Bylaws have been much in the news lately – it’s been a serious couple of weeks.
So much so, it’s been too easy to overlook the fact that bylaws can be fun.
A troll through local legislation doesn’t offer loads of grist for this mill, but there is some.
The Princeton cemetery administration bylaw, for example, clearly states that with the exception of memorial volleys, it is illegal to fire a gun on cemetery property.
It is a regulation that it is concerning and reassuring in equal measure.
Other towns have amusing bylaws.
In Sudbury, Ontario, it is illegal for cyclists to attach a siren to their bikes and fines range up to $5,000.
The bylaw does not state why someone would want to attach a siren to his or her bicycle and says nothing about what kinds of noise makers may be attached to ATVs.
Petrolia, Ontario has a bylaw against whistling and singing at all times.
And you thought the updated Princeton bylaw with its pesky restrictions on Sunday construction noise was overreaching.
Taxi drivers in Halifax, Nova Scotia are required under law to wear socks and they are not allowed to wear t-shirts. In other communities people just care about how many ways the taxi driver knows to get to the airport.
St. Paul, Alberta has an awesome bylaw that makes it illegal for anyone younger than 15 to loiter in a public place without an adult guardian between midnight and 6 a.m.
A similar bylaw here would save the lives of countless Pokeman Go characters.
It’s illegal to skinny dip in Bancroft, Ontario and in Souris, PEI anyone living on a corner cannot build a snowman on his or her lawn taller than 30 cm.
Snowmobile hazzard?
The best craziest bylaw story comes from Toronto, Ontario (natch) and involves the owner of an adult entertainment store who was told he could not sell edible undergarments without….wait for it….a food license.
Not touching that one.
Every editorial needs a point. The point is this.
Everyone needs to lighten up...just a little.
(Source for crazy outside of Princeton bylaws is Readers Digest. But the fun was all us.)
- AD