Idaho hot rodders could face steeper noise fines | News Updates | Idaho Statesman
The jist of the story, in case it expires before you read it, is that they want to make it a $1000 fine to have an altered exhaust system. Here's the text:
Idaho hot rodders could face steeper noise fines
By JOHN MILLER - Associated Press Writer
Edition Date: 02/19/09
BOISE, Idaho — Hot rodders whose modified mufflers rattle windows and disturb the sleep of Idaho residents could face fines of as much as $1,000 after members of a neighborhood group told lawmakers Thursday that existing penalties aren't sufficient to get local police to enforce noise limits.
Idaho law now requires "every motor vehicle shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise and annoying smoke, and no person shall use a muffler cutout, bypass, or similar device upon a motor vehicle on a highway."
What's more, the law makes it illegal to even "sell, offer for sale, or install any noise suppressing system or device which will produce excessive or unusual noise."
But Craig Hlousek, a Boise resident, told the Senate Transportation Committee that young people in his neighborhood are leading a "terrorist existence" by installing so-called "glasspack" mufflers that increase power, but do little to reduce engine noise.
"This generation is disturbing the peace," said Hlousek. The fine is just $52. He says when he calls the police, they tell him it's "not enough to bother with it."
On a 7-1 vote, the committee agreed to consider enacting a stiffer statewide penalty for drivers with noisy cars outfitted with mufflers from companies such as Cherry Bomb, whose advertisements read "Disturbing the peace since 1968." Some said up to $1,000 would be appropriate.
"If law enforcement won't enforce the law because it's not worth their while, let's make it worth their while," said Sen. Elliot Werk, D-Boise.
Still, the panel's lawmakers balked at supporting the out-and-out "glasspack ban" that Hlousek wanted, saying existing state law already prevents drivers from making too much noise.
"If the current law is not being enforced, this is an issue that belongs before the local city council, not the state Legislature," said Sen. Jim Hammond, R-Post Falls.
A Boise Police Department spokeswoman, Lynn Hightower, said traffic complaints about excessively loud mufflers are investigated, albeit with a lower priority than more serious complaints.
"It's certainly something that our officers would respond to," Hightower said.
Car buffs who criticized Hlousek's proposal to boost the fine and ban glasspacks told the panel aftermarket muffler modifications aren't to blame.
It's people who drive inappropriately, they said.
"The fault of the matter is how a vehicle is driven by an individual," said Tom Ammerman, owner of Ammerman Custom Exhaust in Garden City, a Boise suburb. He fears if the special mufflers were outlawed, installers like his own business could be in hot water.
And Bill Goodnight, of the 900-member United Street Rods of Idaho group, called a $1,000 fine "draconian."
Rather than making the existing state law tougher, Goodnight said, it should be thrown out completely - on grounds the provision that makes it illegal for shops to sell or install noise-making mufflers turns law-abiding retailers and car buffs into outlaws.
"It criminalizes hundreds of small businesses in Idaho," he said. "We can't understand how it even became law."
Legislators including Sen. Joyce Broadsword, R-Sagle, agreed, saying she'll propose dumping that provision when lawmakers debate boosting the fine in coming weeks.
Broadsword added she doubts police are unwilling to respond to muffler-related complaints now, from personal experience: Her own son was once fined by authorities for running his modified motorcycle at full bore inside the garage of their northern Idaho home.
"In my community, they've got a decibel meter," Broadsword said. "He received a ticket because he was breaking the decibel barrier."