Dear Editor,

I am writing as a concerned resident of Constant Spring Road, near The Queen’s Preparatory School on West Avenue, where daily life has become increasingly unpleasant and disrupted due to uncontrolled noise from vehicles.

Throughout the day, large trucks travel up West Avenue from Dunrobin Avenue via Lindsay Crescent with loud exhaust systems and blaring horns. During the summer this is an intolerable nuisance for residents, but during the school year the situation is even worse, as children at The Queen’s Prep are forced to endure this disturbance during classes. Even after raising the matter with both the previous and current mayors the problem continues unchecked.

The issue worsens at night when motorcycles and dirt bikes race up and down West Avenue, disturbing residents’ sleep and robbing families of quiet time after long workdays. Added to this is another serious problem: The noise from vehicles with powerful sound systems paused at the traffic lights at the intersection of West Avenue and Constant Spring Road. The music is blasted so loudly, often with the most vulgar lyrics, that it becomes impossible to hear the radio or television indoors. At times, residents are forced to shout to hold a simple conversation within their own homes.

This is not just an inconvenience; it is a matter of law. The Road Traffic Act, 2018 and the Road Traffic Regulations, 2022 set enforceable limits on vehicle noise: 85 dBA for cars and motorcycles, 90 dBA for small trucks, and 95 dBA for large trucks. Vehicles must be fitted with functioning silencers or mufflers, and modified exhaust systems are illegal.

Enforcement provisions allow the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) to remove licence plates, seize vehicles, and issue fines for violations. The Noise Abatement Act of 1997 also exists to regulate amplified sound, and should apply to vehicles with powerful music systems causing disturbance in residential areas.

I am, therefore, calling on the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation to act decisively. Mounting signs to request quiet, banning heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles with modified exhausts from residential roads, and enforcing the law against vehicles with blaring sound systems would restore some measure of peace. Enforcement by the JCF and ITA is essential.

Residents, including schoolchildren, deserve to live, work, and study without constant disruption. The law already exists; it is time the authorities ensure it is enforced.

Leighton Levy

Kingston