Discussion with Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy regarding Vehicular NOISE ABUSE on Pine Island, Florida
This previous Sunday, 19 February 2023, while preparing for Church service to begin at Pine Island FBC in Pine Island Center, an extremely LOUD, illegally LOUD, illegally equipped, pick-up truck (light colored, aftermarket chrome wide wheels) passed the Church NB on Avenue D and for the second or third Sunday, the driver of this pick-up accelerated and audibly assaulted the congregation and the surrounding community as he proceeded to his residence on Avenue E. The audible assault was purposeful and done for harassment of those gathered for worship services. Two-Sunday services earlier, the Pastor was praying when this same disrespectful driver interrupted the service and the Pastor commented that the interruption emanated from evil.
A uniformed Lee County Sheriff’s Deputy, White female, was sitting in the parking lot of the Pine Island Elementary School in a marked Lee County police vehicle adjacent to Pine Island FBC as the illegally loud narcissistic thug accelerated NB on Avenue D. I noticed that the Deputy made no attempt to intercede on behalf of the Pine Island residents who had been audibly assaulted, abused, in her presence by the driver of the pick-up at which time I proceeded to speak with the Deputy.
I asked the Deputy why she had not stopped and investigated, cited, the illegal behavior of the driver of the pick-up and why Lee County SO refused to stop the incredibly LOUD motorcycles, auto’s, trucks, that flooded Pine Island, destroyed the peaceful ambiance of the Island, at which time she stated that she needed a sound meter to enforce the vehicular noise laws. The Deputy first obfuscated her failure to intercede by informing me that Florida had recently passed a law prohibiting loud speakers, noise, in public places and provided a brief overview of the elements of that particular law.
Not truly interested in her obfuscation at that point in time, I advised the Deputy that according to Florida State Law, she was NOT required to use a sound meter to enforce the motor vehicle noise law as Florida provided her with a vehicular noise law that mandated quiet, factory-installed, muffler noise levels.
Florida State Law (Motor vehicle noise emissions),
316.293(5)(a)- No person shall modify the exhaust system of a motor vehicle or any other noise-abatement device of a motor vehicle operated or to be operated upon the highways of this state in such a manner that the noise emitted by motor vehicle is above that emitted by the vehicle as originally manufactured &
316.293(5)(b)- No person shall operate a motor vehicle upon the highways of the state with an exhaust system or noise abatement device so modified,
The Deputy responded with more obfuscation stating that she was not traffic enforcement nor was she an expert on differentiating legal noise emissions from unlawful noise emissions. I informed the Deputy that she was in error and as a certified law enforcement officer, legal precedent existed stating that she is qualified to determine what is unlawful and unusual noise emanating from a motor vehicle.
Case Law providing precedent for illegal vehicular noise enforcement void a sound meter…
The Texas appellate court case of Aaron C. AGUILAR, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas (2008), see: https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fourth-court-of-appeals/2008/20953.html upholds the right of a law enforcement officer to determine what is lawful from unlawful noise emanating from a motor vehicle thus providing probable cause for stopping, detaining, investigating, citing and arrest if necessary relevant to the operation of illegally equipped, illegally LOUD motor vehicles.
The Lee County Deputy stated that she wondered why the loud Harley Davidson riders were permitted to ride so loud and with an excessively loud radio playing as well. I proceeded to ask the Deputy why her Department allowed these illegally loud, abusive, operators of illegally equipped motorcycles, automobiles, trucks, to abuse, audibly assault, the citizens of Pine Island with impunity? I advised the Deputy that her Sheriff was useless, impotent, and that I personally was extremely tired of being abused by the narcissistic thugs operating these illegally LOUD motor vehicles, those who had no respect for the citizens of Pine Island, Florida.
Take-away from my conversation with the Lee County Deputy,
Apparently, there is a prevailing sense of apathy among far too many Deputies in Florida perhaps due to WOKE politics and liability concerns and there is obviously a lack of adequate training relevant to enforcement procedures, especially concerning those applicable laws that directly affect the daily quality of life of the average citizen. Recently and pathetically, Lee County’s own Police Motorcycle Detail has to be ordered by the Legal Department of Lee County to return their illegally equipped police motorcycles back to quiet factory-installed mufflers to comply with Florida’s State Law. Our own law enforcement community had illegally equipped their police motorcycles with illegally LOUD aftermarket COBRA racing exhausts. See: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/?s=lee+county+does+the+right+thing
In closing,
Florida’s Legislature has provided an adequate “factory-installed” muffler requirement for enforcement use though that same Legislature has also included confusion in the law with the addition of sound-meter mandates relevant to those vehicles not originally fitted with EPA factory muffler requirements; all things considered, Florida’s Legislation does mandate a factory-installed-quiet muffler that meets the total vehicle noise limits of 80dB(A) (motorcycles as per the full-throttle drive-by testing procedure SAE J331a and OEM motorcycle muffler labeling mandates for 1986 street-use motorcycles forward).
Differentiating between the quiet factory installed mufflers on motorcycles, automobiles, passenger trucks, from the illegally LOUD aftermarket exhausts illegally retailed, installed, operated, thorough Florida is not a complicated matter and any State certified police officer or deputy is authorized by applicable case law to stop, investigate, cite, for violations of Florida’s muffler law without the use of an adjudicatory nightmare that is sound meter testing.
All that is needed to STOP the vehicular NOISE abuse in Florida is a handful of dedicated officers, supervisors, prosecutors, judges, willing to make a difference; if only there existed those in today’s law enforcement, those men and women who truly cared about the daily quality of life of the average citizen, vehicular noise abuse would cease on Pine Island, Florida and around the United States.
"RickeyD" Holtsclaw 