September 29, 2020
Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet
For immediate release
Contact:
Ted Rueter
[email protected]
877-664-7366
Chapel Hill: The city of Mrytle Beach, South Carolina has won this month’s “Noisy Dozen” award from Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet for permitting the Myrtle Beach Bike Week Fall Rally 2020. The event is certain to be a thunderous affair, with thousands of illegally-modified motorcycles.
There will be plenty of fun events at the motorcycle rally, including a rally kickoff party, a “grumpy biker breakfast, a bike night “boobie” style, a VIP happy hour, and “daycations” to Charleston, South Carolina and Calabash, North Carolina.
Amusingly, the Mrytle Beach Bike Week web site advises participants to “be mindful of local laws. To name a few very important ones”:
Ted Rueter, director of Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet, commented that “it is hugely unlikely that the bikers will comply with local, state, and federal noise ordinances. The Mrytle Beach municipal code, in Section 14-62 (b), states that ‘Excessive noise unlawful. It shall be unlawful for any person to make, continue, or cause to be made or continued all excessive, unnecessary, or unusually loud noise or any noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of others within the limits of the city.’”
Similarly, Section 14-62 (c) (17) (c) of the Mrytle Beach municipal code states that “it shall be unlawful and a public nuisance to operate within the city limits any type of motor vehicle, excluding emergency response vehicles, that exceeds a measured noise level of more than 92 decibels on the decibel meter when measured 20 inches from the exhaust pipe at a 45 degree angle while the engine is operating at idle.”
State and federal laws will almost certainly be broken as well, stated Rueter: “Most motorcycle noise is the result of direct, illegal actions by motorcycle owners. Many motorcyclists illegally tamper with their exhaust systems in order to make their motorcycles as loud as possible. The federal Noise Control Act of 1972 establishes noise emission limits for all motorcycles made since 1983; most illegally-modified motorcycles greatly exceed that limit. Tampering with or removing a motorcycle exhaust violates state and federal law. Unfortunately, these laws are rarely enforced.”
Rueter also noted that “motorcyclists have no ‘right’ to thunder down the road, inflicting sleep deprivation, hearing loss, heart disease, and chronic fatigue on peace-loving Americans. Governments at the local, state, and federal levels should take strong action against excessive motorcycle noise, to protect public health.”
Rueter encouraged supporters of peace and quiet to purchase Noise Free America’s book on illegal after-market equipment, Guide to Modified Exhausts, for their local law enforcement agencies. Additional information is available at www.motorcyclenoise.net.
Noise Free America: A Coalition to Promote Quiet is a national citizens’ organization devoted to noise reduction. Past “winners” of the Noisy Dozen award include the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the Milwaukee Motorcycle Rally, and the Hot Springs Motorcycle Weekend.