(A) Muffler; muffler cutout. Every motor vehicle and motorcycle with an internal combustion engine shall at all times be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive noise or unusual sound. 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) Excessive smoke or gas. No person shall own, operate or have in his or her 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 the vehicle, or equipped in any other way to produce or emit smoke or dangerous or annoying gasses from any portion of the vehicle, other than the ordinary gasses emitted by the exhaust of an internal combustion engine under normal operation.
(C) Jake braking. No person, while operating a commercial motor vehicle within the city, shall apply an engine braking system (a practice commonly known as “jake braking”), or otherwise use the vehicle’s engine in such a manner as to emit excessive noise.
(D) Measurement of sound by law enforcement. Any law enforcement personnel who hears a sound that may be a violation of this section shall be entitled to measure the sound according to the following standards:
(1) The primary means of detection shall be by means of the officer’s ordinary auditory senses, so long as the officer’s hearing is not enhanced by any mechanical device such as a microphone or hearing aid;
(2) The officer must have a direct line of sight and hearing to the motor vehicle producing the sound so that he or she can readily identify the offending motor vehicle and the estimated distance involved.
(E) Exemptions.
(1) This section does not apply to emergency and/or police vehicles.
(2) It is a defense to a violation of § 70.10(C) that the driver used an engine braking system that emits excessive noise in an emergency to avoid a collision with a person or another vehicle on the highway.
(Ord. 21-012, passed 6-2-21) Penalty, see § 70.99