Montreal's Snow Removal Towing Siren Is Annoying. The City Is Testing Whether It Even Works

Montreal's iconic towing alarm is a sound many of us have grown to despise, but it might be seeing its last days sooner than we could have dared to hope. In a new pilot program, set to begin in three boroughs, the city is testing the alarm's efficacy, as first reported by Radio-Canada.

The alarm has been used "since the invention of towing trucks," per Montreal city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin, who spoke to MTL Blog over the phone. The siren lets Montrealers know that they need to move their cars in order for the plows to come through and rid our streets of snow piles.

"In the last two years, we're getting more and more complaints" about the siren, Sabourin said. It's possible that this is connected to more people working from home, he added. But despite how annoying the siren may be to some Montrealers, it does have strict rules. Use of the alarm is "forbidden during the night," specifically between the hours of 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.

If you hear the sirens outside of their daytime window, Sabourin recommends you call 311 and report it. It's also worth noting that the alarm, though irritating, has a purpose: cars that are left in the way of the snowplows can cause massive delays for the 450+ workers trying to clear the roads.

And it's a "lose-lose" situation for Montrealers. During last year alone, 33,000 cars were towed for snow clearing, Sabourin told MTL Blog. If your car gets towed, you not only have to find it using the city's tool, but you're also liable for the towing fees and fines, which can add up to $180.

The pilot program to test the siren's efficacy will count how many cars are present in the streets of Ville Marie, Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, and the Plateau-Mont-Royal before the siren, then count again after the alarm has sounded. If that data shows that the siren is ineffective, it'll be up to city officials to decide whether to keep or scrap the siren.

There are tools like Info-Neige that have been developed since the introduction of the towing siren, and this is a primary factor in deciding whether the alarm deserves to stay in the city's arsenal. If citizens have any ideas of their own regarding snow-clearing operations in the city, Sabourin says the city would love to hear them.

In the meantime, we can expect to keep hearing the city's siren song, ugly as it may be, until something better comes along.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.