Codes to quiet cars with booming sub woofers

by David Rhodes
(Spokane, WA)

Visitor Question: How have other communities dealt with loud booming sub-woofer speakers in cars? We have many in our city. I wonder if there are any ways to help "lower the boom."

Thanks.

Editor Reply: Many cities and some states do have laws on the books that address the noise levels from boom boxes, whether the stationery kind or those installed in cars. I will give some examples in a moment.

The real difficulty comes in enforcement. Traditionally noise ordinances were phrased in terms of noise levels being measured in decibels by sound level meters. Except maybe during crackdown periods, police officers and code enforcement inspectors typically are not riding with a sound level meter in their vehicle. Thus while it is illegal in many places to play your car stereo extremely loudly, enforcement in my experience is pretty rare.

However, you asked if there are codes, so to answer that question, such code provisions are quite common. Sometimes they are located in the zoning ordinance, as in Lenexa, Kansas, where noise is addressed in performance standards in their unified development code.

Many other times, the noise ordinance is simply a freestanding ordinance or else it is grouped with some other nuisances.

The noise ordinance may address everything from chain saw operation to playing loud music to noisy mufflers and yes, sub-woofers in cars that generate excessive noise. Often the applicability of the noise ordinance either is limited to certain hours of the night, or the penalties are more severe for night infractions.

Sometimes the ordinances specify a distance from the source that is supposed to be noise-free. For instance, in Waynesville, Ohio, your boom car should not be heard further away than 50 feet.

Other ordinances seem to allow more subjectivity. Pinellas County, Florida, has a program called Operation Lower the Boom. Residents even can file an online complaint. However, I have to wonder if that can possibly be effective unless the complaint contains very specific information about the make, model, and color of the vehicle and maybe even a license plate number. It also seems quite likely that by the time someone attends to an online form submission, the noise has long since dissipated, and I don't know of either police or code officers that have enough time on their hands to try to lie in wait to catch someone another time at the same place and time of day.

Toronto was handing out 100 Canadian dollar fines for "unnecessary vehicle noise," whether from speakers, rigged or dysfunctional mufflers, or other causes.

Or as mentioned above, state law sometimes can be used to address the situation. In Georgia, theoretically it is illegal if your boom car is loud enough to be heard 100 feet away.

From time to time, police have shown concern about this issue, usually because the theory is that someone listening to a very loud car speaker may not be able to hear an emergency vehicle siren. The U.S. Department of Justice put out a report on this issue around the turn of this century. But again, in most cities I know about, police have what they consider more serious matters to deal with.

It is worth a conversation with your city officials, however. Maybe in medium-sized and small cities, simply the publicity of enacting a new noise ordinance, or one aimed specifically at the sub-woofer car culture, would be enough to deter some of the troublesome behavior.

Join GOOD COMMUNITY PLUS, which provides you monthly with short features or tips about timely topics for neighborhoods, towns and cities, community organizations, and rural or small town environments. Unsubscribe any time. Give it a try.