BarrieToday welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). The following is in response to 'LETTER: Make noisy vehicles an election issue in Barrie,' published Sept. 14.
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In response to Ms. Clark’s complete dismay at the continued “noisy vehicles” in Barrie, I would like to suggest that in her frustration, she took liberties to speak for all of us and failed to realize the issue itself is really akin to a ‘first-world problem.’
Barrie police have frequently posted on social media in recent months/years with details and photos of vehicles they have cited for illegal and/or loud modifications but perhaps Ms. Clark isn’t on Twitter or Facebook.
I would like to point out to Ms. Clark that not all these drivers live locally and that in a democratic society, people have the ability (thankfully, for the most part) to buy aftermarket parts and complete custom work without approval from anyone and most mods do not impact anyone but the driver.
Ms. Clark appears to be blissfully unaware that crimes (often dangerous and/or serious ones), societal ills, and other calls for help are what are keeping police busy 24/7 rather than dealing with nuisance noisy drivers. People often fail to realize when they see police driving through a city, they can be actively working a call/case/situation already since not everything necessitates lights and sirens, rather than just ignoring cite-worthy issues they pass by.
I would suggest that maybe the Barrie police publish their daily/weekly/weekend count of calls for service and citations — like South Simcoe police often does — so that people, such as Ms. Clark, can have a better grasp of how busy the police service really is and how they are prioritizing their services and resources.
For myself, seeing much more concerning issues while I live, walk and work in Barrie, noisy/disruptive vehicles is certainly at the near-bottom of my priority list.
Jennifer Chalklin
Barrie
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