[bouldercouncilhotline] Hotline: State Legislative Agenda - Reducing Motorcycle Noise Statewide

[cmosupport at bouldercolorado.gov]

Sender: Cowles, Macon

I have heard a lot of complaints from people related to motorcycle noise through out the state. Whether in urban or rural areas, people find the increasing number of very loud motorcycles to be a significant quality of life issue. The increasing sound level emitted by motorcycles whose numbers are increasing exponentially has led other states to address this issue as a matter of state policy.

So I would like the Council tonight to discuss adding this item to the state legislative agenda.

Currently, the state statute prohibiting excessive muffler noise is as follows:

42-4-225. Mufflers - prevention of noise (1) Every motor vehicle subject to registration and operated on a highway shall at all times be equipped with an adequate muffler in constant operation and properly maintained to prevent any excessive or unusual noise, and no such muffler or exhaust system shall be equipped with a cut-off, bypass, or similar device. No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the motor of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle, and such original muffler shall comply with all of the requirements of this section.

There is a $500 fine attached for violation of this statute. However, this statute is not enforced, because it is virtually impossible to do so. Cops would have to be muffler specialists to recognize even a possible violation.

EPA, however, certifies mufflers for motorcycles. A muffler can achieve EPA certification if the sound emitted is less than 80 decibels measured following the SAE j331a protocol which recreates the vehicles' maximum noise levels while under heavy acceleration.n (For more information, see http://www.noiseoff.org/pipes/section.09.01.php.

Therefore, a simple statutory fix that allows law enforcement easily to determine whether a vehicle is in violation is a label match up law, such as has been enacted in other cities and states. Denver passed one such, Bill 242, in 2007. California passed one such, SB 435, in 2010. Reducing motorcycle noise should be a state wide effort, and a state law would create an even playing field, permitting law enforcement across the state to address the issue.

Does Boulder wish to add this to its legislative agenda?

Macon Cowles
Boulder City Councilor