Kate McKenzie, 65, has lived across from Departure Bay beach for the past two years and can’t get a good night’s sleep. On a nightly basis, Kate says she wakes up to loud motorcycles and cars racing in front of her building.
“This spring it was just completely out of control,” she told The Discourse.
Kate lives with a condition which causes extreme fatigue and said the disruption to her sleep has impacted her health. She said the noise usually starts around 10 p.m. with motorcycles and cars driving up and down the road and drivers honking their car horns.
“There’s a lot of seniors in [my building], and our sleep is just really important to us,” she said. “It’s just debilitating.”
Some of the residents in her building are at their breaking point, with shouting matches taking place between them and the people on the street who Kate said are “belligerent” when asked to leave.
One Monday night, Kate’s daughter, Anna McKenzie, and granddaughter were visiting when the noise started with cars whipping down the street with very loud engines.
“I was really feeling for my mom and my daughter so I just blew up on my mom’s balcony and yelled at the top of my lungs: ‘Go home it’s a school night!’” Anna said.
Anna’s daughter is Snuneymuxw and Departure Bay is the site of a traditional winter village called Stiil’nep. She says that history contributes to her feeling an extra responsibility for the area.
Residents petition city for more enforcement and traffic calming
Anna started an online petition asking for increased presence and enforcement by RCMP and clear signage about the city noise bylaw with a focus on loud engines and traffic calming to reduce speed.
The petition has almost 200 signatures and just under 100 comments from local residents about their experiences in the area.
One comment on the petition said the drivers are screaming “wake the F— up fa—ts” at the apartment buildings along the street and have thrown things at their windows.
Anna said the issue has been polarizing online with comments telling her she should “let kids be kids” while others were thanking her for speaking up.
“I remember being a teenager, and yeah, I caused my fair share of trouble, but I always was respectful,” she said.
Jenn Brand, who is the Departure Bay Beachside Blockwatch captain, has lived in the area for more than 20 years and raised her children in the neighbourhood.
She said that over the past couple of years, motorcyclists have been gathering in the parking lot of the 7/11 on Departure Bay Road and doing wheelies down the street.
“It’s like a circus,” she said.
RCMP spokesperson Constable Gary O’Brien told The Discourse that police are aware of the issue and officers conduct proactive patrols in the area when they are able to. He urged residents to report incidents when they occur so police have better data on where and when it is happening.
The RCMP has an online crime reporting tool on its website, or people can call the RCMP non-emergency number.
In 2020, police cracked down on a long-time illegal drag racing spot near Jack Point impounding a dozen vehicles and issuing 30 tickets under the provincial Motor Vehicle Act. But Brand said she has only seen police writing tickets to drivers in her neighbourhood a couple of times.
“It’s like a ghost town, unless something happens and then all of a sudden the sirens,” she said about emergency responders arriving after a collision has happened.
Last week, two teens were hit by a driver at Departure Bay Road and Bay Street. The driver was issued a $165 ticket for not yielding to pedestrians in the crosswalk.
In early 2025, a 65-year-old man suffered serious injuries in a hit-and-run while using a crosswalk at Departure Bay Road and Wingrove Street near the beach.
Also in 2025, a 78-year-old cyclist riding on Departure Bay Road in the Rock City neighbourhood was pushed by a motorcyclist into oncoming traffic before crashing head first into a curb.
‘Someone is going to get hurt’
Anna spoke to Nanaimo city council on Monday, July 6 where she outlined her concerns.
She said calls to RCMP have resulted in “very little to no enforcement” and that a number of her mother’s neighbours have moved away due to the noise.
However, the noise is secondary to her main concern about the speeding and “drag racing” that is happening on the street.
Anna told council she was there to help “raise the alarm: someone is going to get hurt.”
She said she won’t allow her 13-year old to take her two young daughters to the playground because she has seen “too many close calls and reckless drivers.”
“The vibes, so to speak, should be that of family, community and respect,” she said. “Not a place to race cars and rev engines.”
Coun. Sheryl Armstrong said she lives off Hammond Bay Road and that drivers are also racing through her neighbourhood daily. She said drivers gather in mall parking lots and are “drag racing constantly.”
Armstrong said she spoke with RCMP Insp. Donovan Tate about the problem but police are short staffed right now due to members being deployed to help with the FIFA World Cup in Vancouver.
Armstrong said police have very limited resources and that it will be “a tough one, but [she’s] sure [they’re] going to try and help solve it.”
The city takes pedestrian collisions into consideration when looking at what areas in the city would most benefit from traffic calming. In 2022, the city adopted a points system for evaluating how crosswalks should be prioritized for safety upgrades. Some other factors include the posted speed limit, the volume of traffic and the length of the crossing.
Coun. Ben Geselbracht asked city staff about past efforts to reduce the speed in the area and was told by city transportation manager Jamie Rose that concrete barriers were previously installed to narrow the road but people would push them to the side and it created problems for the city.
Advocates say loud racing affecting more neighbourhoods
Andréa Coutu, who will be running for Nanaimo city council this fall, lives close to Departure Bay Road. She said over the past couple of years, the noise from modified cars and motorcycles driving along it has increased dramatically.
She said the cars start downtown and race along the waterfront to either uplands or along Hammond Bay Road.
Coutu said she grew up in Nanaimo and used to drive up and down Departure Bay Road with her friend when she was young and hang out at the now closed speedway, but the noise has reached “obnoxious” levels and is disrupting the entire neighbourhood.
She has been talking with representatives from different neighbourhood associations and said she is hearing similar concerns about late-night speeding in the Hammond Bay and Stevenson Point neighbourhoods.
“It’s unnerving when you hear cars that are making gunshot sounds because of modifications and going at a high speed up and down Departure Bay Road at midnight,” she said.
City to do traffic study this summer
Rose told The Discourse there have been discussions about how to best control the speed of traffic along Departure Bay Beach going back to 2019.
A few years ago, the city started putting in seasonal signage along that stretch of Departure Bay road, reducing the permitted speed to 40 km/h during the spring and summer months.
The 40 km/hr limit was chosen as the park and beach see heavier use by pedestrians during the warmer months.
“I don’t think we’re still seeing fantastic compliance,” Rose said. “But the speeds in that area are definitely lower compared to a similar type of road elsewhere in the city.”
A traffic count in 2022 found the majority of vehicles on the road were traveling just under 50 km/h and the average speed was around 40 km/h. Rose said the city plans to do another count this summer using small radar devices that are inconspicuous.
Part of the challenge for that section of road is that it is a major access route to the northeast of the city, travelled by 12,000 vehicles a day.
Rose said the city wants people to drive safely but doesn’t want to impede the flow of traffic.
“We have this awkwardness of a major road beside a busy beach in the summer,” he said, adding there’s an ongoing discussion about how to balance mass movement of people with the needs of the local community.
He said any changes to the road would have to include a significant consultation with the community as it would impact so many people.
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