Town Finds Way to Deal with Alarming Vehicle Noise

COCHRANE, AB — Cochrane resident Kevin Shier had been attempting to resolve noise issues for many years with little success, with some residents selling their homes and others on the verge, as a result of vehicle backup beepers operating around the clock.

Following a friend’s suggestion, he and a neighbor researched “white noise” backup alarms and discovered a solution, leading to two business and the entire Town of Cochrane fleet now having Brigade bbs-tek white sound alarms installed.

Cochrane, like many places across Canada, has construction and trucking sites and yards, which cause a noise nuisance, disturbing the local community due to the constant “beep-beep” of reversing alarms heard for miles around. And while regulations require that a reversing alarm must be an “audible warning device” it does not state the type of sound the alarm must make.

Based on this, Shier took this information to the town’s local heavy vehicle companies.

“We found that many companies were cautious of replacing their current reversing alarm with Brigade’s white sound alarm, without fully understanding whether it would impact their insurances or vehicle warrantees. We were able to go away and answer all of their questions positively, finding that replacing the alarms wouldn’t cause any negative impact,” he said.

The white sound alarm emits an instantly locatable sound that is heard only where it matters, according to the manufacturer, so it does not cause a noise problem for people in the surrounding area.

Following initial successes with a handful of private fleet owners testing and proceeding to rollout installation of the alternative alarms, Shier took the technology to the Town of Cochrane, which quickly came onboard.

The biggest challenge was Cochrane wanted a local supplier. Refusing to give up, Shier became a distributor. Soon, the town ordered enough alarms for their entire fleet.

Since Shier began campaigning for his town to have the white sound alarms just over a year ago, nearly 100 vehicles are now using the technology, with the Town of Cochrane adopting this specific alarm as standard for its vehicles.

 


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