Beep or hiss? Victoria lends ear to backup-beeper alternatives

City could follow UVic and replace beeps with hissing noise to alert pedestrians

Victoria staff will take a preliminary look at whether the city can help quiet backup beepers of large vehicles downtown.

Councillors have agreed to have staff report back in June on the resources and costs needed to explore what other cities are doing about the backup beepers, with an eye to finding alternatives.

The recommendation came from councillors Charlayne Thornton-Joe and Margaret Lucas, who say they are hearing complaints that the beeping — especially in the late night or early morning hours — is interfering with residents’ sleep.

As far back as 2014, the Downtown Residents Association identified backup beepers as one of the top issues amongst members, Thornton-Joe said.

Since then other municipalities have moved to replace the beepers on their vehicles with broadband alarms, she said.

“With the traditional sound, people don’t know where it’s coming from,” Thornton-Joe said, noting that the sound can be heard from quite some distace.

“Whereas with broadband it is directional, and if you hear it, you know you’re in proximity and it doesn’t affect other neighbours.”

Lucas said it’s probably not a top priority, but if the city is going to continue to encourage people to live downtown “we need to make it livable. We need to make it safe.”

Given that other municipalities have looked at the issue, “I hope we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here,” she said.

Three years ago, the University of Victoria replaced backup beepers on its vehicles with newer devices that instead produce white sound — like a hissing noise — to alert pedestrians.

The devices, which have been used in Europe for years, employ a broadband frequency that makes it easier for pedestrians to pinpoint a truck’s location and get out of the way.

Fraser Work, the city’s director of engineering, said the issue of regulating backup beepers falls under provincial occupational health and safety standards.

Work said staff could approach the issue by first looking at city-owned vehicles and then looking at considerations for other vehicles.

“A regional model is probably the least confusing way to approach this, or even a provincial or federal model,” he said.