A muffler on a car in Woodside in a photo taken on Wednesday. HRM is working on a bylaw specifically aimed at vehicle noise. - Tim KrochakHALIFAX, N.S. — Revving engines and screeching tires have ruined plenty of quiet moments sitting out on the patio in Halifax, said Mark L’Ecuyer.
“It’s a real cop-out that the province hasn’t banned muffler modification and after-market mufflers,” said Coun. Waye Mason during the Halifax regional council meeting on Tuesday. “I don’t know what we’re doing here, to be honest, and I don’t know how to say that politely,” said Deputy Mayor Sam Austin .
Since noise cameras are out at least for now, staff wrote that a vehicle noise bylaw would just be duplicating what is already available in the general noise bylaw and the Motor Vehicle Act. From 2018-22, HRP and RCMP issued 88 tickets for vehicles that produced a “loud and unnecessary noise.” Of those 88, seven were dismissed, one was withdrawn and one was acquitted.