The Montgomery County Council unanimously passed a bill Tuesday that’s designed to help enforce existing noise abatement laws already on the books in the Maryland county.
Bill 14-24, “Vehicle Noise Abatement Monitoring,” creates a pilot program to install three noise cameras to monitor the sounds generated by cars and trucks with modified exhaust systems. The cameras would be equipped with an array of microphones to measure noise levels and, when triggered, would take images. Any citations would be issued to the person who registered the vehicle.
Montgomery County Council Vice President Kate Stewart noted on Tuesday that “it is already illegal under state law to modify a muffler and to have the noise go above the 80 decibels that is in state law now.”
Stewart called the bill “one step forward to addressing the issue in our community.”
Co-sponsor of the bill, Council member Natali Fani-Gonzalez, said there was broad support for it.
“This particular bill was brought up both in English and in Spanish conversations,” Fani-Gonzalez said. “That speaks about the importance of this issue in our community.”
The bill was prompted by numerous complaints from residents about cars and trucks equipped with exhaust add-ons that they said were so loud, they could be heard indoors and disturbed sleep or generally negatively affected their quality of life.
Written and recorded testimony submitted to the council by several residents also linked the loud modified exhausts to reckless driving behaviors. At September’s public hearing, county resident Nell Rumbaugh told the council, “These drivers don’t drive the speed limits. They accelerate through the streets at speeds that, to me, are unconscionable.”
Under the legislation, the location of the noise cameras would have to be made public, and signage would have to be posted in the area where the cameras would be located.
A first offense would result in a warning, while a second offense would generate a $75 ticket. The program would sunset at the end of June in 2026.
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