An excessive amount of engine revving has driven one local to reevaluate whether he wants to stay in town.

Okotoks resident Andrew Critchley is concerned about road safety, especially on Milligan Drive where he and his wife often walk their dogs.

"A couple of times we had vehicles speed through and even not stop, so failing to stop at the pedestrian crossings, or seeing ourselves and other pedestrians very late. So I actually reported that to the RCMP back in roughly the summertime, and had discussions with the RCMP on two occasions."

He says he also is concerned that there's street racing going on.

"I'd be very surprised if I'm the only resident that's concerned about this issue."

While out walking, he's actually spoken with around six to seven others who also commented on the noise.

"I just feel that it could only be a matter of time before somebody's hurt. And I know the town in years gone by has had issues with road racing, and I think there was a fatality many years ago."

In 2017, street racing reportedly led to the death of a man and landed one of the racers with a prison sentence.

While Critchley hasn't seen vehicles specifically racing each other on the road, he says the noise pattern he has heard has even been enough for him to guess a potential racing loop.

"You can hear the noise levels, and then you can hear the noise level escalate. And then both of the noise levels simultaneously disappear from the area for five minutes, and then they both come back."

One night the revving and the noise reached the breaking point, and he decided to take action.

His concern propelled him to send a complaint online to local municipal enforcement.

"It's not like I just want to report once or twice a day a car drives past my house with a loud muffler. That's absolutely not the case. There's road safety concerns.

"But also, it's relentless. It's just become like almost unbearable to the point where, you know, if I could find a house that was perhaps out of Okotoks, but I don't want to leave Okotoks, but it's really kind of causing me to consider whether I want to stay in Okotoks."

He said a couple of days later he received a response.

"The reply left me really disappointed."

He said the reply email referenced how municipal enforcement can't always be in the right place at the right time while regularly patrolling, and that he should be able to provide identifying information on vehicles breaking the law if he wanted to take it a step further and proceed with a formal complaint.

"This isn't like trying to solve a murder. I don't imagine it would be. This is a case of getting some cars into the area between 9 and 11 almost every night of the week, getting them to park somewhere and put their windows down. I think if they were to do that for two or three nights, and if they were to not have a result, then I think that would be an adequate level of service. But to send such a generic response just seems to minimize the issue for me. It's left me feeling that they don't care."

Critchley says he's not typically the one to report or complain about an issue.

"And I just want it to be clear. I'm sure the RCMP are extremely busy dealing with very important criminal code investigations and matters, but if the town has a municipal enforcements team to deal with such issues, it should be within their remits to have a process that they could at least conduct some extremely low-level investigations when people complain."

Senior Peace Officer Sam Burnett with Okotoks municipal enforcement says they have had some noise-related complaints.

"We've had a number of complaints in regards to loud vehicles. Now when it comes to loud vehicles, people revving their engines is a violation. It's a violation of provincial law and our bylaws, and so that's something we can deal with."

While the noise is an issue, he says he doesn't think street racing in town is as much of an issue as some would suggest.

He says the last one he recalls them catching was back around 2017.

"I think people are equating people revving their engines and being obnoxious with street racing, but I don't believe that to be the case. I think there's individuals in this town who are obnoxious with their vehicles."

Burnett says there's also potential for locals to think someone is speeding around when it's actually just a loud muffler.

"Some stock vehicles, especially trucks, are quite loud. And if the exhaust system on those vehicles is coming standard from the manufacturer, just because it's loud doesn't make it illegal. It's a modified exhaust or revving your engine that's illegal."

Though he says street racing doesn't appear to be a big issue as of late, he says that doesn't mean it's not happening.

"We have caught people driving at high rates of speed but not pairs of people."

Anyone looking to report a concern can contact the 24-hour complaint line at 403-938-8913.