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LETTER: 'Ear-shattering' motorcycles make for unacceptable patio experience

'We made up our minds that we will no longer bring guests downtown, except on a Saturday when all vehicles are banned,' says reader
2021-07-08 Motorcycles
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BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following letter is in response to a story titled 'Barrie police conducting summer blitz to quiet noisy vehicles' published on July 7. 

Last Sunday, we decided to invite a couple who had just moved into a lakeshore condo to check out newly renovated Dunlop Street and stop at one of the inviting patios for a bite to eat.

It was a beautiful day to enjoy Barrie’s treasures, with golden sunshine, gentle breezes and a very comfortable temperature for strolling along the boardwalk to Mulcaster Street.

After checking out the retail stores, we stopped off at one of the shaded patios for a bite to eat. We had just sat down and had just begun our chat when we abruptly had to cease our conversation when an extremely loud  no muffler  motorcycle roared by while revving up its engine to the loudest decibels possible!

While we sat there trying to enjoy a peaceful supper, our pleasant conversations, relaxed state of mind, relative peace and quiet turned into a most stress-filled, most frustrating and extremely unpleasant experience as we endured the ear-breaking roar of no less than 25 motorcycles racing by. 

Everyone on the patio just shook their heads, rolled their eyes and raised their hands in frustrated gestures.  

As we headed back home, we experienced the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. As we were strolling along the boardwalk, suddenly three motorbikes, without licence plates, roared by at excessive speed, loudly along the bike path forcing cyclists onto the grass.  

Since we had the exact same experience last week when we treated our grandson to lunch, we made up our minds that we will no longer bring guests downtown, except on a Saturday when all vehicles are banned.

From our observations, the motorbikes on Dunlop Street are just roaring through Barrie. We have never seen one rider stop and eat something or shop in the stores. So, basically they are doing nothing to contribute to the local economy! But with their loud ear-shattering noise and deadly pollutants spewing from their tail pipes, they are driving committed local shoppers away.

As well, it really irks us that we believe most of the motorcyclists don’t live in this community and pay local taxes, but the residents who do pay their taxes here are having their few precious hours outside destroyed by the completely unnecessary roar of motorcycles! 

We live on Victoria Street and some of our friends have told us that they have no idea how we can stand living on a street where we can no longer sit in our secluded courtyard due to the constant roar of motorcycles racing by.

One set of friends have actually told us that they will not come and visit us in the summer.

It turns out that the loud decibels of noise created by the constant revving of motorcycles and vehicles without mufflers, not only can trigger hearing loss later in life, but the noise triggers cardiovascular issues, cognitive impacts, sleep disturbances, and mental health problems.

First, we had no choice but to spend an exorbitant amount of time indoors and close to home due to COVID. And now it seems very unfair that, due to unnecessary motorcycle noise, we are forced inside, whenever we try to enjoy our courtyard on weekends.

We just want to point out whenever a motorcycle drives by at normal speed without constantly revving up its engine it’s not a problem.

In conclusion we would like to know the following-

— Why can motorcycles not be banned from Dunlop Street, the way the big transport trucks are banned?

— Why can we not enact huge fines, with signs stating the fines, for noise and no muffler infractions?

— If we enacted big fines, could we not easily afford to hire more law enforcement officers?

— Why can we not increase the number of law enforcement officers in designated sites like Dunlop and the Lakeshore on weekends?  

Gwen and Dan Petreman