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ludicrous, offensive, Unfounded, discriminatory
Profiling innocent People everyday
As the town of Caledon prepares to
Isolate and discriminate motorcyclists,
we must ultimately ask ourselves,
WHeRe Will it eNd?
SToRY BY DaMIen eaTon. PHoTo BY MaRTIn BeSko
I would like to apologize in advance, for what I believe will ultimately be
a waste of both my time as a writer, and your time as the reader.
But, to take away some of the pain, I will try and make this article
as brief as possible.
An article about a new bylaw,
which I believe is so
ridiculous, so blatantly
about grabbing YOUR
money, most certainly a
law brought about to pacify a very small
group of whining residents in the Town
of Caledon, Ontario, that is literally
giving my arse a headache.
BY-LAW NO.2010-117 – Opening
statement and I quote,
WHEREAS Council considers it
desirable to provide for a balance
between Caledon residents requesting
a reasonable level of peace and quiet
in their neighborhood and motorcycle
enthusiasts who ride their motorcycles
in Caledon Neighborhoods, thereby
generating excessive noise; and,
Sounds reasonable enough, right?
Wrong…..
First of all, the ambient noise
generated by the average motorcycle
is not much louder than a typical car.
That being said, and the fact that the
ratio of cars on the road as opposed
to motorcycles is somewhere in the
neighborhood of a thousand to one,
which is louder in your mind?
1 motorcycle or 1000 cars?
Secondly, what about trucks / tractor
trailers? Again a ratio of at least five
hundred to one. So what generates more
noise?
1 motorcycle or 500 noisy, stinking,
black smoke hacking diesel trucks?
What about tuner cars? I.e. Honda
Civics with a Campbell’s soup can for
an exhaust pipe and a stereo blasting
Eminem at 150db?
Don’t forget lawnmowers, snow
blowers, chainsaws, mixers, maintenance
and construction equipment, airplanes,
country music?
Are you seeing a pattern here? Life is
noisy, but the last time I checked this
motorcycle enthusiast is a taxpayer, and
a resident of the Town of Caledon.
My next problem with the opening
statement to this by-law. ‘motorcycle
enthusiasts who ride their motorcycles
in Caledon Neighborhoods, thereby
generating excessive noise; and,’
I’m sorry, ‘motorcycle enthusiasts’,
don’t you mean, commuters, taxpayers
and often times residents of the Town
of Caledon? They make it sound like we
are some gang, or group of undesirables
from society’s underbelly, infiltrating
their peaceful town, raping and pillaging
and then riding off to destroy the next
hamlet? Sorry, but to paraphrase James
Stewart from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’;
we are the people that do most of the
working and paying and living and dying
in this town.’
The truth of the matter is simple by
its nature. We have already determined
that on average, motorcycles are no
louder than a car or truck. There are far
less motorcycles on the road than there
are cars and trucks etc. Motorcycles are
on the road only half the time during an
already short riding season. Motorcycles
are smaller, therefore easier targets for
law enforcement to pull over and do
their dB (A) test (coincidence,
or convenience)?
According to statements made at the
third and final meeting regarding this
new by-law on October 5th 2010, 300
residents of hamlets such as Belfountain
and Alton signed a petition to see BY-
LAW NO.2010-117 passed. What about
the other 52,000 plus residents of the
Town of Caledon, of which I am one? I
find it yet again very convenient that
such a small list of irritable people can
get such a discriminatory by-law passed.
I also find it very convenient that this
dB (A) test requires a certain amount
of uninterrupted space around the
vehicle to be conducted properly and
motorcycles are the smallest vehicles
on the road, thusly making it easier to
conduct? Why not cars and trucks?
As for the intended fine amounts, or
the ridiculously low acceptable dB(A)
level that will be enforced, I could go
on all day about how un-Canadian and
discriminatory this pathetic money
grab is, but sadly BY-LAW NO.2010-117
has been passed and will take effect on
October 1st, 2011.
Another issue the Stepford wives
and town busy bodies have with the
bikes, is group riding? Or as they called
it, ‘gangs of bikers’! Excuse me, but
those ‘gangs’ that ride through your
little town are generally on their way
to a charity ride to raise much needed
funds for such causes as, Cancer, Breast
Cancer, Women’s and children’s services,
diabetes etc. Should we stop all of that so
you may have your peace and quiet?
Perhaps now would be a good time to
ask how your neighbor feels about the
noise law? You know the guy on his lawn
tractor who has been mowing his 1.5
acres for the last three and a half hours,
after a motorcycle takes all of twenty
seconds to pass your property?
As a side note, I as an avid motorcyclist
I would like to reply to those who
attended the meetings and uttered the
words ‘loud pipes, do not save lives.’
As a writer for 2Ride magazine I am in
a position to test ride a lot of machines.
When doing so, I look around at many
people driving their cars, vans, SUVs’,
taxis and so on. I see them with their
cell phones tucked in between their
shoulder and cheek, adjusting their
stereos and applying eyeliner or reading
directions or text messaging and when I
am on a very quiet machine, they do not
see me, because they cannot hear me.
I have also been on some louder bikes
and have noticed a major difference,
when blipping the throttle I see those
same people look up and take notice. I
choose to ride a motorcycle and there is
a risk associated with that for which I am
aware and have respect for. Sadly it is
those out there that drive in the manner
I have mentioned that a motorcyclist
must fear above all.
After all, if loud pipes don’t get
noticed, then why has this by-law been
passed? As I have said, motorcycling has
its risks, so why take this safety feature
away from those of us in the community
that choose to ride? I have heard it a
million times on the news and from
people involved in accidents involving
a motorcyclist, ‘I didn’t even see them?
They were just there? I heard nothing,
changed lanes then wham!’
Besides, if noise doesn’t get our
attention and makes us more aware of
possible dangers, then why do Police
cars, Ambulances and Fire trucks
have sirens?
Point being, in Canada you cannot
discriminate against color, race,
religion, age, sex, sexual orientation,
socioeconomic standing, weight,
whether or not one can even speak
either of our official languages, English
or French, etc.
But apparently you are able to
discriminate against one thing……
Black Leather…..
nov’10-jan‘11 [20] nov’10-jan‘11 [21]