LETTER: Vehicle noise can be metered, and it’s way too loud in Port

To Ozaukee Press:

There are many illegally loud vehicles operating in Port Washington. The offending vehicles are primarily Harley Davidson motorcycles, but also include some pickup trucks, “boy racer” type cars and others. People who live along the main or arterial streets are required to endure absurd levels of noise from these vehicles.

 Laws regulating vehicle noise emissions are clear. Section 205.152 of Title 40 of the federal EPA regulations limits all motorcycles manufactured after 1986 to a noise emission of 80 decibels. Wisconsin statute 347.39 makes it illegal to modify motorcycle exhaust systems to increase the noise level above that “emitted by the muffler originally installed.”

No motorcycle manufactured since 1986 comes from the factory emitting more than 80 decibels. Owners of motorcycles that make more noise than that are in violation of the law and subject to a fine of up to $200.

 A recent writer of a letter to the editor published in Ozaukee Press claimed that sound measurement is a “relative” and subjective matter. That is not true, as absolute measurement of sound is an easy thing to accomplish these days with inexpensive and accurate meters or smart phone apps such as SPLnFFT, which I use on my phone. Its scale indicates that a sound level of 50 to 60 decibels is “comfortable,” 60 to 70 is “moderate” 70 to 80 is “loud, annoyance possible” 80 to 90 is “too loud, exposure time limited.” One could reasonably say that anything over 90 decibels from a street vehicle is “ludicrous.”

Here is a specific example of how out-of-control vehicular noise is. On the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 11, I spent a couple of hours monitoring the noise from passing vehicles that exceeded the 80 decibel limit. Measurement was made not at the street, but from my bedroom window, which is about 120 feet from Grand Avenue. I chose that level under the assumption that the equivalent of a motorcycle running in the bedroom is unreasonably loud by any person’s standards.

Over the period of measurement many vehicles exceeded the 80 decibel limit – by a little or by a lot. The sound measurements ranged from a low of 81 decibels to a high of  98 decibels at the window.

Because sound diminishes in intensity with distance, I ran calculations to determine the actual sound intensity at the source. These calculations indicated that noise at the street (120 feet away) emitted by these vehicles was in the range of  113 to 130 decibels.  On my meter those levels are described as “very noisy” through “intolerable.”

 The time has come for Port Washington residents to stop putting up with these outrageous levels of noise. The time has come for the police to enforce the law as it is written.

Jerry Smith

Port Washington