Author: Rickey D. Holtsclaw, Houston PD/Retired

Updated: 21 August 2026

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“One day, man will have to fight noise as fiercely as cholera and the plague.”

–Robert Koch, MD
1905 Nobel Prize Winner

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SOUND IS ENERGY – A physical assault

“Studies have been conducted to trace the amount of damage caused by the noise from various natural as well as man-made sources, especially traffic. In fact, noise has come to be associated with the mental, physical, emotional and psychological well-being of an individual, be it human beings or even animals. In legal terms, noise can be considered as an assault on an individual. ” http://home.uchicago.edu/~mstaisch/Sharad/papers/Legislative%20Aspects%20of%20Noise%20Pollution.pdf

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Parkinson’s Disease is skyrocketing and has doubled over the previous 30-years. New Study confirms that the exponential rise in Parkinson’s is directly related to TRAFFIC NOISE.

Short video: https://youtu.be/pn5JG_Avx2g

Full Video: https://youtu.be/huAx9Zy9CHU?si=rF3gtruDZs4r7SQR

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Illegally LOUD Motor Vehicles—A Symptom of a society suffering moral decay

Men and women who alter, modify, or replace the original, relatively quiet, (OEM) factory-installed muffler legally affixed to their motorcycle, automobile, or pick-up truck, a federally regulated muffler that is manufactured to comply with the noise energy emissions safety mandates of CFR 40, Part 205 (total noise emissions of 80dB(A)), then proceed out onto a public roadway and employ that illegal noise energy to abuse, assault and consequently deny the rights of America’s most vulnerable e.g., the elderly, the handicapped, children, our families, these men and women are morally bankrupt, selfish, disrespectful, arrogant, thug-bullies. What type of person or personality type would illegally modify a motor vehicle to emit harmful, intrusive, noise energy and proceed to unlawfully employ that NOISE by entering into the home, places of work and worship, places of recreation, safe spaces, enjoyed and coveted by the American citizen?

Personality type…

Riding and driving LOUD in violation of CFR 40 Part 205 is a mental and spiritual illness rooted in unrestrained narcissism. Many who engage in riding and driving illegally LOUD, illegally equipped/modified, motor vehicles are simple minded idiots addicted to the “group dynamic,” some are simply stupid, selfish, hateful, people who are morally bankrupt due their immaturity, lawless by nature void a moral compass… but most pathetic are those who engage in this selfish, bully behavior who wear a “badge” of public trust or a judicial “robe,” carry a bar-card, or those entrusted to care for society as physicians of medicine and those who wear the Cross of Jesus’ suffering as colors on their “biker” jackets (“Christian” biker organizations) while simultaneously mocking the Gospel by riding LOUD and abusing the innocent in our society with illegal vehicular noise energy, the suffering, those for whom Jesus died thereby blasphemously rejecting the 2nd-Greatest Commandment and Romans 13 – vile hypocrites all.

Many of those who ride and drive LOUD proudly display the American Flag, claim to be honorable military veterans, proud “conservatives” not knowing that their godless behavior and mocking of the protective intent of the rule of law aligns and allies them with John Dewey’s Progressive Socialist Liberal Democrats and Vladimir Lenin’s “useful idiots.” The stupidity is mind numbing and almost laughable as these narcissistic vehicular NOISE thugs destroy daily quality of life for millions through unlawful NOISE intrusion, assault, a destruction of domestic tranquility.

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Impotent, politically correct, compromised, law enforcement…

Unfortunately, America’s law enforcement community, over the previous 50-years, has become a cabal of sexually perverse (LGBTQAI++), reverse discriminatory (mandated hiring quotas-low moral/psychological and physiological standards, DEI, Affirmative Action, hyperactive IAD), WOKE, pacifist, politically correct, sociological experimentation, thereby making many police agencies and “peace” officers as useless as the tits on a boar hog. Law enforcement in the United States, especially in “blue” liberal jurisdictions, has lost its way thereby laying the foundation for societal dysfunction, socialistic endeavors.

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My personal experience serving 31-years with the Houston Police Department battling Marxism via LGBTQ/DEI & Illegally LOUD Motor Vehicle Abuse rooted in pervasive Mental Illness…

After having served as an infantryman in my beloved United States Marine Corps and attending undergraduate studies, I applied for and entered the Houston Police Department’s Training Academy in 1979. At that time, the Houston PD was a hard-charging, respected, law enforcement agency, the hiring process was stringent physiologically, psychologically, ethically and morally. According to an academy instructor, for every seat in my academy class there were 19-denied applications for employment. Personal ethics and morality were the primary focus of the hiring process; these personal attributes verified by incredibly stringent and intimidating preliminary interviews and a thorough polygraph examination; this, culminating with an extensive “background investigation” involving months of door-to-door investigative interviews of the applicant’s family members, former employers, coworkers and friends. The primary concern of those reviewing applications for employment with the Houston PD was, “Have you participated in anything, any conduct or behavior, that would embarrass and shame the integrity of the Houston Police Department should you be approved for employment?”

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WOKENESS, Political Correctness, Liberalism, Progressivism/Marxism, Moral Compromise, creeps into the Houston Police Department…

In 1983, with the advent of the Kathy Whitmire Administration in Houston and the Affirmative Action hire of Police Chief Lee P. Brown, the Houston Police Department began a downward spiral in morality, ethics, reverse racial discrimination via Affirmation Action mandates. With the advent of “Neighborhood Policing” protocols and the implementation of an overzealous Internal Affairs Division, the Houston PD incrementally and methodically morphed into a pacifist, WOKE, police agency where “good” officers were those who avoided negative citizenry contacts/interactions; in other words, those officers who did NOTHING proactive thereby avoiding internal affairs complaints and subsequent investigations were appreciated and praised by supervision.

This enforcement pacifism and impotency becoming necessary protocol as “due process protections,” concerning citizenry or supervisory allegations of policy infractions, were absent. The absence of due process protections to buffer unfounded, spurious, complaints/allegations, mandated, as a matter of occupational survival, that the officer “prove his innocence” beyond ANY doubt; therefore, an investigative conclusion/disposition of “unfounded” (no evidence of wrong doing, culpability) was essential if said officer was to avoid a permanent record of misconduct allegations, internal investigations, having been conducted, placed in his/her personnel file. By Department policy, subsequent a specific number of misconduct allegations (of any disposition other than perhaps “unfounded”) in a specified time frame resulted in a “Personnel Concerns Committee Review.” This serious review of an officer’s complaint history could possibly result in termination of employment with the Houston Police Department as the Personnel Concerns Panel/review was made policy as an alternative way for the HPD to terminate an officer’s employment via bypassing employment protections that shielded officers from retaliatory motives of a biased and compromised police administration.

This overzealousness by HPD’s Administration, their obsession with liability concerns, and their “yes” boys in the Internal Affairs Division, gave way to law enforcement impotence, apathy, laziness, a valid fear of engaging in any form of “proactive policing” essential to law enforcement effectiveness; therefore, the criminal thugs in Houston became emboldened as police routinely “look the other way” and refuse to engage the criminal element due to an absence of support from the upper echelon of the Houston Police Department; consequently, the citizenry unnecessarily suffers due to an absence of effective police service.

As one “old timer” patrolman/training officer would tell his rookie trainees as he parked his patrol vehicle in a remote wooded area facing an old tree away from public view: “You see that old tree over there, that’s MY tree…I come here everyday I’m on duty and I watch that tree grow and if you desire to complete twenty-years with this police department, you’ll find you a tree and watch it grow.” In other words, do nothing, say nothing, see nothing, don’t be an “over achiever,” take your calls-for-service, write your reports, turn your shop (patrol vehicle) in on time, go home and keep your mouth shut, that’s how you complete twenty successful years with the Houston Police Department…sad, but true.

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My experience having rejected the advice of the old training officer…

Subsequent 8-years of patrol duty involving assignments in uniformed street patrol and motorcycle patrol (Solo-Motorcycle Patrol Unit), I transferred to the Helicopter Patrol Division in 1989 where I served just under two-decades, 18-years as a commercial helicopter patrol pilot. During those two-decades in helicopter patrol, I had lost touch with the street officers I patrolled with in Houston’s Downtown Districts during the early 1980s; therefore, I was unaware of the liberal, WOKE, Progressive, changes that were manifesting within my Police Department. WOKE policies and agendas that warred against true, effective, police patrol work.

I routinely heard the “rumors” from patrol officers who visited the helicopter hangar at Hobby Airport, but I found their accusations and complaints difficult to believe. Then, in 2009, due to a heated disagreement relevant to proper protocol over the recovery of a downed helicopter, I ran afoul of a new, arrogant, supervisory administration assigned to the Helicopter Patrol Division and ultimately requested a transfer back to patrol duties. As an aside, the undo harassment I received from the new administration’s Captain concerning my transfer request to patrol and the “lesbian” Assistant Chief who appointed this new administration to the Helicopter Division was subtly disturbing. More on that later.

Subsequent months of enduring harassment from the new administration’s Captain assigned to the Helicopter Patrol Division, returning to uniformed patrol duties was indeed an eye-opening experience subsequent 19-years in the Air Support Division. What those patrolmen had been complaining about when visiting the helicopter hangar: HPD’s compromise with Marxist rooted LGBTQ; the fear and concerns relevant to performing productive proactive police work and investigations; an overzealous Internal Affairs Division; an out-of-touch Police Administration, were indeed TRUE. The Houston PD of 2009 was NOT the Houston PD I had worked for over two-decades earlier as a patrol officer on the streets of Houston; but in all fairness, neither was the society that HPD was responsible for providing protection. Progressivism/Marxism deception taught in public education; liberalism/atheism/secular humanism; sexual deviancy via pervasive moral relativism; rampant drug addiction/alcoholism; drug induced mental and spiritual illnesses resulting from diminishing returns; the weakening of the Biblical family unit; the absence of Jesus in the home; the closure of state-run mental institutions and jail/prison facilities posing as mental health wards, these have all taken their toll on the City of Houston, Houston’s Police Department and the United States as a whole. America is a mentally and spiritually ill society and the pool of applicants qualified to serve as law enforcement officers is bleak and dwindling. I am so very thankful to my LORD for having had the opportunity to experience a few years of actually performing proactive police work before demonically rooted Progressivism-Liberalism-Marxism destroyed the job I love so very much. To this very day, I bleed blue.

The slippery slope of moral compromise via moral relativism…

My Houston PD had become a bastion of LGBTQIA++ compromise; DEI-Affirmative Action discrimination, hiring quotas – assignments based on racial quotas; these inequities and unfairness inevitably fostered racial tension within the ranks. [The Houston PD literally stole my promotion to sergeant via Affirmative Action protocols costing me hundreds-of-thousands-of-dollars in income over the years; this, due solely to the color of my skin as they promoted unqualified Blacks and Hispanics, some of whom having never passed a promotional exam let alone achieved a promotable score.] A lowering of hiring standards, relevant to moral turpitude, allowing the mentally, morally, ethically and spiritually deceived to receive employment with the HPD as homosexuals, transsexuals, lesbians, were welcomed into the HPD, this compromise resulted in employee morale faltering throughout the Police Department. Quoting a patrol sergeant at HPD’s Westside Station, “Love the job-Hate the Department.” The Houston PD’s compromise with moral deviancy/mental illness via the PRIDE/LGBTQ Marxist agenda, discriminatory DEI/Affirmative Action protocol, was and is interpreted as treasonous, unfaithfulness, unprofessionalism, traitorous, by the men and women who believe that the law enforcement community should be one of honor, dignity, morality, ethics, professionalism. America’s law enforcement community and its military should NOT be subject to Progressive-Marxist, perverse, destructive, sociological experimentation initiatives.

It is my understanding that certain applicants with “misdemeanor criminal histories” were also permitted to apply for employment with the Houston PD for positions in uniformed patrol. As if these insane policies were not sufficiently embarrassing, one male supervisor wanting to transition into a “female” reportedly had a penis-tuck surgery (gender reassignment surgery) performed in the Orient and returned to the Houston PD as a supervisor in drag. I personally observed this tall, rather large “man” in a dress as a “supervisor” of officers! The Houston Police Department had become something I no longer recognized or could identify with.

I voiced and physically demonstrated my disdain for LGBTQ sexual deviancy in the ranks of the Houston Police Department. I voiced my disappointment with my Department’s compromise with LGBTQ/DEI while forced to attend mandatory in-service training classes (sensitivity training), queer deviance stemming from mental and spiritual deception that was wearing the uniform, the badge, a weapon and allowed to police the streets of Houston, this queer deviancy was permitted in supervisory capacities as well. Furthermore, I protested the Department’s coercion that I attend class presentations by a lesbian speaker whose agenda was to sensitize the auditorium, filled to capacity with officers and supervisors, to the perversions and deceptive lifestyle of LGBTQIA++. I voiced my anger to the lesbian speaker that I was insulted that my police department would expect me to sit and listen to this spiritual deception. I then proceeded to walk-out of the auditorium in demonstration to the deceptive and destructive policies undergirding moral and ethical compromise within the Houston Police Department. This act of defiance to Houston’s Progressive initiatives did not set well with the Houston PD’s Administration.

My disdain and objections to my Department’s compromise with LGBTQ in the ranks of the HPD resulted in subtle forms of backlash/a subtle uneasiness from the morally and ethically compromised Police Administration. My “Assistant Chief” over the Helicopter Division was a lesbian; my Captain in patrol, subsequent my transfer from Helicopter Patrol, was a lesbian and rumored to be the lesbian lover of my former Assistant Chief. The subtle friction between the HPD and me was exacerbated by my concerted efforts to enforce City Ordinance 30-3 (Noisy Vehicles Generally) and Texas, 547-604 (Muffler Required), subsequent my transfer back to patrol duties in 2009.

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Motor vehicle noise enforcement, “the straw that broke the camel’s back,“

My patrol beat assignment in West Houston had, within its jurisdictional boundaries, a very popular “biker bar” known as “The Dam Ice House” (a LOUD, thug inundated, vulgar, drunken, biker bar that I’m proud to have assisted in its closure). Just outside my jurisdictional boundaries in Harris County, was another biker bar located on FM 1093/Westheimer Road extension. The abusively LOUD, mentally and spiritually ill, biker bullies who frequented these unscrupulous biker bars were/are operating illegally LOUD, illegally equipped, motorcycles in violation of CFR 40 Part 205, Houston City Ordinance 30-5, Texas State Muffler Statute 547.604 (Muffler Required).

These illegally LOUD, illegally equipped motorcycles are modified with noncompliant aftermarket exhaust mechanisms (not for road use exhausts-racing environments only as per the US EPA) emitting noise energy output that, in certain scenarios, is audible for one-statute mile under hard acceleration. Much to my amazement, no one, absolutely NO ONE, was doing anything about the unacceptable vehicular NOISE situation in Houston. Why are vehicular NOISE thugs allowed to bully and abuse society’s most innocent, our children, our elderly, our handicapped, our families, with impunity, day and night, and “law enforcement” looks the other way? Yes, we’ve already discussed that…

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Vehicular NOISE violations as lucrative probable cause, (illegal vehicular noise = aggressive driving behavior) – A commonsense approach…

During my enforcement of vehicular noise violations, I discovered that employing illegal vehicular noise as “probable cause” for a stop and investigate to be the most lucrative form of probable cause available to the average patrol officer. Employing vehicular NOISE as probable cause for a stop resulted in clearing via arrest/incarceration untold numbers of active warrants (felony and misdemeanor), arrests/incarcerations for driver’s license suspensions, citations for insurance and equipment violations. It is true that the personality-type of those who illegally modify a motor vehicle to emit dangerous, intrusive, illegal, noise energy is the very same personality type that possesses a propensity to offend in other areas of the law as well; therefore, narcissism, selfishness, are pervasive among those who abuse the citizenry with vehicular NOISE. Riding/driving LOUD is a “red flag” that the violator is a narcissistic thug-bully who cares NOTHING for the health and welfare, the daily quality of life, of his/her neighbor.

Additionally, for many years, Houston has been plagued with illegal street racing which far too often results in major accidents, fatalities, not to mention the destruction to daily/nightly quality of life due to the intrusive, illegal, vehicular noise. There is an inexorable link between illegal vehicular NOISE and aggressive driving behavior. The personality type that enjoys the narcissistically rooted attention garnered by a noisy vehicle also finds a dopamine high from street racing with other performance oriented, illegally modified, vehicles; therefore, commonsense suggests that employing illegal vehicular NOISE as probable cause for a stop, investigate, criminal history check, photos-audio, logging vehicle and operator information into a coordinated database, will have profound impacts on stymieing illegal racing, aggressive driving/riding, on the streets of Houston, Texas.

Why does law enforcement refuse to employ dangerous, intrusive, “vehicular noise” as probable cause for a stop and background investigation of the operator and passengers when applicable?

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Houston’s Leadership cowers in the presence of criminal bullies…

Illegally LOUD, illegally equipped, motorcycles, trucks, automobiles, inundated my beat assignment in west Houston, the citizenry, especially the most vulnerable to the illegal vehicular NOISE, were and continue to be audibly assaulted day and night, 24/7/365. My enforcement efforts to bring peace and lawful order, a quiet, peaceful, healthy, daily quality of life, to those citizens within my beat assignment were met with vitriol, angry rebuttal, vulgar and life-threatening comments, by thug, narcissistic, LOUD bikers, while “biker rights organizations,” such as the Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF), interceded on behalf of their donors in Washington DC; later, the MRF published lies about my retirement status in their newsletter seeking to disparage my professional reputation (letter/rebuttal below).

The “Texas Motorcycle Rights Association (TMRA)” did their part by writing a letter to Houston’s Mayor Parker accusing me of harassment and requesting that I be removed from enforcement (TMRA letter in attachment below); the local news media in Houston allied with the criminal LOUD biker thugs; the biased media waited outside my traffic court to interview bikers subsequent their adjudication relevant to illegal NOISE; business owners in Houston sympathized with the biker thugs fearing a loss of income/revenue if my enforcement initiative deterred biker access to retail establishments; biker thugs were and are glorified as some form of “patriot” when in reality, they’re bully thugs who abuse children with illegal NOISE.

My 99.9% conviction-rate on all vehicle noise emissions violations adjudicated in the municipal court system mandated extra HPD security in my traffic court; this, out of concerns for my personal safety during testimony due to threats of biker retaliation (biker comments URL below); consequently, my immediate supervision ran scared and confused; my Department’s upper echelon cowed to the concerns over liability/Constitutionality; the Mayor’s Office and the City Council ran scared of the aggressive LOUD biker bullies who rallied en masse at City Hall on two different occasions, threatening the City Council and Mayor with retaliation if my Constitutionally sound enforcement efforts were not stopped. I was prohibited by order from attending the biker rallies, protests, at Houston’s City Hall to explain my reasoning before the Council Members and Mayor for enforcing applicable vehicular noise laws. The upper echelon of the Houston PD, in its arrogance, refused to meet with me one-on-one to discuss my vehicular noise enforcement initiative and the Constitutionally sound reasoning for same (letter to Chief below). Cowards all.

Compromised Law Enforcement Personnel: Law Enforcement Biker Gangs

I had never, in my 31-years of service to the citizens of Houston, TX, seen such cowards and pacifists and compromised law enforcement personnel as I did during my years of vehicular NOISE enforcement in Houston. To my amazement, some of my most avid haters and detractors were law enforcement personnel who compromise their oath of office and their personal integrity by riding and driving illegally LOUD vehicles off duty, some were members of local law enforcement biker gangs. Sworn, accredited, law enforcement officers who dress, walk, talk, like thug biker gang members off-duty while they wear a badge and gun and patrol the streets of Houston, Harris County as law enforcement officers while on duty. These law enforcement biker thug organizations/gangs are present throughout the United States and nothing is done by their individual department leadership or the Federal Bureau of Investigations to stop the compromised, thuggish, conduct of those who ride illegally LOUD, act and talk like biker trash, while employed as a public servant. This is unacceptable!

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Legal precedent ignites a fire fueling retribution…

My patrol Sergeant, who drove an illegally LOUD racing Corvette to 6AM roll call, ordered me to STOP enforcing the vehicular noise laws to which I rebutted and challenged his unlawful order with legal precedent, Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008); Aguilar provides legal precedent relevant to law enforcement’s right to stop and investigate loud motor vehicles based solely on an officer’s professional opinion as to the vehicle’s illegality due to a defective or illegal exhaust mechanism. Houston’s “City Legal” Department overturned the Sergeant’s unlawful order; this legal victory over my immediate supervision drove an unforgivable wedge between my NOISE enforcement efforts, my immediate supervision, the police administration; both, the Mayor’s office and the City Council; after all, who was this old patrol officer possessing the audacity to challenge the omnipotence of Houston’s Police Administration and supervision? How dare he! My enforcement of applicable vehicular noise laws was lawful and Constitutionally sound; therefore, HPD opted to place me on desk duty, repeatedly, to STOP my vehicular noise enforcement initiative seeing that I refused to stop citing and incarcerating, whenever possible, those who abuse the citizenry with unlawful vehicular NOISE energy.

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Houston PD’s Administration panders to the perjury of the LOUD Biker Cult[ure]…

Also, noteworthy concerning the cowardliness and apathy of the Houston Police Department’s Administration. Criminal, LOUD, thug, biker trash, at the behest of biker rights organizations in Texas and in Washington DC, were lining up at the citizen complaint intake at HPD’s Internal Affairs Division to file spurious, perjurious, false allegations of misconduct against me for having cited, arrested, incarcerated, those who willfully, with intent, abuse Houston’s most vulnerable, Houston’s most innocent, with illegal vehicular NOISE.

The biker rights organizations were made privy to Houston’s weak-link concerning “citizens complaints” and the tactic of employing same to undermine my lawful, constitutionally sound, vehicular noise enforcement initiative. As the false allegations began to stack-up requiring a mandatory response from me, over and over again, I submitted a request via my chain-of-command to criminally charge these individual bikers for perjury; after all, they had signed an affidavit that their allegations against me were true when audio and video evidence existed that exonerated me of these spurious and perjurious allegations of misconduct. In response to my request for intercession, Houston’s “Major Offenders Unit” began approaching the Harris County District Attorneys Office to file perjury charges against those bikers who had perjured themselves by swearing to false allegations of misconduct.

Shamefully, the Chief’s Office of the Houston PD interceded and stopped investigators from Houston’s Major Offenders Unit from filing perjury charges against the lying, deceiving, bikers stating that allowing these bikers to be charged with perjury might deter other citizens from filing complaints on officers for allegations of misconduct. In other words, to HADES with the false allegations against Officer Holtsclaw, we don’t care, Holtsclaw is expendable; to Hades with the rule of law; to Hades with the quality of life of Houston’s citizenry…allow the false allegations to stand and allow the LOUD bikers and LOUD auto and truck operators to abuse the citizenry at will.

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Enough was Enough…

The culmination of the shame I felt for serving a Police Department that compromised its integrity with the deviant immorality and mental illness of LGBTQIA++; the unfairness of DEI; having had my promotion to sergeant stolen through Affirmative Action mandates and having had the blatant reverse discrimination upheld by the 5th Circuit; having had lesbians placed over me in supervision in two separate divisions within the HPD; watching my immediate supervision, my Police Administration, the Mayor’s office, the City Council, run pathetically scared from biker rights organizations and cower to the threats from thug LOUD bikers in Houston; after having been repeatedly placed on desk duty pending LOUD bikers spurious allegations/complaints and the Administration’s cowardliness and refusal to stand with me and support my lawful efforts to provide intercession for the vehicular NOISE beleaguered citizen’s in Houston, my concerted efforts to make Houston’s streets safer and quieter; this, when personal audio and vehicle dash camera video/audio evidence existed to nullify the spurious allegations of untruthful bikers as “unfounded;” finally, my poor wife who had tolerated the stress, the harassment, the impotence of Houston’s leadership, we had enough of the pathetic, pacifist, nonsense; therefore, I honorably retired in 2011 with a broken heart remembering what my Houston Police Department was in 1980 and what it had become as of 2011 via Progressive WOKEISM. Cowards all. Houston, Texas has become the Sodom of the South, exemplified by its Montrose neighborhood and its celebration of sexual deviancy in its streets and within its own local government; unfortunately, the Houston PD has become a morally compromised version of exactly what Progressive-WOKE Houston deserves as its Law Enforcement entity. 31-years of service culminating in sadness and regret. I would not have succeeded void my LORD’s intercession.

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In closing, some advice to those seeking a career in law enforcement…

My professional recommendation to any young, aspiring, man or woman seeking an honorable and fulfilling career in law enforcement; especially those who honor Jesus as LORD. DO NOT seek employment in a liberal, politically blue, WOKE, pacifist, compromised, municipality, county or state law enforcement community; truth is, if you compromise yourself with a liberal jurisdiction, you’ll simply become another “useful idiot” in servitude to Leninist Marxism; liberal, anti-police, leadership will care NOTHING for you, you’re just a pawn for their “progressive” idiocy. You’re completely expendable, they don’t care about you or your family. Don’t waste your career serving the mentally and spiritually ill Democrat-Liberal-Progressive-Marxist.

If you desire to enter into law enforcement, do your homework, read reviews, talk with the officers of the jurisdiction in which you seek employment. If you’re going to dedicate your most productive years to a police department, make sure it is a department that represents your values, your ethics, a department that is truly concerned for the safety, welfare, daily quality of life, of the citizens you seek to serve with your life, your family, your precious time on this Earth. Serve in a department that actually honors the rule of law and “has your back” during those years of policing unpredictable, challenging, scenarios. Do not compromise YOU, your ethics, your family, for a paycheck.

With sincerity,

Rickey D. Holtsclaw, Houston PD/Retired

Additional relevant articles:

Motorcycle Noise Enforcement 101: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/09/12/motorcycle-noise-enforcement-101/

Loud Biker Comments (vulgarity warning): https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/04/loud-biker-mentality-1949-v-21st-century/

Noise Enforcement Initiative Thwarted by Duty Status Change: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/noise-enforcement-initiative-thwarted-by-duty-status-change/

ADR Grievance with Houston PD/Bikers and NOISE: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/adr-grievance-with-houston-pd-bikers-and-noise/

Motorcycle Riders Foundation – half truths – obfuscation – rebutted: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2025/04/21/motorcycle-riders-foundation-obfuscation-half-truths-rebutted/

Letter to Police Chief – Houston – Noise Enforcement Assistance: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/letter-to-chief-mcclelland-inre-to-motorcycle-noise-enforcement/

TMRA Letter to Houston Mayor Parker: Harassment by Officer: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2015/09/21/loud-bikers-letter-to-mayor-parker/

Psychological Predictors of Environmentally Unsustainable Driving Behaviors: Schadenfreude and Preference for Loud Car Modifications: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/23/10805

Parkinson’s Disease is skyrocketing and has doubled over the previous 30-years. New Study confirms that the exponential rise in Parkinson’s is directly related to TRAFFIC NOISE: https://youtu.be/huAx9Zy9CHU?si=rF3gtruDZs4r7SQR

Article by “Car and Driver:” “People who like loud exhaust are psychotic”: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60983144/study-loud-exhaust-psychotic/

Article by “National Library of Medicine” (NIH): “A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism” : See: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10699294/

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Misfeasance, Graft, by Governors and Mayors and the Judiciary…

As if the vehicular noise debacle is not already sufficiently pervasive, America’s governors, mayors, county commissioners, municipal city councils, law enforcement administrations, prostitute themselves with the vile and destructive community of vehicular noise morons via biker rallies and auto-truck shows where those sworn to protect the citizenry within their respective jurisdictions actually invite, en masse, the vehicular noise thugs into their jurisdictions in order to fill the local and state coffers with ill gotten gains via tax revenue; this, while the tax paying citizen and their family suffer day and night during the illegal, illegitimate, vulgar, drunken, narcotic abusing, gathering of NOISE idiocy.

This political whoredom is filthy misfeasance, malfeasance, graft, and nothing is done by Washington DC, the US EPA, the DOJ, to intervene and stop the idiocy…so the tax paying citizenry suffer in ignorance and pacifism, fear and cowardliness; this, while state and local vehicular noise laws, laws that mirror the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205, exist within the respective state code as per the Supremacy Clause; but again, law enforcement, due compromise, ignorance, political correctness, laziness, does NOTHING to protect the citizenry from these vehicular NOISE bullies. An embarrassment – a nationwide tragedy for the suffering innocent, the vehicular noise beleaguered law abiding, man, woman, child; this, while our liberal, pacifist, judiciary treats the criminal element with kid gloves, weak adjudication, impotent sentencing, leading to never ending recidivism, and again, the citizenry suffers. Lenin’s “useful idiots” are running the circus that is American jurisprudence.

In Conclusion…

Personally, I absolutely loathe bullies and there exists few better examples of an “in your face” bully thug than those who abuse children, the elderly, the handicapped, our families, with illegal vehicular noise energy, night and day, relentless abuse in our urban areas. It would be refreshing to see these vehicular noise thugs escorted by angry dads and husbands into the city center, the britches of these vehicular NOISE thugs pulled down to their knees and subsequently bent over a tree stump, their belligerent, rude, arrogant, butts caned black and blue…but I digress. Let’s discuss the failures of law enforcement, the failures of our governors, mayors, failures of the US EPA, let’s discuss procedures, tactics, relevant to the pervasive abuse of illegal vehicular noise in the United States.

Article by “Car and Driver:” “People who like loud exhaust are psychotic”

Excerpt: The study made some strong remarks about the kind of people who would modify their car’s exhaust. If psychopathy and sadism aren’t bad enough, apparently loud truck owners would do even worse.

See: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a60983144/study-loud-exhaust-psychotic/

Article by “National Library of Medicine” (NIH): “A desire for a loud car with a modified muffler is predicted by being a man and higher scores on psychopathy and sadism”

See: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10699294/

Psychological Predictors of Environmentally Unsustainable Driving Behaviors: Schadenfreude and Preference for Loud Car Modifications: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/23/10805

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The Law – CFR 40 Part 205

Subpart B—Medium and Heavy Duty Trucks

§ 205.52 Vehicle noise emission standards. 

(a) Low Speed Noise Emission Standard. Vehicles which are manufactured after the following effective dates shall be designed, built and equipped so that they will not produce sound emissions in excess of the levels indicated. 

Effective date	Level
(i) January 1, 1979	83 dBA.
(ii) January 1, 1988	80 dBA.

(b) The standards set forth in paragraph (a) of this section refer to the sound emissions as measured in accordance with the procedures prescribed in § 205.54-1,2. 

(c) Every manufacturer of a new motor vehicle subject to the standards prescribed in this paragraph shall, prior to taking any of the actions specified in section 10(a)(1) of the Act, comply with the other provisions of this subpart or Subpart A, as applicable. 

Motorcycles

§ 205.152 Noise emission standards. Motorcycles 

(a) Noise emission standards.  

(1) Street motorcycles of the following and subsequent model years must not produce noise emissions in excess of the levels indicated: 

(i) Street motorcycles other than those that meet the definition of § 205.151(a)(2)(ii): 

Model year	A-weighted noise level (dB)
(A) 1983	83
(B) 1986	80

(ii) Street motorcycles that meet the definition of § 205.151(a)(2)(ii)(moped-type street motorcycles): 

Model year	A-weighted noise level (dB)
(A) 1983	70

Motorcycle Labeling Requirements

§ 205.169 Labeling requirements. Motorcycles 

(a) The manufacturer of any product (including the manufacturer of newly produced motorcycles) subject to this subpart must, at the time of manufacture, affix a permanent, legible label, or mark of the type and in the manner described below, containing the information provided below, to all such exhaust systems or exhaust system components to be distributed in commerce. 

(b) The labels or marks shall be affixed in such a manner that they cannot be removed without destroying or defacing them, and must not be applied to any part which is easily detached from such product. 

(c) The label or mark shall be in a readily visible position when the exhaust system or exhaust system component is installed on all motorcycles for which it is designed and marketed. 

(d) All required language shall be lettered in the English language in block letters and numerals in a color that contrasts with its background. 

(e) The label or mark must contain the following information: 

(1) For exhaust systems subject to the noise emission standards of § 205.166: 

(i) The label heading: Motorcycle Exhaust System Noise Emission Control Information; 

(ii)  

(A) For original equipment and replacement exhaust system, the following statement: 

This (manufacturer’s name) exhaust system (serial number) meets EPA noise emission requirements of (noise emission standard) dBA for the following motorcycles: (list of model specific codes). Installation of this exhaust system on motorcycle models not specified may violate Federal law. 

(B) For exhaust system components designed and marketed for motorcycles, and tested in accordance with § 205.168 as a constituent of a complete exhaust system comprising non-original equipment components (other than itself), as provided for in § 205.166(b)(3), the following statement: 

This (manufacturer’s name) (type of component) (serial number), when installed with a legal (type of component), meets EPA noise emission requirements of (noise emission standard) dBA for the following motorcycles: (list of model specific codes). Installation of this exhaust system components on motorcycle models not specified may violate Federal law. 

(iii) The model specific code must be the same as used by the motorcycle manufacturer and described in § 205.158(a)(6). 

(2) For exhaust systems designed solely for use on competition motorcycles (as defined by § 205.151(a)(3) and so designated and labeled by the manufacturer), the statement: 

This product is designed for use on closed course competition motorcycles only and does not conform to U.S. EPA noise emission standards. Used on motorcycles subject to EPA noise regulations constitutes tampering and is a violation of Federal law unless it can be shown that such use does not cause the motorcycle to exceed applicable Federal standards. 

(3) For exhaust systems designed solely for use on motorcycles manufactured before January 1, 1982, the statement: 

This product is designed for use on pre-1982 model year motorcycles only and does not conform to U.S. EPA noise emission standards. Use on motorcycles subject to EPA noise regulations constitutes tampering and is a violation of Federal law unless it can be shown that such use does not cause the motorcycle to exceed applicable Federal standards.

 

Acoustical Assurance Period

What about the “Acoustical Assurance Period” of 3730-miles? Can I legally remove my factory-installed muffler after the 3730-miles (or one-year) Acoustical Assurance Period (AAP) has expired?

Loud Biker advocates will tell you that the stock/OEM, quiet, factory-installed muffler is only “good” for 3730 miles or one-year from the time of retail/sale.  NOT TRUE – the original, U.S. EPA approved, factory-installed muffler is intended to remain in compliance for the LIFE OF THE MOTORCYCLE according to the author of the AAP, Kenneth Feith (Former EPA Employee).  The AAP is simply a “warranty period” required by the EPA from the manufacturer to the consumer to ensure the acoustical integrity of the factory-installed muffler…for more information, please see: “Noisy Motorcycles: An Environmental Quality-of-Life-Issue” (see Pages 2 & 19 or Ctrl F “Life of”) http://www.noisefree.org/Motorcyle-Report.pdf

What is “total” motorcycle noise emissions as evaluated in the SAE J331a Full-throttle drive-by testing procedure?

Answer: The motorcycle/model/sample seeking US EPA noise certification is tested in a controlled environment at 49.2-ft. on each side of the motorcycle as said motorcycle is accelerated at full-throttle on a predetermined path. The “total” motorcycle noise, that is…every moving part on the motorcycle under evaluation, is factored into the allowable noise emissions, NOT simply the muffler output alone; therefore, the muffler is actually emitting less than 80dB(A) in order for the test motorcycle to successfully pass the SAE J331a testing procedure for certification.

State Muffler Law and the Supremacy Clause 

State Law, Municipal Ordinances, relevant to vehicular muffler law, proper wording of elements, must adhere to the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. The “Cliffs Notes” version of the Supremacy Clause mandates that State Law cannot be more lenient or permissive than Federal Law. As pertaining to vehicular noise enforcement and State Law, the State Traffic Code cannot be more lenient than what is mandated by the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 40 Part 205.  

Many of the States require one or both of the following: “to prevent excessive or unusual noise” or “factory installed muffler.” With the Supremacy Clause in view, it is reasonable to suggest that a legal element requiring a muffler affixed to a motor vehicle “to prevent excessive or unusual noise” would be similar or identical to one requiring “the factory installed muffler;” this, due to the fact that the US EPA has clearly defined what is excessive or unusual noise by requiring a muffler that prevents sound energy emissions greater than 80dB(A). What is excessive and/or unusual noise emanating from a motor vehicle? Answer: Any motor vehicle louder than OEM, factory installed and this differentiation is easily made with the human ear by any law enforcement personnel with at least a modicum of experience in traffic enforcement or patrol. 

Though some States convolute their muffler statutes and make them unnecessarily difficult or impossible to enforce due strict decibel limits, sound testing parameters, these States, for all intents and purposes, are in violation of the Supremacy Clause as it pertains to CFR 40 Part 205. How does a State know that their sound meter testing requirements coincide with the strict 80dB(A) mandate of CFR 40 Part 205 which is tested through the SAE J331a Full Throttle Motorcycle Testing Procedure? Requiring law enforcement to employ a sound meter in order to establish probable cause for a stop, cite, issuance of a citation or physical arrest and impoundment of the offending vehicle, ultimately results in nonenforcement due to costs, logistical problems with testing sites, sound meter certification requirements and certification of law enforcement in sound meter operation; this, in order to legally employ a sound meter device that adheres to adjudicatory requirements. Sound meter mandates for vehicular noise enforcement is fertile ground for defense attorney objections and case dismissals. This is nonsensical and completely unnecessary.  

Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008) nullifies “void for vagueness” concerns by providing a police officer in the United States probable cause to stop, cite, investigate, any operator of a motor vehicle that said officer believes is in violation of State AKA Federal noise emissions law AKA any sound energy emitted by a vehicle that is LOUDER than what the OEM-Factory Installed muffler suppresses. It is lawful for a law enforcement officer to stop, investigate, cite, any operator of a motor vehicle that is emitting sound levels in excess of the OEM-Factory Installed muffler based solely on the officer’s professional opinion concerning what is excessive or unusual. Truth be told, even a child can differentiate the noise emissions from a legal, OEM factory-installed muffler and an illegal aftermarket exhaust. During my enforcement years with the Houston PD, I maintained a 99.9% conviction rate for all vehicular noise citations issued based solely on my observations and professional opinion that the motor vehicle in question was emitting sound energy that was “excessive and unusual.” If the exhaust under investigation was considered questionable, I did not cite the operator. I was blessed with a Magistrate that understood Houston’s City Ordinance (30-3) and the Texas State Law (547.604) and the legal element of “to prevent excessive and unusual noise.”  

It is my professional opinion that should any State desire to employ sound meter testing protocol into their State Law concerning vehicular noise enforcement that they take advantage of the SAE J2825 Stationary Testing Procedure which I believe closely duplicates what the more extensive and costly SAE J331a procedure produces which is required by the US EPA for testing noise emissions for all street-use motorcycles seeking US EPA authorization/certification. It is my professional opinion that the US EPA could resolve vehicular noise enforcement legal questions by embossing, labeling, all compliant, OEM-factory installed, mufflers for motorcycles as well as automobiles and trucks. An inspection label clearly and easily accessed by enforcement on motor vehicle mufflers, like those required for motorcycle mufflers, would serve as prima facie evidence relevant to the muffler’s legality. Tampering and illegal muffler inserts like the MagnaFlow, Flowmaster, BORLA, inserts into a muffler’s exhaust system are easily identifiable through sound emissions and visual inspection.   

As a final note, concerning motorcycle noise enforcement, it is prima facie evidence that a muffler affixed to a street-use motorcycle that is absent the required US EPA muffler label is operating illegally LOUD and is in violation of applicable State and Federal Law; of course, the inspecting officer should be on guard concerning tampering and altering of the OEM-factory installed muffler making it illegally loud; tampering that involves the removal of baffling or manipulating the OEM muffler’s internals though discreet cutting and welding. Spotting tampering of OEM-factory installed mufflers can be an art and comes with experience in such enforcement but differentiating sound emissions between the OEM-factory installed muffler and an illegal aftermarket exhaust is obvious as the illegal noise emissions of an OEM-factory installed muffler that has undergone tampering.

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Illegally LOUD motor vehicles and Patriotic Conservatism? Hypocrisy defined!

As a Christian Conservative, former US Marine Infantryman, retired 31-year veteran of the Houston PD, I choose to stand in defense of the mom, the child, the elderly, the handicapped, our families, throughout the United States who are abused, harassed, threatened, intimidated, by a narcissistic, disrespectful, arrogant, lawless, segment of our mentally and spiritually ill American society; that is, those who choose to illegally modify a motorcycle, automobile, truck, to emit vehicular NOISE greater than the legal, relatively quiet, safe, OEM factory-installed muffler in violation of the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205 enacted for the protection of the health and welfare, daily quality of life, of the American citizen.

There is absolutely NOTHING “conservative” or “patriotic” about abusing America’s most innocent with illegal vehicular NOISE. Though the US EPA, President Reagan (delegated vehicular noise enforcement authority to the States), both Bush administrations, Bill Clinton, the Obama—Biden and Trump administrations, state leadership, and their law enforcement community have miserably failed the vehicular-noise-beleaguered citizen, I choose to stand against America’s narcissistic bullies who offend and mock the laws enacted to protect our most innocent from the physiological and psychological harm done through the unencumbered operation of illegally LOUD, illegally equipped motor vehicles operated on America’s public roadways.

Though our representatives are compromised by their subservience to vehicular noise lobbyists, and though our law enforcement community is compromised by its participation in the Loud Vehicle Cult[ure], both in an on-duty and off-duty status, I choose to stand, and if my stance is offensive to you, so be it. You who advocate for, participate in, the vehicular noise abuse of our most innocent are mentally and spiritually ill; your mental illness is rooted in unrestrained narcissism and selfishness. Those who remain silent while our most innocent are abused daily and nightly by vehicular noise terrorists, if you’re uninformed, please get informed and get involved by speaking out and contacting your representatives; if you’re informed and knowledgeable and you do nothing, you are a coward. Vehicular NOISE abuse is out of control in the United States; it’s time the narcissistic vehicular noise bully be stopped!

R.D. Holtsclaw, Houston PD Solo Motorcycle Detail
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Aggressive Driving and Illegal Vehicular NOISE – a deadly inextricable link ignored by law enforcement – WHY?

Are our Federal and State Legislators; our Governors and their State Attorney General; our Mayors and City Councils; our County Commissioners, financially compromised with the illegal Aftermarket Exhaust manufacturing Industry, Motorcycle “Rights” Organizations, their lobbyists? Is political greed, graft, compromise, circumventing enforcement and consequently destroying our daily quality of life, recklessly endangering our health and welfare?

Why can’t those in positions of authority, leadership, legislation, enforcement, recognize the causal, inextricable, link between riding and driving illegally LOUD and aggressive, dangerous, driving behavior on our public roadways that far too often results in serious injury or a fatality?

Fact: Driving-Riding illegally LOUD is inextricably linked to aggressive driving behavior. Stop the illegal vehicular NOISE = substantial reduction in aggressive driving = exponential reduction in traffic fatalities.

Question/Discussion,

It is beyond reasoning and understanding why those responsible for providing protection, intercession, from aggressive vehicular thugs, those who seek to abuse the American citizen with illegal vehicular NOISE and aggressive driving behavior cannot discern the undeniable link, cause and effect, between deadly aggressive driving behavior and illegal vehicular NOISE.

If those tasked with providing protection for the American citizen operating a motor vehicle upon America’s public roadways would take the initiative to ensure, mandate, enforcement of Federal, State and Local vehicular NOISE laws, serious traffic accidents and traffic fatalities would be greatly reduced.

If those tasked with providing the American motorist protection would mandate that law enforcement employ illegal vehicular NOISE as lawful “probable cause” for a stop and investigate as per “Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008),” the overwhelming majority of those who drive and ride aggressively on our public roadways would be stopped, cited, their names entered into a Federal, State, database with a permanent record useful for future critical traffic oriented incidents, liability and license suspensions/revocations.

Example: https://youtube.com/shorts/yHwILWBnyfg

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Today’s vehicular NOISE abuse is Yesterday’s smoking in public places – and – just as physiologically injurious to the cardiovascular system relevant to stress related illnesses 

Today’s vehicular NOISE is yesterday’s smoking in public places. Educating our local, county, state, legislators concerning the physiological harm done and the destruction to daily quality of life can change things and lobbying our representatives at the federal level can initiate financial coercion upon the states to comply with CFR 40 Part 205, motorcycle muffler labeling and safe 80dB(A) mandates delegated to the States by Congress for enforcement. Doing NOTHING ensures failure….at least make a stand for what is right and protect our most innocent from vehicular NOISE abuse.

Noncompliant aftermarket exhausts on motor vehicles operating in violation of CFR 40 Part 205 and State muffler laws that mirror the protective intent of the Code of Federal Regulations DO NOT belong on our public roadways but on closed-course racing environments ONLY.

Cardiovascular Effects of Traffic Noise: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081519-062400

Sounding the Alarm: How Noise Hurts the Heart: https://knowablemagazine.org/article/health-disease/2021/how-noise-pollution-affects-heart-health

50,000 Deaths Annually – Caused by Traffic Noise: https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/50000-heart-deaths-year-caused-traffic-noise/

How Noise Pollution (Traffic) is Ruining your Health: https://www.thehealthsite.com/news/here-is-how-noise-pollution-is-ruining-your-health-d1018-614867/

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Physiological Dangers of Unregulated Motor Vehicle Noise – the realm of physics and commonsense…

Traffic Noise Can Kill You: https://boingboing.net/2021/02/22/traffic-noise-can-kill-you.html

Car Noise is Killing Us: https://www.planetizen.com/news/2022/05/117092-car-noise-killing-us

Children and Neighborhood Traffic Noise: https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2016/12/city-noise-pollution-health-school-learning/

Cardiovascular Effects of Traffic Noise: https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081519-062400

Sounding the Alarm: How Noise Hurts the Heart: https://knowablemagazine.org/article/health-disease/2021/how-noise-pollution-affects-heart-health

50,000 Deaths Annually – Caused by Traffic Noise: https://www.transportenvironment.org/discover/50000-heart-deaths-year-caused-traffic-noise/

How Noise Pollution (Traffic) is Ruining your Health: https://www.thehealthsite.com/news/here-is-how-noise-pollution-is-ruining-your-health-d1018-614867/

Europe Struggles to Turn Down Traffic Noise – Destroys Health: https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-france-paris-european-green-deal-noise-pollution-in-cities-sounds-like-a-problem/

Knowing How Noise Stress is Ruining Your Health: https://cmeindia.in/knowing-how-noise-stress-is-ruining-the-health/

Traffic Noise may IMPAIR Children’s Cognitive Development: https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/3509834-traffic-noise-may-impair-childrens-cognitive-development-study/

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Illegal Vehicular Noise – A Nationwide Plague upon the American Citizen – Solutions?

Protection is the number-one responsibility of Government. The US Congress delegated authority, responsibility, concerning enforcement of the protective intent of US EPA CFR 40 Part 205 to the individual States, the Governor, State Attorney General, State Law Enforcement, Local Law Enforcement. Pervasive evidence spanning the previous forty-years confirms that State and Local enforcement relevant to abusive, illegal, vehicular NOISE has been an abysmal failure. What can be done?

1. The US Congress and the US EPA must pass legislation restricting or denying transportation funding/grants to any State that refuses to aggressively enforce violations of the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205 of the Code of Federal Regulations as it pertains to vehicular noise emissions and labeling of mufflers. CFR 40 Part 205, vehicular noise restrictions requiring total vehicular noise emissions not exceed a relatively safe 80dB(A) for street-use motorcycles, automobiles, light-medium duty trucks. 
2. The US Congress and the US EPA must pass legislation requiring States to initiate an annual vehicular safety inspection program and as part of that vehicular safety inspection, the muffler/exhaust mechanism affixed to those vehicles undergoing inspection must be examined for compliance with the protective mandates of CFR 40 Part 205. State Law, relevant to motor vehicle mufflers and noise emissions, must be worded with legal elements that conform to the OEM-factory installed mandates of CFR 40 Part 205; this, in compliance with the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. 
3. The US Congress and the US EPA must demand that the States take civil and criminal action against those companies who manufacture, distribute, retail, install, aftermarket exhaust mechanisms for motor vehicles; specifically, those motor vehicles to be operated upon the public roadways of the United States, that do NOT conform to the safety mandates of CFR 40 Part 205 concerning NOISE energy emissions and proper labeling of mufflers for street-use motorcycles. Any exhaust manufacturer refusing to comply with CFR 40 Part 205 should be civilly sued into insolvency and criminally charged relevant to their contributions to the vehicular noise abuse of the American citizen.  Illegal vehicular noise is sound energy and is a physical assault upon the American citizen that destroys daily quality of life and recklessly endangers the health and welfare of anyone exposed to same.
4. The US Congress and US EPA, as part of their agreement with the States concerning transportation funding/grants, must insist that the operators of illegally equipped motor vehicles, illegally LOUD motor vehicles in violation of CFR 40 Part 205, be subject to a progressive increase in fines with continuing violations resulting in arrest, incarceration, impoundment of the noncompliant vehicle until such time arrangements are made to return said vehicle to an OEM-factory installed condition.
5. The US Congress and US EPA must provide oversight relevant to Governor and Mayoral prostitution, graft, misfeasance, malfeasance, compromise, with members of the LOUD Motorcycle, Auto, Truck, Cult[ure] where State and Local Government leadership invites into their State and/or Municipality operators of illegally LOUD motor vehicles for shows, rallies, where the citizenry of those States, Municipalities, are audibly abused, day and night, by the attendees operating motor vehicles that do not comply with the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205 and applicable State muffler laws relevant to vehicular noise emissions.  
6. Every State must acknowledge a law enforcement officer’s legal right to use suspected illegal vehicular NOISE as lawful “probable cause” to stop, cite, investigate the operator of said suspect vehicle; this, in accordance with Texas Court of Appeals case “Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008).” https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fourth-court-of-appeals/2008/20953.html      Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008) does provide a law enforcement officer the authority to determine what is “excessive and unusual noise” emanating from a motor vehicle.
7. The US Congress and US EPA can easily expedite State enforcement of State muffler laws duplicating the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205 (80dBA) by mandating an inspection muffler label for all compliant mufflers as currently required for motorcycle mufflers on street-use motorcycles. Stamping, heavily embossing, a US EPA muffler label in a readily visible location for inspection by enforcement officials will act as prima facie evidence of a muffler’s compliance. Of course, tampering will remain a concern as will illegal products inserted into the exhaust mechanism such as Flowmaster, Magnaflow, BORLA, exhaust inserts. Tampering and illegal inserts are easily discernable due the sound energy emitted by the offending exhaust mechanism. Currently, manufacturers of illegal aftermarket exhaust mechanisms are distributing “sound-on/sound-off” options that allow an operator the ability to manipulate noise emissions on the fly thereby concealing their illegality when law enforcement is present.  

See my article on the subject of enforcement: Motorcycle NOISE Enforcement 101: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/09/12/motorcycle-noise-enforcement-101/

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How are illegal, noncompliant, manufacturers like “Big Dog” motorcycles allowed to exist in the United States? Where is our US Attorney General and the US Environmental Protection Agency?

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Attorney General Todd Blanche, US EPA Director Lee Zeldin, why are these illegal, criminally conspiratorial, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, installers, of illegally LOUD, noncompliant, aftermarket exhaust mechanisms, and hundreds if not thousands like them, allowed to thrive and prosper in the United States? CFR 40 Part 205 violations!

“Valvetronic Exhausts” – see video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/JTY41beQ-s4

“VF Engineering” – see video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/wmt1MrOHWkM

“Fabspeed Motorsport” – see video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/-3Wr9hwvpzc

“AWE v. Borla v. Corsa v. Paragon” – see video here: https://youtu.be/mqqceJoZ6ys

“DRP Motorsports” Installing Kooks headers/aftermarket exhaust – see video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/XZ5lPQBZTBc

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Biker Gang Activity – Effectively Castrating the Bane of any civil society

If the United States Federal Government, the FBI, DEA, ATF, HSI; If a State Law Enforcement entity, Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol, desires to SHUT DOWN Biker Gang criminal activity, the most expedient solution is employing “illegal motor vehicle noise” as lawful probable cause for a STOP and INVESTIGATE, cite the LOUD biker for violations of State Muffler Law, State Law which mirrors the protective intent of CFR 40 Part 205; then, impound the offending vehicle and maintain custody of the illegally equipped motorcycle until such time arrangements are made to return the noncompliant vehicle to an OEM, Factory Installed, legal, condition i.e., a factory installed, quiet, safe, muffler system that is properly labeled and affixed to said motorcycle.

Biker Gangs in the United States, and Biker Gangs around the World, worship at the throne of narcissism which is under girded and exemplified primarily by their illegal motorcycle NOISE accompanied by a silly façade of false bravado, vulgarity, hedonism, arrogance. Motorcycle NOISE is the GOD of the Biker Gang member, take that away, humble the Biker Gang Member by arrest and impounding their god, you will essentially castrate the Biker Gang’s raison d’etre.

Motorcycle Noise Enforcement 101: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/09/12/motorcycle-noise-enforcement-101/

Vehicular “NOISE” as probable cause for stop: https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fourth-court-of-appeals/2008/20953.html

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Some introductory questions for those who ride and drive LOUD,

1) Loud motor vehicles are abusive…when did a man or woman acquire the “right” or “privilege” to abuse children, the elderly, the handicapped, with illegal motor vehicle noise by operating an illegally equipped, illegally LOUD, motorcycle, auto, truck, on our public roadways?

2) When did it become acceptable and fashionable to destroy the quality of life of thousands of families, daily, for one’s own selfish, narcissistic, pleasure?

3) Who invited you, LOUD biker, LOUD auto and truck, bully, into our home, places of work, worship, education and recreation?

4) To those who ride and drive illegally LOUD. Why can’t you humble yourself, obey the federal and state muffler laws enacted for the protection of the whole of society? Why can’t you be kind and thoughtful, respecting our children, our elderly, our handicapped, our families, by riding and driving lawfully with the quiet, safe, 80dB(A) OEM factory-installed muffler?

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Vehicular NOISE as lawful Probable Cause for Law Enforcement – A GOLD MINE OF OPPORTUNITY

During my 31-years in law enforcement, I discovered vehicular noise enforcement to be one of the most lucrative forms of “probable cause” for a “stop and investigate” as those who abuse the general public via the operation of an illegally equipped, illegally LOUD, motor vehicle upon our public roadways is oftentimes the same narcissistic, irresponsible, belligerent, personality-type that offends in other areas of the law where felony and misdemeanor warrants, license suspensions, are commonplace; therefore, rejecting illegal vehicular NOISE as probable cause by law enforcement further demonstrates the impotency and compromise prevalent in our pathetically WOKE enforcement entities today.

Also, very relevant to Law Enforcement, a police officer does NOT need a sound meter device to enforce motor vehicle noise laws where the State Law elements include universal verbiage such as “to prevent excessive or unusual noise” or the law requires the “factory installed muffler or a muffler that duplicates the sound suppression requirements of the factory installed muffler.” See: Texas State Court of Appeals case “Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008).” https://law.justia.com/cases/texas/fourth-court-of-appeals/2008/20953.html 

During my vehicular noise enforcement initiative in Houston, Texas, I was not permitted to employ a sound meter device for enforcement as the legal elements for same were not present in City Ordinance 30-3 nor were the legal elements present in Vernon’s Civil Statute, Texas 547,604. Though I made a request to employ the SAE J2825 Stationary Sound Meter Test for evidentiary testimony enhancement at trial, my Department would not authorize it; fortunately, I was blessed with a caring and concerned Magistrate who understood the legal ramifications of “Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008)” and confided in my professional experience and my ability to discern obvious violations of Ordinance 30-3 and Texas 547,604 which resulted in a 99.9% conviction rate on all vehicular noise violations brought before the Court.

The LOUD Biker Cult[ure] and their supporters, like the “Motorcycle Riders Foundation” in Washington D.C., were so enraged by my vehicular noise enforcement initiative that extra security was required in my court hearings to protect me from the biker cult that sat behind me awaiting adjudication before the Court. Despite my Department’s WOKE cowardliness and fears of civil retribution by the LOUD biker cult[ure] and various biker organizations around the United States, it was possible to cite, arrest, convict, the LOUD vehicle abuser using vehicular NOISE as probable cause for the stop; this, void a sound meter device.  Vehicular NOISE is an incredibly lucrative form of PC for law enforcement that is sorely and shamefully overlooked by most patrol and enforcement officers.     

Aaron C. Aguilar v. State of Texas (2008) does provide a law enforcement officer the authority to determine what is “excessive and unusual noise” emanating from a motor vehicle apart from sound meter devices.   Any competent, relatively experienced, law enforcement officer can easily discern or differentiate noise emissions from a legal, quiet, factory installed muffler from NOISE emitted by an illegally LOUD aftermarket exhaust or an exhaust system that has been interrupted by an illegal “FlowMaster,””Borla” or “Magnaflow” type device or a slip-on aftermarket canister on motorcycle exhausts.  Also, motorcycle muffler labeling requirements as per CFR 40 Part 205 is prima facie evidence of a motorcycle muffler’s legality or illegality. KNOW THE LAW!

Rick Holtsclaw, Houston PD/Retired

See: Motorcycle Noise Enforcement 101: https://rickeyholtsclaw.com/2016/09/12/motorcycle-noise-enforcement-101/

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Loud Pipes Save Lives (The Lie)

The impotent mantra, obfuscation, often cited by the narcissist who abuses their fellow citizens with illegal motorcycle noise is “I ride LOUD because Loud Pipes Save Lives.” Personally, having owned some 30-motorcycles since age 12 and having ridden professionally for years, Loud Pipes Save Lives is a lie, it’s obfuscation for illegal, abusive, behavior as illegally loud exhausts make the rider less safe through exponentially increased rider fatigue; through inadvertently invoking a “fight or flight response” from adjacent operators of motor vehicles who make unpredictable avoidance maneuvers when startled by the illegal, intrusive, noise while passing and white-lining under acceleration; also, the illegally loud exhausts stymie the warning sirens of approaching emergency motor vehicles creating a hazardous scenario for the motorcyclist as well as every motor vehicle operator, bicyclist, pedestrian, in their vicinity; this, as they approach a busy intersection.

For all intents and purposes, in order for LOUD exhausts on motorcycles to be effective for safety concerns, the exhaust would have to be pointed forward where 75%+ of motorcycle hazards exist; specifically, vehicles turning left into the path of the approaching motorcycle; therefore, bright colored clothing, operating with headlight on, wearing a DOT approved motorcycle helmet, are actual safety measures, not illegal NOISE.

STOP SAYING LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/stop-saying-loud-pipes-save-lives

Loud Pipes Save Lives is a “safety myth” according to a new study – https://www.motorbiscuit.com/new-study-confirms-loud-pipes-save-lives-is-safety-myth/

Citing a LOUD EXHAUST: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/LftJN3IXREs?feature=share

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Loud Biker Thuggery and the US EPA – a historical perspective…

Illegally LOUD biker thuggery has been around for many decades and in response, Congress passed the Noise Control Act in 1972. In 1983, the US EPA, due to public health and daily quality of life concerns, restricted motorcycle noise emissions to a “total” motorcycle noise output of 83dB(A) and in response to continued testing, the US EPA then opted to reduce motorcycle noise output to 78dB(A). Hearsay suggests that Suzuki Motors complained that the 78dB(A) restriction would be cost prohibitive; therefore, the EPA compromised and settled on a total motorcycle noise output of 80dB(A) in model year 1986 and every street-use motorcycle muffler going forward was and is mandated to conform to the strict testing requirements of the SAE J331a full-throttle motorcycle testing procedure where every make and model of street-use motorcycle manufactured in the United States was/is to be tested at full-brake horsepower at 42-feet on each side of the motorcycle; said motorcycle under noise output evaluation cannot exceed 80dB(A), a “total motorcycle noise output” of 80dB(A) as per CFR 40 Part 205 in order to be retailed and operated in the United States.

Once that motorcycle make and model passed the US EPA testing mandates, the factory muffler affixed to same was to be permanently and heavily embossed with a specific US EPA muffler label that was to be in plain view for inspection by authorities and attached to the frame of the motorcycle (usually the downtube on cruisers) is another US EPA label that matches that EPA-approved muffler to the motorcycle and clearly articulates that any modification to the muffler which would increase noise output is prohibited; also, that frame label designates at what RPM (max brake horsepower) the motorcycle was tested and met the 80dB(A) restriction.

Unfortunately, enforcement of the Federal Law concerning motorcycle noise was delegated to the States during the Reagan Administration and the States and local municipalities, their Governors and Mayors and Law Enforcement Community, have been abysmal failures and illegal motorcycle noise, illegal manufacturing of “not for road use” aftermarket exhausts for retail, the operation of illegally loud motorcycles on our public roadways, has grown exponentially and 80%+ of every narcissistic thug operating a large displacement motorcycle in the United States rides with an illegal aftermarket exhaust that emits in multiples (logarithmic) the total, legal, 80dB(A) as these hedonistic thugs abuse our children, the elderly, our handicapped, veterans suffering PTSD, our families, with illegally LOUD, dangerously intrusive, motorcycle noise; this, as our police are too compromised and too cowardly to stand in the gap for the abused citizenry and cite these NOISE thugs, incarcerate them if necessary subsequent repeated offenses, and impound the illegally LOUD piece of vibrating junk until it is returned to OEM-factory noise levels. This vehicular noise abuse is shamefully permitted by those sworn to protect us from same.

The United States Congress…

In addition, our Federal Government “should” care about unlawful motor vehicle noise seeing that they are the entity which warned, over a generation ago, of the negative physiological/psychological effects of unregulated environmental noise, specifically transportation noise, in a “Congressional Statement” associated with the Noise Control Act of 1972. It was Congress who advised the American citizen that unregulated environmental noise would require a “national uniformity of treatment.” It was Congress who delegated noise enforcement responsibility to the States and Local Government in the Noise Control Act of 1972 yet our Federal Government has provided zero enforcement oversight while law enforcement nonfeasance/non-enforcement has been pervasive for some four-decades. How much more applicable are those Congressional concerns today subsequent to the exponential growth of unregulated motor vehicle noise since the enactment of the 1972 Noise Control Act? Where is the care and concern from our Congressional Representatives relevant to pervasive, illegal, motor vehicle noise currently destroying the quality of life of many millions of American citizens on a daily basis? United States Congress, where are you?

42 U.S. Code § 4901 – Congressional findings and statement of policy – Noise Control Act – 1972

To the Vehicular NOISE Thugs who cite “We the people” as a defense to their abuse of the American citizen…

“We the people” defends the rule of law, the Bill of Rights, the enactment of laws that are in the best interest of the whole, not a narcissistic hoard of NOISE thugs who illegally modify their motor vehicle to emit dangerous noise levels and use same to destroy daily quality of life and recklessly endanger the health and welfare of the majority. It’s obvious that “civics” is no longer emphasized in American education and it’s obvious that Jesus and loving one’s neighbor is absent in the heart of those who ride and drive illegally LOUD.

CFR 40 Part 205 and State muffler laws that mirror same via the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution mandate that your vehicle operated on America’s public roadways emit no greater than 80dB(A) total noise energy emissions; this, for the protection of the “We the people” and you have no right, legal or moral, to abuse “We the people” with your unrestrained, selfish, narcissism! “We the people” have had enough of your bully and irresponsible behavior!

Continue reading The TRUTH About Loud Motorcycles, Automobiles, Trucks, the Police Won’t or Can’t Tell You →