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Motorcyclist with loud pipes tells judge he was 'railroaded' by zealous cop
Officer using his personal sound meter handed out 100 noise tickets in 2008
By KENT SPENCER,
The Province June 6, 2012
Former Harley-Davidson motorbike rider Ian Tootill is a appealing a ticket he received from a Vancouver traffic officer for a noise violation on his motorcycle. (not illustrated). He claims he was arbitrarily singled out by an officer using a personal noise device. Toothill cites letters from the VPD and Attorney General Shirley Bond saying the use of such devices is not permitted. Photograph by: Ian Lindsay , PNGA former Harley-Davidson owner appealing an excessive noise ticket has told a judge that a motorcycle cop with a penchant for handing out excessive noise tickets has overstepped his bounds.
The case concerns an appeal in B.C. Supreme Court by Ian Tootill, a Harley-Davidson rider who was cited by Vancouver Const. John Bercic on Beach Ave. in 2009 for being too loud.
Tootill’s appeal of the $109 ticket contends that Bercic singled him out “arbitrarily” and that Bercic’s own personal noise meter, not police department equipment, was used to test the Harley.
“I was railroaded,” said Tootill.
Crown counsel Elizabeth Wolfram argues the ticket was correctly issued and upheld in Traffic Court in 2010.
“There is no way this was a miscarriage of justice,” she said.
Court heard that Bercic handed out 100 noise tickets in 2008, the most of any VPD officer.
Wolfram said Bercic handed out the most tickets because he had the “training and expertise, probably the most in the department.”
She said Bercic, who has ridden a Harley himself on the job for 20 years, heard the noise from Tootill’s bike to be “twice as loud” as permitted.
Court heard that Bercic used his personal testing equipment. Toothill introduced as evidence letters from the VPD and Attorney General Shirley Bond which said such equipment is not permitted.
But Wolfram said the use of personal testing devices was irrelevant because Tootill was convicted under a different section of the Motor Vehicle Act.
That section only requires an officer’s subjective view that the noise exceeds limits.
“The officer’s professional expertise gives him the ability to determine whether a motorcycle is unnecessarily loud,” she said.
She said the Harley-Davidson was outfitted with Screaming Eagle pipes, which the manufacturer says are not recommended for road use because they are too loud.
“This appeal should be dismissed,” she said.
Tootill, who has sold his Harley, said he doesn’t expect to win peoples’ sympathy, but he wants the law to be applied fairly.
“I don’t drive like an idiot and I hate people who do,” said Tootill, an advocate for motorbikes. “I’m doing this because of my Scottish heritage. I’m stubborn.”
Justice Miriam Gropper has reserved her decision.
