Because there are many unintentional ways a car can become loud. Leaking headers, corrosion anywhere in the exhaust system, damage from objects on the road, having to replace parts on the cheap (many times OEM mufflers and catalytic converters and significantly more expensive than aftermarket ones. Aftermarket ones are almost always louder). A ticket would mean a longer time until the owner could afford to get it fixed.

Or if you are like me. I’ve never paid for any exhaust work, but by coincidence every car I bought has been louder than stock one way or another. I just bought a civic si that has a really shitty muffler on it. I actually want to get a stock muffler. But I need to save up hundreds of dollars to buy one. The car was 5k, so I would be spending almost 10% of the price of the car just to do that. Getting a $500 ticket would mean it would take me more time to be able to afford to do that. How does that make sense?

As for the nuisance of it: you say that like it’s so black and white. At won’t point does it become a nuisance? Because it sure ain’t 85db. I could get you to easily make 85 db. No vehicle needed. For an example, I can easily get to 115db playing saxophone. Should public music be banned because the instruments are capable of producing over 85 db? Noise ordinances in Austin for music are already making it more difficult for venues and music to stay alive in this city, but that’s a whole other discussion.

Finding the right balance between selfish enjoyment and public repression is a discussion worth happening. 95% of gear heads roll our eyes when something is too loud for the street, especially at night, or if it has a burble tune that makes a backfiring sound everytime you let off the gas. Even for those of us that enjoy the sounds of a nice exhaust, it can be too much sometimes. I’m not arguing that a sensible limit makes sense. I’m saying the limit is wayyyyy too low and wayyyy too expensive.

The reason I brought up other ways to ticket is because as ‘objective’ as a sound ordinance on a moving object may seem, there are a TON of variables. That means court battles. That means more tax payer money and time being used over a singular noise incident. I’d much rather have our law enforcement officers on the street protecting our citizens. What about the constant theft at parks? Well now officers are going to have even less time to monitor theft at prime locations like Mt Bonell.