Excerpt From The Daily Astorian - August 24, 2007

 

In August last year, Astoria police conducted a survey on 16th Street that showed the speeding problem is "(not) nearly as pervasive" as they thought, according to a letter to the Jacksons from Assistant Astoria Police Chief Alan Oja, dated Aug. 4, 2006. Of 373 vehicles surveyed, only one was speeding fast enough to merit a citation …

 

Under APDs policy and practice a citation is not issued ("merited") until a vehicle exceeds 35 MPH in a 25 MPH zone.

 

…. Oja wrote, and there was no evidence that modified or poorly working exhaust systems were causing excessive noise.

 

Oja's statement is meaningless. A police cadet performed the survey without a decibel meter*.

 

Pointing out that the Jacksons' house is next to one of the city's busiest north-south collector streets, Oja noted that vehicles must accelerate to make it up the steep grade at Irving, which can produce loud, but legal, engine noise, especially with diesel engines and motorcycles.

 

How would the police cadet or Oja know if the sounds were "legal" if they didn't measure the noise levels with a decibel meter?

 

 

* A decibel meter is required to enforce decibel based noise laws such as Oregon Revised Statute 815.250 [Operation Without Proper Exhaust System].

 

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