MASSACHUSETTS:Motorcycles: Loud pipes, real gripes

OFF THE WIRE

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/05/03/motorcycles_loud_pipes_real_gripes/ Motorcycles: Loud pipes, real gripes May 3, 2010 Spring has sprung, and motorcycles are back. Back at sometimes ear-splitting volume.
Last year, the Boston City Council passed an ordinance threatening a $300 fine for any rider whose exhaust system lacks a stamp saying it complies with EPA noise standards. But some motorcyclists flout the ordinance. “I can hear them from Mass. Ave. all the way to Arlington Street,’’ complains state Representative Marty Walz, who lives on Commonwealth Avenue in the Back Bay. In warm weather, she receives frequent complaints about the problem from other residents.
On Newbury Street one recent afternoon, a biker with unbaffled after-market pipes created such a din merely by revving his engine at a traffic light that conversation on the sidewalk was impossible. Once the light changed, one could track his progress for blocks from the slowly receding roar. Several other motorcycles, though not quite that loud, were just as obviously out of compliance.
There’s a simple solution here, one Walz is pushing for: better enforcement of the new ordinance. Police need to ticket motorcyclists who persist in causing noise pollution. When that happens, word will spread quickly among scofflaws. City Councilor Sal LaMattina, sponsor of the ordinance, says that when the police focused on offenders in the North End last year, it had a pronounced effect. Other areas of the city deserve the same peace.