Editorial: Motorcycle mayhem

Posted 4/13/17

Sunday brought sunshine, t-shirt temperatures and, from out on the roads, a most deafening din.

Singly and in packs, mufflerless motorcycles blasted eardrums and rattled windows, almost as though …

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Editorial: Motorcycle mayhem

Posted

Sunday brought sunshine, t-shirt temperatures and, from out on the roads, a most deafening din.

Singly and in packs, mufflerless motorcycles blasted eardrums and rattled windows, almost as though their drivers knew they’d nothing to fear from police and their high-tech decibel detectors.

And they were right. Not for lack of candidates, weekend patrols throughout the region were unable to nab a single biker for noise ordinance violation that we’re aware of. From Peckham Road to Park Avenue, Stafford to Sodom, every last rider slipped through undetected. A car drives these roads with worn out muffler at its peril, but Harleys roar by at triple the volume with nothing to fear.

By now, most local departments have a decibel detector or two in the arsenal. It’s that piece of equipment they tell the town council they need to accomplish the crackdown on noisemakers that townspeople demand every year at about this time. Saying the motorcycle sounded loud isn’t enough — convictions call for decibel readings.

Yet once purchased, these costly devices are seldom heard from again — for sheer waste of taxpayer money, it’s tough to top the decibel detector.

Emboldened by their success against the best that technology, science, law enforcement and the board of selectmen can throw at them, the bikers amp it up year to year.

We’ve got disturbing the peace statutes, noise ordinances and decibel detectors. The noisemakers remain unimpressed.

(If this sounds familiar, our apologies — we’ve griped about it before. But nothing much ever seems to change.)

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MIKE REGO

Mike Rego has worked at East Bay Newspapers since 2001, helping the company launch The Westport Shorelines. He soon after became a Sports Editor, spending the next 10-plus years in that role before taking over as editor of The East Providence Post in February of 2012. To contact Mike about The Post or to submit information, suggest story ideas or photo opportunities, etc. in East Providence, email mrego@eastbaymediagroup.com.