In an effort to combat noise pollution, the City of Toronto and the Toronto Police Service have announced an awareness and enforcement campaign against vehicles deemed excessively noisy.

At an announcement in Yorkville on July 15, Mayor John Tory said a new noise bylaw coming into effect Oct. 1 will introduce new decibel level standards.

The rules will allow bylaw officials to issue tickets for excessive noise coming from stationary vehicles. Enforcement regarding moving vehicles will still be the responsibility of police under the Highway Traffic Act.

In the meantime, current provincial laws and city bylaws are already in place to protect quality of life and permit enforcement against unnecessary vehicle horns and alarms, loud mufflers and exhausts, engine revving and squealing tires and general noise.

“I think people who live in the city understand that it’s not going to be Algonquin Park and it’s not going to be silent at all times,” said Tory.

The mayor announced a blitz targeting motorists operating vehicles without mufflers or who have modified their vehicles to make more noise, which Tory said disrupts the lives of people living in the city.

“My wife has explained this many times to me as being simply an outcropping of the inadequacies that certain people feel — mostly men — who drive these cars around,” said Tory.

“I will go no further than that.”

The blitz and incoming bylaw come after the city conducted a review into street noise following complaints from residents.

The blitz will take place across the city throughout the summer.

Construction noise and emergency sirens are exempt from the blitz.