Berkley state representative introduces bill to police excessive noise from modified cars

METRO DETROIT — A new bill introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives aims to curb excessive noise from vehicles.

The legislation, House Bill 5696, was introduced by state Rep. Natalie Price, D-Berkley, and would “crack down on vehicles intentionally modified to create excessive noise while being used,” a press release states.

Price said the legislation will update the vehicle code and allow local law enforcement to enforce the current prohibition on modifying a vehicle to cause it to make excessive noise.

According to the representative, one problem found in the code was that there was some language that was considered to be contradictory by the courts that needed to be revised.

“Even though in one point in the vehicle code it says that you can’t modify your vehicle and have it make excessive noise, there was another part where it said that modifications couldn’t be made above a certain decibel level,” she said. “That was interpreted that then you would need to have very specific devices to measure decibel levels, and out on Woodward with all the various vehicles, it was really impractical for our officers to be able to measure that.”

Price said the code didn’t get rid of decibel limits, because those are able to be measured in very controlled environments.

“It’s required that the manufacturers, the dealerships, they are doing those measurements, and we are not changing that path, but in terms of modifications to vehicles, we made it so that that language did not apply,” she said. “We’re just talking about modifications that create excessive noise are now going to be clearly illegal, as we believe that code was intended.”

Adam Bernard, president of the Detroit chapter of the Lambda Car Club, said the club doesn’t have an official position on the bill, but understands where the bill comes from.

“When the windows are open, when the weather’s out, I can hear it all. I do appreciate the rumble of a nice V-8 or V-12, but yeah, there’s some stuff out there that is out of hand,” he said. “To be honest, I have the same issue. It’s great that people enjoy their music. I don’t need to hear it at 140 decibels coming out of the windows either. So, you know, I think people can enjoy their music inside their cars. But I certainly understand. … It’s not just even, you know, going down Woodward. I can sit outside Starbucks in Birmingham and hear people revving their engines just waiting at a stoplight. So, it’s something that’s not confined to a major thoroughfare. So, I can understand the interest in going after (the excessive noise).”

Bernard did state that some vehicles do come out of the factory already pretty loud, which he hopes law enforcement can be educated on.

“I know there are some engines out there that come pretty loud out of the factory. I’m not a sound engineer. So from that standpoint, it could be challenging,” he said. “If you have a Volkswagen Golf, for example, those don’t come out of the factory very loud, but I know you can buy hardware that can make them sound really intimidating. So, I think part of it would be educating the police force. It’d be awful if somebody who bought a vehicle out of the factory got pulled over. Now of course, if you’re sitting at a stoplight and you’re revving it just to make noise, maybe that is a problem.”

Penalties for violating the code would be increased. The bill, if passed into law, would increase the penalty for a first-time offense from $100 to $500. Any subsequent offense would cost $1,000.

The bill, introduced at the end of April, has since been referred to the Transportation, Mobility and Infrastructure Committee.

“We all know and love the Dream Cruise in our area. The Woodward Dream Cruise is a fantastic tradition, and we see coming out of that culture that people can cruise very responsibly and respectfully and in wonderful ways that our communities love,” Price said. “I think as a result of the Dream Cruise, that there is a level of showmanship that comes along with that. Some people choose to modify their vehicles in order to create excessive noise and maybe don’t realize what an impact that is having on the people who live around the area.

“We also see those impacts of the cruise not only during the designated week, cruise week, but spilling over throughout the summer. Even again as it’s warming up now, Woodward is a destination for folks to come in and show off their vehicles. So yes, I do believe that it is a problem out on Woodward and in our surrounding communities, but I’m not gonna say it’s the only area in the state where that is a problem. I have colleagues from all over the state expressing support for this update because they know that this will help their local law enforcement as well,” she continued.