We are a community working towards solutions for unnecessary and harmful noise that affects all of us, day and night.
I am Ingrid Buday, founder and executive director of No More Noise.
I love my home, but it is not a place of rest and relaxation. Loud cars, racing sports-bikes, street racers and backfiring vehicles can be heard from every room in my home, day and night. When I realized that my mental and physical health was impacted by motor vehicle noise, I decided to research noise. This is what I learned:
- I’m not alone (neither are you)
- There is no biological defence for sound (in fact, it is the first sense we develop and the last one we lose)
- There are a lot of noise sources and we don’t get used to them.
- The policies and processes around noise are broken (or non-existent)
- Enforcement is ineffective (or non-existent)
- The data published by Toronto Public Health presented 24-hour sound level averages (we don’t live with averages)
- My data shows some people have over 150 noise spikes a day from moving vehicles (with no defence)
- Noise is extremely harmful to our health and decades of research provide plenty of supporting data
So I started to collect data with sound level meters and collate it with the crowdsourced data from my “This is Not 311” Noise Report. We collected over 12,000 data points and caught the attention of city councillors and city staff. We now have collaborative relationships with Municipal Licensing & Standards (the bylaw people), the Customer Experience Division (noise reporting through contacting 311), Toronto Police Services and Toronto Public Health. We are also on the Night Economy External Working Group. We are thankful for their collaboration.
We have come very far, very fast
In 3 years, we have gained 1700 subscribers to our newsletter Noise News, are connected with many community groups and have the support of many Residents Associations. We now have many supporters in the media and elsewhere.
We are focused on creating change through the Civic Engagement Process, educating and encouraging people to speak up and participate in awareness campaigns in advance of meetings at City Hall. This has already resulted in some policies being changed, (such as 311 accepting noise reports at all times, even when the noise is allowed) and motions being presented and passed for future action. We have developed access to other channels, such as lobbying, to get us inside the doors of City Hall.
We can go further, together
Please join us by signing up for our newsletter for the noise source that bothers you!