New York Governor Kathy Hochul has just signed a new bill that will bump fines for exhaust noise violation in the state from $150 to $1000. The bill is called SLEEP, and, because all lawmakers inherently love a good acronym, that stands for “Stop Loud and Excessive Exhaust Pollution.”
According to SEMA’s catalog of exhaust noise laws, it is the harshest legally-codified fine for an exhaust noise violation in any state. The fine doubles the next closest, $500 per violation in the state of Colorado.
It is a puzzling direction, a move that comes a year and a half after California chose to go the opposite direction and greatly decrease the state’s ability to hand out tickets for exhaust noise. Even before returning to a “Fix-it” ticket system, California’s system still only resulted in fines under $200.
New York is moving in this direction in part because of concerns about the noise created by illegal drag racing throughout the state. The New York Times highlighted that drag racing culture in October of last year, proposing that the trend had increased greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
More extreme actions to cut down on drag racing noise have been proposed, too; Gothamist reports that one State Senator has proposed night-time speed cameras positioned anywhere that street racing is purported to be happening. Another lawmaker has offered up noise-detecting tools to identify and track loud cars as they drive by.
The bill also includes a provision for shops installing those parts, culminating in the state pulling a shop’s operating license if they are caught installing overly-loud mufflers three times.
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Source: www.caranddriver.com