OFF THE WIRE
BY: Sarah Delage
wcsh6.com
LIMINGTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- This spring, the state legislature passed a bill to help police enforce the laws that regulate motorcycle noise. Motorcycle riders took to the streets Saturday to make a statement about motorcycle noise and safety.
"Basically it boils down to there are a few bad apples that's basically ruining it for everybody," ride organizer Trevor Hamel; said. "Not everybody is obnoxious, not every pipe is completely insanely loud."
Representative Diane Russell, who sponsored LD 477, says if motorcycle riders are issued citations for being too loud, they can contest them by going to inspection sites that have decibel readers, and have the sound levels checked.
The law specifically states that the stickers need to be displayed on the plates, and no bike should emit more than 95 decibels of noise. For comparison, a subway train at 200 feet is roughly 95 decibels, a power saw is 107 decibels, and a gun blast is 140 decibels. Anything above 180 decibels can cause hearing loss.
They say most bikes are legal, and in many cases bikers who are being cited are having those tickets thrown out in court. The law regulating loud motorcycle's is there because of the noise levels caused by certain types of exhaust systems, usually custom, aftermarket pipes that are designed to make the bike roar. This group of riders says those loud pipes can help to keep everyone safe on the roads, and they don't want the people who use them to be unfairly targeted.
