Open letter to all Richmondites,
There has been a maddening increase in the amount of car noise in our city over the past few years, and I fear it is only getting worse.
There are simply far too many performance cars with exhausts and mufflers modified to create excessive noise.
The drivers of these cars tend to rev when stopped at lights, and subsequently floor the car when the light turns green, producing truly ridiculous volume of noise.
Such behaviour may only be a fleeting moment of “flexing” for them, but for those of us that live near major roads (River Road and Hollybridge Way, in my case), it is a constant torment.
It happens at all hours of the day, from as early as 6 a.m. to as late as 3 a.m.
It disturbs sleep, sets dogs barking, and causes spike of stress and anxiety in people as unexpected and sudden loud noises are known to do.
Though I am known to frequently question the wisdom of cars in general, I want to be absolutely clear: I have nothing against the passion that some people have for theirs.
I understand only too well the desire to make something uniquely one’s own via modification.
I simply object to the fact that the fulfillment of their enthusiasm should come at such unreasonable levels of vehicular noise, to be endured by everyone else.
And the truth of the matter is that most of these cars are in clear violation of the province’s Motor Vehicle Act Regulations (https://www.bclaws.gov.bc.ca/civix/document/id/loo83/loo83/26_58_04), which specifically prohibit modifications to exhausts and mufflers that would increase the noise output.
Therefore, it is high time, in my humble opinion, that the Richmond RCMP starts inspecting these cars and issue fines for illegal modifications, and orders to remove or re-modify. They should also work with local car shops, so they won’t perform such noise-increasing modifications in the first place.
And to all car enthusiasts, I want to reiterate that you should be able to modify your cars to your heart’s content - just leave the noise out, pretty please.
Sleepless in Richmond
Minwook Bae
