January 20, 2017
For immediate release
Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet
Contact:
Rick Holtsclaw
[email protected]
Larry Deal
[email protected]
Ted Rueter
[email protected]
877-664-366
Chapel Hill: “Bikers for Trump,” which claims 5,000 members, has won this month’s Noisy Dozen award from Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet for roaring into Washington, D.C. for the presidential inauguration with illegally loud motorcycles. The bikers held a rally on inauguration day along the parade route and ended the day with a “Bikers Ball.” They asserted that they would create a “wall of meat” to provide security for the new president and to make certain that anti-Trump protesters were “peaceful.” In reality, the bikers were there to assert their “right” to make illegal noise.
Larry Deal, a member of Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet, stated that “apparently, the Bikers for Trump want to make sure others don’t disturb the peace. However, they seem to believe that this same standard doesn’t apply to them. Roaring on public highways with motorcycles equipped with illegal peace-disturbing exhaust systems is not peaceful—and it violates federal and state law. “
Federal law limits motorcycle noise emissions and regulates their mufflers for the protection of the public. Many motorcycle owners, in defiance of the law, install illegal after-market exhaust systems that cause their motorcycles to be excessively loud. That results in a large number of excessively loud motorcycles causing harm to the public.
Deal noted that “the real reason that Bikers for Trump roared into Washington, D.C. to express themselves is that they want to be considered a voting bloc for years to come. The bikers want to curry favor with the public, the media, the Trump administration, and Congress. They want the Trump administration and Congress to grant them favors to assure that they can get away with doing whatever they want, no matter how irrational it is, how dangerous it is, or how loud it is. They want to maintain their ‘right’ to disturb the peace with their roaring motorcycles.”
Rick Holtsclaw, a 31-year veteran of the Houston police department and a former US Marine NCO, also objects to the illegal noise of the “Bikers for Trump” group. He stated, “ I assume that Mr. Trump is a man of his word and that a priority in his presidency will be strict adherence to the rule of law. While claiming to have been ‘providing protection’ to the president, in reality, Bikers for Trump is part of the illegally loud biker culture.”
Holtsclaw noted that ”the #1 destroyer of quality of life for millions of Americans on a daily basis is the unencumbered operation of illegally equipped, illegally loud motorcycles on our public roadways. Our children, our elderly and our handicapped population living and working in our congested urban areas are especially susceptible to this noise nonsense.”
The US Environmental Protection Agency has enacted very strict motorcycle noise emissions standards for public-roadway use motorcycles. In 1981, enforcement responsibilities were delegated to local and state governments and the Office of Noise Abatement and Control within the EPA was de-funded. “Unfortunately,” Holtsclaw stated, “our law enforcement community is too lazy and apathetic to protect, defend, and intercede on behalf of the vehicular noise-beleaguered citizenry; therefore, the American citizen, especially our most innocent, suffers because of the illegal muffler output of the loud biker culture.”
Mr. Trump has tweeted his acknowledgement of the “Bikers for Trump” presence at the inauguration. Holtsclaw states that “Trump must be made aware of the illegal, selfish, irresponsible, behavior of the loud bikers, who have opted to equip their motorcycles with not-for-road-use after-market exhaust mechanisms which emit four to eight-times the legal total motorcycle noise emissions of 80 dB(A).”
In conclusion, Holtsclaw stated that “the loud biker culture is not above the law and these hedonistic loud biker boys and their bravado facade does not ‘trump’ the rights of the United States citizenry. Ride quietly, ride legally, and respect your fellow citizens. We’re not impressed with your intrusive, irresponsible noise and our most innocent (our children, our elderly and our handicapped) deserve better!!! We need to stop the illegally loud motorcycle, auto, and truck nonsense on our public highways!”
Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet is a national citizens’ organization opposed to excessive noise. Past “winners” of the Noisy Dozen award include the DC Metro system, the EPA, and the United States Congress.