually had a return call from police non-emergency staff and said they had concerns but did not have…
Trish Newson: Why do motorcycles have to sound like machine guns?
Kayla Dee: Absolutely! Since moving here over a year ago Sunset Beach has become the go to place for speeding vehicles, unchecked beach parties, unchecked vehicles with loud mufflers who travel in from Surrey and Langley.
Laura Lang: Many countries in the world have noise bylaws and don't allow macho men to remove their mufflers from their cars or motorcycles. In Paris there are many, many motorcyclists and one barely hears a thing.
Ric Barrett: Well, living next to Nelson Park I hear noises 24/7 if it's not sirens, car horns blasting, vehicle stereos booming, motorcycles revving, kids screaming all day. Even if I close my windows I still hear the noise. And I live on the 21st floor!
Kate Holmes: When we moved into the West End 20 years ago across from Stanley Park Manor we were amazed at how quiet Haro Street was. When we moved out last year, it was so loud I couldn’t think straight.
David Bird: Lately, I’ve really noticed an increase in the air traffic and associated noise over the West End. Some days it’s like living next to YVR.
Isabella Consuelo Aasen: I never see Harleys parked outside homes in the West End. I see them parked on Davie, The Sylvia, etc. But they do love riding along the side streets full throttle as the sound is amplified by the buildings.
Bernie Steininger: I have lived in the West End for 47 years and yes it's getting noisier. We have various folks that scream at full volume as they roam alley's the West End at various times of day. Very loud music coming out of cars and way too loud motorcycles.
Jocelan Tracey: The one good thing about the pandemic was how quiet it was in the West End! I think we are sensitized now that it is mostly over and people have returned to "normal". Part of the reason it's noisy is that on some streets it's like a canyon of towers.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
John Streit has been a BC radio, TV and online journalist for more than 20 years.
You can listen to him anchor Global News on 980/CKNW in Vancouver.
