How Other Cities Are Addressing Noise & Speeding

http://www.gillettenewsrecord.com:80/articles/2007/11/18/news/news02.txt

Gillette, Wyoming

Local Residents Start Petition To Limit Noise On The Streets

By CHRISTA MELAND, News-Record Writer

One of Jeanie Stabnow’s greatest pleasures used to be sitting in her Fourth Street yard and enjoying the serenity around her.

But in recent years, that sanctuary has become increasingly less peaceful: Vehicles without mufflers whiz by at all hours of the day and night. Car stereos are turned up so loud that they cause her walls to vibrate.

“I just want the noise toned down in the town,” said Stabnow, 52. “I’m a homeowner and taxpayer ... I shouldn’t have to put up with it.”

She wants the city to create a noise ordinance so that she and her neighbors no longer have to — and she’s starting her plea by circulating a petition to drum up support.

“I know people are sick of all the noise in this town,” said Stabnow, who owns and operates L&J Motor Repair with her husband.

Barefoot Gardens owner Larry Stevens shares Stabnow’s frustration. In fact, City Councilman Everett Boss put the two in touch after both voiced complaints about the noise in Gillette.

“At work, we can’t even be out in the yard sometimes and talk to a customer because motorcycles are going by,” Stevens said.

It’s no better when he’s at his home in Westover Hills. Several loud motorcycles drive through his neighborhood in the middle of the night — motorcycles whose mufflers have been modified to create additional noise.

“They disturb the whole neighborhood,” he said. “You can hear them for blocks and blocks and blocks.”

Stevens will join Stabnow in circulating petitions to present to the City Council. Their hope is to get an ordinance that requires stock mufflers — those that aren’t overly loud — to be mandatory in all vehicles and that prohibits music from being played over a certain decibel level.

Boss doesn’t know that decibel meters are the best option because he thinks it would be difficult to use them for enforcement. But he thinks the petitioners have valuable opinions and is confident that the council could create a reasonable ordinance to address them.

“There’s a lot of noise pollution out there,” he said. “We all don’t drive around with boom boxes in our trunks and speakers blaring all over the place ... It takes out people’s hearing.”

He has asked Police Chief Rich Adriaens to research noise ordinances in other communities so that the council has a basis for comparison during the discussion.

He’s also working to arrange a time when Stabnow and Stevens can present their petition and said there’s definitely power in numbers when it comes to making requests to the council.

The petitioners initially had about 40 signatures. But they’re confident they can get many more within the next few weeks.

Stabnow wants to stop the problem before it gets even worse. She also wants to be able to enjoy her yard again someday.

“Just a few years ago, it was just a quiet older neighborhood,” she said. “Now it’s a nightmare.”

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TheDay.com - Police Seek To Muffle Noisy Vehicles

Thursday, Jun 7, 2007

New London, CT — Police are cracking down on the clamor of car stereos and modified mufflers this month, and noisy motorists may face fines.

In response to a request by the City Council and its Public Safety Committee, Capt. Michael Lacey has instituted a plan to enforce state statutes governing motor vehicle noise. Every day through the end of the month, an officer from every shift will “strictly enforce” the noise statutes when not engaged in other duties. The department's traffic officer will also spend a day each week on noise enforcement.

City Councilor Rob Pero, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, pressed the police department at committee hearings earlier this year for noise enforcement after receiving numerous complaints from fed-up residents.

“It's something we have to do to maintain quality of life,” Pero said. The problem grows in the summer, he said. “I just hope people are cognizant of other people's quality of life.”

Three state statutes allow police to issue infractions for excessive or unreasonable motor vehicle noise. Vehicles must be operated, equipped, constructed and adjusted to prevent unnecessary noise. They must also be equipped with “mufflers designed to prevent excessive, unusual or unnecessary exhaust noise” and may not be outfitted with devices designed to amplify vehicle noise, nor with any exhaust system or tailpipe extensions or devices that cause excessive or unusual noise. Each violation carries a fine of $150. Motorists who make unreasonable noise — for example, using an especially loud stereo — may be charged with creating a public disturbance under a statute that also applies to fighting or offensive conduct.

Because vehicles move, police have difficulty responding to complaints of excessive noise from specific cars or motorcycles. “By doing some proactive enforcement perhaps we can take care of some of these issues before we get the calls,” Lacey said.

The city's own noise ordinance excludes “mobile sources of noise” and won't be part of the new plan targeting loud vehicles. Officers usually enforce the local ordinance with mediation rather than citations, Lacey said. After July 1, the police department will evaluate the effectiveness of the enforcement plan and may choose to extend it, Lacey said.

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Town puts damper on loud stereos

Monday, July 23, 2007

By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

HUBBARD — Robert Nicholson, 21, of Hillview Drive likes to turn up the music in his 1993 Oldsmobile, but after city officials took away the car's sound system for more than a week, he will likely think twice before turning up the sound again.

Mayor Arthur U. Magee said Nicholson had been warned about the loud music coming from his car before being ordered into mayor's court earlier this month.

Magee ordered Nicholson to hand the equipment over to police. Shortly after the mayor's court proceedings July 9, Nicholson unhooked and handed over amplifiers, woofers and speakers valued at $700.

Officials informed Nicholson this week that he could pick up his stereo equipment from the police station last Friday. Nicholson said he discussed the matter with Magee and reached an understanding.

"[Magee] just wants me to keep [the volume] down in the city limits." Magee said the city does not see a lot of people driving with loud stereos, and most often those people who are reported have fled the area or turned down the sound by time officers arrived. Still, he said, the message has to be clear that such activity will not be tolerated in the city.

Magee said temporarily confiscating Nicholson's equipment will send the message to Nicholson and all other lovers of loud sounds. More permanent measures may be taken in the future.

"I wanted to send a message that this will not be tolerated," Magee said. "The next time he or anybody else has their stuff taken, it's gone for good."

'Quality-of-life issue'

Sgt. Jim Taafe said officers had given Nicholson unofficial warnings to turn the music down in the past.

Several officers saw Nicholson playing the loud music around town, he said.

"In any small town, the quality-of-life issue is a big issue, and people thumping stereos and stuff affects the quality of life. That is something we don't want," he said.

City ordinances say those cited into mayor's court for playing music too loud can be fined $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second offense and $300 plus three days in jail for a third offense. The equipment, however, can be confiscated upon any conviction.

"Upon conviction for a violation of this section, the sound device used during the commission of the offense shall be subject to seizure and payment of a judgment," the ordinance reads.

Nicholson will be getting his equipment back, but the items could have been sold at public auction.

jgoodwin@vindy.com

http://community.vindy.com/content_printstory.php?link...y.com%2Fcontent%2Flocal_regional%2F320925442690523.php (2 of 2)8/13/2007 11:03:33 PM

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Chicago Officers go Incognito to Catch Speeders

Updated: August 7th, 2007 09:40 AM EDT

By CAROLYN RUSIN, Special to the Tribune

Chicago Tribune

The guy on a riding mower in the median of busy Arlington Heights Road looked like a Buffalo Grove Public Works Department employee, except he wasn't cutting the grass. Instead, Police Traffic Sgt. Scott Kristiansen was using a radar gun to mow down unsuspecting drivers.

"We have two schools on this road, a grade school and middle school. Both of the schools have summer activities with kids," said Kristiansen, who wore an orange T-shirt underneath a safety vest, blue jeans and gym shoes as he aimed his gun at the unwary.

In a new twist on the cat-and-mouse game between cops and speeders, some suburban Chicago police departments are going undercover, donning disguises as part of their traffic-enforcement safety efforts. Officers have dressed up as curbside solicitors, construction workers and even set up a lawn chair next to a cooler, where they reach for a radar gun instead of a cold one.

The results can be impressive, police said. During the recent mowing subterfuge in Buffalo Grove, 30 citations and at least one warning were issued in 90 minutes.Last year, the number of crashes dropped to a 16-year low in the northwest suburb, according to Kristiansen, who said the stealth operation has been a summer component of the village's traffic safety program for the last four years.

Weather permitting, police will be out again Thursday and Friday impersonating workers in a construction zone. "It's about saving lives and reducing crashes," Kristiansen said as he wielded his radar gun on the 35 m.p.h. street.

"We want people wondering if the person is a police officer. Then they will tell their friend, who will tell another friend, and that accomplishes our goal."

Not all police departments have taken up disguises. In Naperville, for example, only traditional methods are used for traffic enforcement, officials said. The same goes for the Chicago Police Department. "I've never heard of such a thing," said Sgt. Paulette Norwood of the traffic enforcement section. "It's interesting."

In the lawn mower sting in Buffalo Grove, Kristiansen radioed speeds and vehicle descriptions to a uniformed officer standing next to a stoplight and to a police motorcycle about a block away. The officer stopped the motorists and directed them onto nearby Nicholas Drive, where five marked squads with flashing lights waited, along with six officers.

"For as many officers you see, there are as many speeders," said Cpl. Brian Spolar. "We actually ran out of officers because of all the tickets we have been giving." People were routinely exceeding the speed limit by 15 to 20 m.p.h., said Spolar, adding that fines start at $75.

Motorists who were pulled over also were checked for the use of seat belts and child restraints. Buffalo Grove resident Stacey McIntyre, 30, said she never gave the man on a mower a second thought. She was ticketed for going 11 m.p.h. over the limit.

"I don't think that's fair," she said. "It's not right. Cops shouldn't be in disguises." Suzanne Singson, 41, of Buffalo Grove said she was traveling in a pack of about six vehicles when the officer at the light directed everyone to stop. Singson, who said she was late for a doctor's appointment, was given a warning for traveling 46 m.p.h. She said was unaware she had been clocked by an officer in disguise. "I was trying to figure out, how did they catch me?" she said.

"Now I'm thinking of the Big Brother thing and everyone's watching." Police also are on the lookout for drivers who run red lights and stop signs. For that task, officers have assumed the can-in-hand look of a curbside solicitor, Kristiansen said. The intersection of Illinois Highway 83 and Arlington Heights Road is a focal point because it is considered one of the worst for accidents, he said. If motorists attempt to donate money, officers identify themselves and their objective.

"We want people to obey the law whether police are there or not," Kristiansen said. "We are looking for voluntary compliance to reduce our crash rates in town."

Aurora police use similar tactics, though not to nab speeders. "We'll put officers in plainclothes to sit on someone's porch or on a street corner" to enforce a city ordinance that targets loud music coming from cars, said Deputy Police Chief Greg Anderson.

Illinois State Police equipped with laser radar guns dress as workers once or twice a month to ticket speeders in construction zones on tollways, said Master Sgt. Luis Gutierrez.

The traffic program, called Operation Hard Hat, was started in 2005 to reduce fatalities in construction zones, Gutierrez said.

There were 44 such fatalities, five of them construction workers, in the state in 2003, compared with 28 fatalities, including one worker, last year, he said.

In Schaumburg, an off-duty officer in shorts, T-shirt and a baseball cap occasionally sits in a lawn chair next to a cooler along Golf and Higgins Roads. A radar gun is within easy reach.

"It seems, so far, like it's working pretty well," said Cmdr. Paul Rizzo. "We want people to slow down because we don't like handling the crashes."

But in nearby Hoffman Estates, police favor the use of unmarked cars and steer clear of using disguises, said Traffic Sgt. Carl Baumert.

"We are not utility workers. We don't use those types of tactics," Baumert said. "There's enough speeding violations and other traffic violations that keep us busy." 's Hot Articles

Chicago Officers go Incognito to Catch Speeders: Top News Stories at Officer.com

http://www.officer.com/online/article.jsp?siteSection=1&id=37276 (1 of 4)8/8/2007 3:11:51 AM

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