How can a town/city etc place a blanket noise ordinance in place? Here in Michigan a town Royal Oak just created an ordinance that ANY noise heard 50ft away can be fined $100. Its targeted towards loud car/bike exhaust, radios and other things they find annoying.
How is this legal? If your car meets all road /inspection requirements how can they fine you for driving a legal vehicle? This grinds my gears.
No I haven’t received a ticket, it just pisses me off when such arbitrary laws are passed.
I can’t find the new law published online however.
Royal Oak, MI – The Royal Oak City Commission unanimously voted to make it a civil infraction to have music or noise coming from vehicles that can be heard 50 feet away. The penalty for exceeding the noise limit is a $100 ticket.The decision gives law enforcement officers “another tool” for reducing noise without having to charge someone with a misdemeanor
The City Attorney said with a civil infraction officers “don’t have to pull out the 10lb hammer” when trying to get people to turn the sound down. The fine is more than a seat belt violation ($75) and the same as parking in a handicapped spot ($100), he said.
“[With this] they can learn a lesson and not pay for it forever [with a misdemeanor record],” said Officer Frasier who was on hand to answer questions from the Police Department’s perspective.
The infraction does not give a specific decibel level for the noise, only that it cannot be heard 50 feet away. One of the Commissioners asked about enforcement, and the City Attorney explained that if someone got a ticket they could appeal it and the decision would be based on the preponderance of evidence.
How can anyone get any work done around there? Roofing company, mechanics shops, autobody shops, anything requiring hammering, etc.
Also anyone with a dog which may bark…
But it won’t. Who will get a ticket is the asshole in the neighborhood who thinks everyone within a quarter mile wants to listen to his shitty music. You can’t write a law that says, “people listening to shitty rap music on their $2000 stereo in their $200 car will be fined” though because it’s discriminatory. You can however pass a generic noise ordinance law and use it to target that specific problem.
As for your exhaust, no idea how it works in MI but in NY the law is “louder than stock is illegal”.
I kind of want to barrow my buddy’s slab and just cruse around driving 5mph under the speed limit with a couple of dash cams to see what would happen.
Ok so if a cop writes you a ticket for loud exhaust in NY I get it. That is state wide vehicle code, how is a town able to create something so vague?
That leads me to other questions, NYS vehicle code has an exemption for out of state vehicles. Example, I drive my truck from Texas with window tints I can’t get a ticket for it because the truck is legal in my home state.
This would be like the Village of Hamburg writing a law that says they need to see the inside of your car clearly at all times. They are sick of all their young women giving road dome, therefore distracting drivers. Any obstruction at all is a $50 fine. Then you get a ticket for your GTO having doors, blocking the cops clear view of your junk because he was having a bad day and his wife ran off with a guy in a red GTO.
I can’t get a ticket for it because the truck is legal in my home state.