'Disruption to my quality of life': Calgary monitoring excessive vehicle noise ahead of extra enforcement

Calgary is set to start cracking down on excessive vehicle noise but it's first determining exactly where the problem spots are.

Monitoring devices were installed along 17 Avenue S.W. weeks ago to collect data on the times and locations of loud noises such as those caused by vehicles with modified mufflers.

"What we want to be able to do is get some preliminary data from different sources so that we can target where our complaints are," said Colin Adderley, a technology engineer with the City of Calgary.

"That way, we can start to do something about it."

The plan to hire more officers and target loud vehicles can't come soon enough for some residents living near the busy entertainment avenue.

"It's like an excessively loud car that sounds like it's rippling. There are mufflers that either sound like fireworks or gunshots, constantly going like pow, pow, pow!" said Arthur Gallant, who lives in the Beltline.

The city hired eight peace officers and two police sergeants earlier this year for its Traffic Safety Team.

The group's focus will turn more toward vehicle noise next spring.

"The excessive noise is a disruption to my quality of life," Gallant said.

"I can't have my windows open in the summertime. ... I don't like having friends over."

The city's plan is to take an education-first approach when it comes to noisy vehicles.

Eventually, tickets and fines will be handed out.

The noise monitors will aid the team in knowing the trouble spots and times when the excessive noise is most frequent.

"The way the sensor collects the data, it does a calculation and only measures sound intensity or amplitude. And so we know how loud the sound this but we don't know what the sound is," Adderley said.

Council approved $1.6 million in funding for operating and capital costs for the Traffic Safety Team.