New Hampshire to Hear Testimony on Loud Pipes

Published today in Citizen Online, a news service in Laconia, New Hampshire, is a report that the New Hampshire State Legislature will hear testimony on a bill to muffle noise coming from motorcycles.

I blogged about this earlier this month.

Today, the House Transportation Committee is scheduled to hear testimony on House Bill 326, which seeks to simplify enforcement of motorcycle noise.

"This isn't really a law enforcement issue; it's the result of a number of complaints in our area," said Portsmouth Deputy Police Chief David Young. "The way the law is written now, it's almost impossible to enforce. We're looking to simplify the process to end the frustration we have in not being able to enforce the law, and at the same time address the concerns of the public."

The bill, sponsored by Rep. MaryAnn Blanchard, D-Portsmouth, would make it illegal for motorcycles to produce a noise level of more than 110 decibels.

The bill also requires makes it illegal to remove baffles from the exhaust pipes.

The issues I see here are that #1, locals are disappointed with noise and traffic that comes with Laconia Bike Week, in which last year, saw 400,000 bikers attending, and #2, that the city has an opportunity to score some big revenue from issuing citations, that rarely get challenged because the visitors are from out of state.

But the existing law on motorcycle noise is very difficult to enforce. According to the Citizen Online:

The existing law requires that a decibel meter be held 20 inches from the exhaust pipe at a 45 degree angle, while the engine is operating at 2,800 revolutions per minute for motorcycles with one or two cylinders and 3,500 rpms for motorcycles with three or more cylinders.

In order to properly conduct the test, a police officer would need a decibel meter, which Young said many departments do not have. In addition, at least two officers are needed to conduct the test, one to operate the meter and the other to check the rpms.

So this proposed law makes it much easier to enforce by simply requiring exhaust pipes have baffles in them. This will allow State and Local governments to cash in on the thousands of motorcycles entering their domain.