In what appears to be a fresh crackdown on loud exhausts, the Beverly Hills Police Department revealed on social media that it received special training to measure exhaust noise from vehicles, and it was using this to penalize owners whose vehicles exceed permissible noise limits.
According to a BHPD Facebook post, the police department partnered with PipeDown Solutions for “loud exhaust enforcement training,” where officers were taught the correct way to measure sound levels using sound meters and possibly other equipment that would help provide evidence of sound levels in court.
The training is a first for police officers in Southern California. The officers received classroom training first, followed by a practical session. Then, they were allowed to apply their training in a real-world scenario. The post read:
“Our motor officers put the training into action out in the field, stopping and citing vehicles with unlawful exhaust noise, including several high-end and exotic cars commonly seen throughout the City.”
Images have been uploaded to the post, and one of them shows a yellow Porsche Carrera GT recording 106.4 decibels. The driver of the rare supercar likely got a ticket for that. Another image shows an Audi R8 with 108.2 decibels, which is well above the prescribed limit.
Image Courtesy: Beverly Hills Police Department on Facebook
A Corvette C8 was also stopped with the sound level meter placed near its quad exhausts. Motorcyclists were not spared either, as an image shows an officer checking the sound levels on a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. With the ongoing testing, curious passers-by asked the officers about the equipment and what was going on.
The Facebook post reveals that people were happy to know about the crackdown on loud exhausts. The police department wrote:
“And yes, people definitely noticed. As the testing equipment was being set up, we had several community members stop and ask what was going on. Once they heard it was loud exhaust enforcement, the reactions were pretty consistent: “Finally” and “About time.” Safe to say this was one operation a lot of people were happy to see.”
What Does California Law Say?
According to CarBuzz, California law limits the sound levels on cars to 95 dB(A) when measured in a specific manner in terms of the angle and distance from the exhaust and even requires cars to be run at “three-quarters of maximum RPM.”
Stock exhausts are legal by default since the car would have been tested and approved by a transportation authority before it went on sale.