IF you live in Georgetown or the immediate surroundings, you may have encountered those noisy motorbikes that sound like gunshots or make extremely loud bangs.

It feels as though something has changed because motorbikes were never that loud in the past. Were they?
This noise nuisance has already caught the attention of the Traffic Department of the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

Speaking with The Buzz on Thursday, Traffic Chief, Ramesh Ashram said his department has been clamping down on these types of altered motorbikes.

“This compound is full with motorbikes,” the traffic chief said, adding that when motorcyclists are found to have altered their motorbikes to the extent that it creates that nuisance, they are pulled in.
“When we find them, we revoke their Fitness and advise them to have it rectified, and we will re-examine it,” Ashram said in an invited comment.

He stressed that quite a number of motorbikes have already been pulled in, but the trend continues.

“When they come with the Fitness, the come with the correct thing, but when they leave, they alter the motorbikes and we only find out when we are doing our campaigns,” he added. “If you see how much of those bikes we have in the yard.”

A city mechanic, Fraser, explained how the modifications are done.
He said there are two types of modifications that could be done.

For the gunshots sound, Fraser explained, this is when a blockage is created in the exhaust which causes a buildup of compression and fumes and results in small combustions. “So, it goes off like squibs,” he said.

For the louder ‘bangs’, Fraser said it could be that they modify the existing exhaust on a motorbike or replace it with an older one which will continue to work with the existing engine, but will cause more noise from the exhaust.

“It’s usually a smaller exhaust, so more noise but less speed,” he added.

Asked about the danger of the modification, the mechanic said that if you are standing behind of the motorbike exhausts that make the ‘gunshot’ sound, the exhausts can release fragments that get into your eyes, or can be felt on your skin.

Guyana is not the only country in the Caribbean dealing with this issue.

Recently, Jamaica’s media reported that their Island Traffic Authority (ITA) and the Public Safety and Traffic Enforcement Branch of the Jamaica Constabulary Force will conduct a joint campaign to clamp down on these altered motorbikes that are used across the island which are noise nuisances in communities.