Austin City Council to vote on ordinance for loud vehicle engine noises

Should loud engine noise be illegal in Austin?

On Thursday, Austin City Council will vote on whether to amend the city code, so officers can cite for loud vehicle engine noise.

AUSTIN, Texas - On Thursday, Austin City Council will vote on whether to amend the city code, so officers can cite for loud vehicle engine noise. 

The city has gotten a lot of complaints about excessive noise in residential areas, often from motorcycles and speeding cars. There is currently nothing in the law that allows officers to cite for loud engine noise. 

The backstory:

In Tuesday's Council work session, Austin police say the issue has gotten worse, especially on roads like RM 2222.

"This has been an issue for many years for the residents that live over there," Cmdr. Craig Smith with APD said in the meeting. 

Smith says they've tried partnering with different agencies to control the problem. 

"They have written lots of citations, we have spent a lot of money on overtime, and now we're partnering with TxDOT as well. We just added some rumble strips out there to help," he said. "We have tried syncing the lights out there to help, but at the lights they rev their engines as well."

APD can enforce violations like speeding, but they can't do anything about engine noise because the city code doesn't address it. 

In state law, there are sections for disorderly conduct, but they do not apply to traffic violations.

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"It's not reasonable for us to use the DOC ordinance, state laws, for this. This is why we specifically need this ordinance to address noise issues for motor vehicles," Smith said.

The draft ordinance says the loud or disturbing noise could be caused by rapid acceleration or deceleration and revving. It's a violation if the sound exceeds 85 decibels. 

It also says a person may not "intentionally, knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence" make the noise. That's the wording Council Member Mike Siegel (District 7) was concerned about.

"My concern here is to the extent that people are not intending to commit an offense, and they're potentially criminalized for it, and also how our officers would exercise discretion in a fair and neutral way," Siegel said. "We're criminalizing "unreasonable noise," and it refers to what a person of ordinary sensibilities would find to be to too loud, but I think that's where we're likely to have a large variance."

The city attorney's office says there are factors officers have to consider.

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"Those are things like the proximity of the noise or vibration to residences, the duration of it, the time of day when it occurs," Chris Coppola of the city attorney's office said.

Violations would be a Class C misdemeanor. Coppola says the update in the city code will at least be a tool to address the issue.

"I think enforcing noise ordinances in general is always challenging because of the transient nature of vehicles driving by on a roadway and the need for officers to be present to hear the violation," he said.

City staff say they looked at other cities, like Dallas and El Paso, that have engine noise ordinances to come up with the language.

If passed, the changes will be phased in. APD will train officers on it and educate the community. There will be a 30-day grace period, so officers will issue warnings instead of citations at first.