438.21 MUFFLER; MUFFLER CUTOUT; EXCESSIVE SMOKE, GAS OR NOISE.

   (a)   Every motor vehicle and motorcycle with an internal combustion engine shall at all times be equipped with a muffler which is in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise, and no person shall use a muffler cutout, by-pass or similar device upon a motor vehicle on a highway.  Every motorcycle muffler shall be equipped with baffle plates.

   (b)   No person shall own, operate or have in his possession any motor vehicle or motorcycle equipped with a device for producing excessive smoke or gas, or so equipped as to permit oil or any other chemical to flow into or upon the exhaust pipe or muffler of such vehicle, or equipped in any other way to produce or emit smoke or dangerous or annoying gases from any portion of such vehicle, other than the ordinary gases emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine under normal operation.  (ORC 4513.22)

   (c)   The operation or possession of a motorcycle in violation of this section is declared to be a nuisance.  A muffler which has been altered in such manner as to decrease its effectiveness in reducing motor noise is not in good working order within the meaning of this section.

   It shall be the duty of any member of the Police Department, upon finding a motorcycle operated or possessed in violation of this section, to seize and impound the same, in the custody of the Police Department.  The motorcycle shall not be released until its muffler has been placed in good working order at the expense of the person applying for the release and proving his right to possession of the motor vehicle. 

(Ord. 1974-27.  Passed 4-15-74.)