Everybody has heard that as of January 2019, California went from giving fix it tickets, for motorcycles that were deemed to be too loud by law enforcement, to outright tickets resulting in fines for motorcycles which they deemed to be too loud.
Before January 2019 you can simply fix the problem, take your motorcycle to a law enforcement inspection center, where they would either approve of the correction and write off the ticket, or require you to do additional work to get the problem corrected. You were not issued any fine.
Now after January 2019 law enforcement can simply give you a ticket in which you can be fined up to 00, whether or not you fix the problem. They can still require you to fix the problem, but the fine will still stand.
As with any ticket, or infraction, you may fight the ticket in court, but I would not do so unless you have a competent attorney like myself at your side in court. There are many ways to beat such a ticket in court.
Although I handle personal injury and motorcycle accident cases all over the state of California, I will limit my excessive noise ticket legal defense practice to courts in Los Angeles and Orange county, California. I will provide consultations to people outside of the area where I am defending these tickets.
The general rule for motorcycles manufactured after 1985 is that the motorcycle cannot emit noise above 80 dB, the exhaust system must not be modified, and all aftermarket replacement parts must have EPA certifications on the equipment. Many aftermarket exhausts will not have EPA certification markings on them. Some will say for off use only; others will say for racing only.
There are many jurisdictions in California that do not put up with loud pipes either from motorcycles, or cars. You can do a Google search on which cities do not like loud exhausts to get an idea of where to be careful.
Frankly, it is really easy for me to determine whether or not a motorcycle is too loud. Before I became an attorney, I was an engineer, and I dealt with decibel readings. If a motorcycle is obnoxiously loud, most people including motorcycle riders can tell right away. There are motorcycles just above 80 dB that you might not be able to tell without a decibel meter.
A decibel meter measures the loudness coming from the exhaust.
If you are pulled over, and law enforcement is alleging that your motorcycle is too loud, and they try to measure the loudness of your exhaust with the decibel meter, try to videotape them if you can, but do not get yourself arrested for obstruction. Try to remember everything that you see. Any facts and details you can remember, will help us defend your case in court.
As I stated previously, law enforcement can still require you to fix any exhaust problem they allege you have, but the monetary fine is not fixable unless you fight it in court and win. Many courts will require you to pay the fine as a bail, before they will allow you to appear before a judge.
Hopefully law enforcement is not going to use the new law to try to line their coffers with money, or to harass bikers and motorcycle club members. This type of law which even with a decibel meter is subjective, meaning it really is up to law enforcement judgment to determine if you are in violation, unless your exhaust system flat out does not comply with EPA regulations.
I recommend that if you’re going to modify your exhaust system, that you keep the stock exhaust system in your garage or other storage location, just in case you have to go back to a stock set up. I myself have my entire stock exhaust set up just in case law enforcement thinks my motorcycle is too loud. I myself believe I am in full compliance.
Another rule of thumb is to not be a frigging idiot on the road. When you pull up to an intersection, do not sit there like a moron and rev your motorcycle. If you’re going through a town on city streets layoff the throttle and rev the engine at the minimum required to not draw attention to yourself.
Modern motorcycles do not have to be reeved when the motorcycle is stopped, with fuel injection and modern engines, you are just wasting gas, and being a noisemaker by revving your motorcycle at a stop sign or light. Now if you have an old pan head you may have to rev it to keep it from stalling, that is a different story.
There are guys on touring motorcycles, cruisers, sport bikes, you name it running open pipes, who have basically ruined it for all of us. Do not give law enforcement an excuse to pull you over for a noise violation because let me tell you something, at a 00 a pop, you will be back to running stock exhaust very shortly if you run up 1 or 2 of these violations. This would suck for guys who have paid thousands of dollars for performance modifications on their engines that require a more open exhaust system.
If you use common sense, I doubt law enforcement is going to mess with you, unless you’re in one of those jurisdictions that harasses bikers and does not tolerate any excessive noise.
If you’ve got dinged with an excessive noise ticket after January 2019, and they are coming after you for a fine, and you want representation in Los Angeles or Orange County, give me a call at 800-816-1529. If you’re anywhere else in the state, you may call me for a consultation.
If you have had a motorcycle accident anywhere in California, give me a call at 800-816-1529. We will take care of you. As usual, don’t be fooled by fancy advertisements from non-riding personal injury attorneys, they have no clue how to ride motorcycles, or deal with the prejudice we motorcycle riders face in court.
By California motorcycle accident attorney Norman Gregory Fernandez, Esq., April 2019.
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