Dear Editor:
Politicians have deregulated public safety in the Okanagan valley.
When motor vehicles are manufactured, they have to meet very strict safety standards, including maximum allowable noise levels.
Those standards do not change when the vehicles roll off the automakers assembly lines.
In the Okanagan valley we have experienced a huge increase in the number of cars with obnoxious, ear-splitting boom boxes, power boats with inadequate or no mufflers, motorbikes with flow-through pipes, and pick-ups trucks with after-market exhaust systems customized to make even more noise!
The bylaws have been in place for years, and they are as relevant today as they were at the time they were adopted.
Because these issues are not being addressed, many Okanagan valley drivers have developed some aggressive attitudes that have left our streets and highways unsafe.
The daily exposure to those high noise levels represents nothing less than a daily assault on public safety as well as our quality of life. It has to stop.
The RCMP is responsible for public safety, but they are waiting for a green light from our politicians to be allowed to do their job.
Andy Thomsen
Summerland