Yes, there’s a law against deafeningly loud motorcycles
QMaybe it is because I am working from home more lately, but these loud motorcycles are a complete nuisance. I know we have laws for cars, but does anyone care to enforce motorcycle noise limits? This impedes on people’s concentration and sanity.
— Terry Rudy,
Santa Cruz
AHere’s the problem. Experts claim nearly two of every five motorcyclists have replaced their mufflers with ones that are a lot noisier.
QWhy is it that motorcycles are allowed to be deafening? I live less than a mile from Highway 17, and it’s like living on the set of a Mad Max movie when the Harleys are going by.
— Tom Mason
ASome motorcyclists believe that the louder the pipes, the better. Others say that loud pipes are headache-producing noise and a nuisance.
QNowadays, it’s easy to modify cars and motorcycles to make them faster and noisier. I’ve been next to new Mustangs that are unbearably noisy. I can hear motorcycles after they pass by for another mile it seems.
Are there any laws that limit the noise a car or motorcycle can make?
— Tony Banks, Redwood City
AYes, but first let’s spin up to the East Bay with our earplugs firmly in place.
QWe live a couple of hundred yards from a freeway in Oakland. The background hum of traffic is just part of everyday life. But since shelterin-place, we have noticed an increasing number of motorcycles with deafeningly loud exhausts. Some are so loud that conversations have to stop until the noise recedes. —A.Hobbs,
Oakland
AA penalty for a noise violation was changed a year ago from a fix-it ticket to a potential $1,000 fine.
QSince the virus hit, I have been taking care of my 2-yearold grandson. He is fascinated with planes, trucks, and buses. So almost every day we visit airports, pedestrian overpasses and busy intersections all over the valley.
When we saw VTA buses, I could not help but notice how there was nobody on them.
Of the 108 buses we saw, I counted 14 people. I heard that these 14 got to ride for free. The VTA is wasting boatloads of my taxes.
I think it is time to defund the VTA.
— Mark Busch,
San Jose
ARidership is down nearly 80% since COVID-19, a typical decline during this period for other transit agencies, too, from BART to AC Transit to SF Muni and SamTrans. This is also the case across the nation.
VTA fares were suspended but will be collected again starting on Aug. 1, when buses will have partitions between the operator and passengers boarding at the front of the bus.