Mayor John Tory calls for crackdown on noisy vehicles

Mayor John Tory has had enough of your loud vehicles.

Tory, in an Aug. 31 letter sent to the city's head of the municipal licensing and standards division, is asking for a closer look at how to curb excessive vehicle noise — specifically the sounds of modified sports cars and motorcycles with loud pipes.

"It is disturbing people in their homes, during the day and at night, it is disrupting business and it is having a negative impact on tourists, all in the apparent cause of feeding the egos of inconsiderate people," Tory writes in the letter.

It's poor behaviour ... we have to crack down on it.- Mayor John Tory

On Monday, he told reporters his wife often takes it further, suggesting the main offenders are men who are "making up for other inadequacies."

Criticism aside, it's unclear at this point how the city will cut down on the number of noisy vehicles.

Currently, licensing and standards is reviewing the city's noise bylaws with the goal of providing a new report in the fall of 2019. Tory's letter said he would like to see that review include notes on how other cities are dealing with excessively loud vehicles.

The mayor highlights pilot projects underway in London, England, where drivers of loud vehicles can face fines, and Edmonton, where red light cameras could be used to capture the license plates of offending motorists.

Tory also notes that he'd be open to any short-term measures licensing and standards could put in place.

He told reporters that drivers who break any new noise rules should be "fined heavily."

"It's poor behaviour," he said. "We have to crack down on it."