Noise pollution with vehicles
is punishable by citations

Question: Are there any laws that apply to modified motorcycle and car exhausts that create a constant drone of noise throughout the weekend? There is a background roar that goes on sometimes from early Saturday morning through Sunday. There are laws regarding cigarettes and billboards, but this noise problem seems to be getting worse and worse.

Answer: There are various city and state laws that deal with noisy vehicles, said Honolulu Police Department Capt. Jose Gaytan, of the Traffic Division.

They include Hawaii Revised Statutes 291-22 (dealing with excessive noise/modified muffler on motor scooters); HRS 291-24 (excessive noise/modified muffler on motorcycles); HRS 291-24.5 (excessive noise/muffler on motor vehicles); HRS 291C-206 (modifying mo-ped motor); the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu, 15-19.28 (mufflers -- noise-controlling devices); and ROH 41-31.1 (prohibited noise -- boombox/radio in vehicles).

Under Section 15-19.28, for example, all vehicles operating on a public roadway are required to be equipped, "at all times," with a muffler "to prevent the escape of excessive or annoying fumes or smoke, and excessive or unusual noise."

The motor and/or exhaust system cannot be "altered or modified to such an extent that the noise emitted ... shall be deemed excessive or unusual ... or equipped with a dummy muffler, cut-out, by-pass or other similar device."

Police do cite noise violators, mostly for loud boomboxes or radios: From January through December 2003, 1,563 citations were issued: boomboxes/radio, 890; loud/defective mufflers, 308; modified mo-ped motor, 64; excessive noise/motor vehicle muffler, 186; excessive noise/modified motorcycle muffler, 87; excessive noise/ modified motor scooter muffler, 28.

From January to June this year, HPD issued 657 citations: boomboxes/radio, 342; loud/ defective mufflers, 170; modified mo-ped motors, 47; excessive noise/motor vehicle muffler, 65; excessive noise/ modified motorcycle mufflers, 24; and excessive noise/modified motor scooter muffler, nine.

HPD is "most interested in solving these types of chronic problems," Gaytan said. He advises calling 911 when the noise occurs, although the offending vehicle could be long gone by the time police can respond.

For the kind of persistent problem you describe, Gaytan advises you to "feel free to contact (your) particular patrol district administration to have them address the issue through directed enforcement assignments or other means. Police want to work with the community."

Meanwhile, inspectors at the city Motor Vehicle Control Station at 1112 Kapahulu Ave. recently received a decibel meter to measure noise for reconstructed vehicles. A meter hadn't been available for years.

The state Department of Transportation provided the meter and certified all users, said Dennis Kamimura, administrator for the city Motor Vehicle and Licensing Division. The exhaust noise level cannot surpass 95 dB at 3,000 engine revolutions per minute as measured on a tachometer.

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