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AirTalk

Motorcycle noise

By AirTalk Staff
Published Sep 15, 2010
Bikers head toward Sturgis, South Dakota on August 7, 2003 for day four of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The weeklong rally attracts an estimated 500,000 people to this town of 6,400 in the southwestern corner of the state.
Bikers head toward Sturgis, South Dakota on August 7, 2003 for day four of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. The weeklong rally attracts an estimated 500,000 people to this town of 6,400 in the southwestern corner of the state.
(
Scott Olson/Getty Images
)
Listen 18:17
Motorcycle noise
Perhaps nothing could be more symbolic of the California lifestyle than cruising up Pacific Coast Highway on a motorcycle. Right. Tell that to the residents of sleepy Calabasas, who are sick-and-tired of listening to groups of motorcycles roaring past, waking babies and setting off car alarms and chain-reaction dog barking. Police say officers would need to carry decibel meters to enforce existing statutes that limit noise. So State Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) has sponsored a bill that will subject bikers to fines if they don’t have EPA stickers showing their motorcycles comply with noise laws. Is this more nanny interventionism upending a popular lifestyle? Or a long overdue tool to help keep our communities quiet?

Perhaps nothing could be more symbolic of the California lifestyle than cruising up Pacific Coast Highway on a motorcycle. Right. Tell that to the residents of sleepy Calabasas, who are sick-and-tired of listening to groups of motorcycles roaring past, waking babies and setting off car alarms and chain-reaction dog barking. Police say officers would need to carry decibel meters to enforce existing statutes that limit noise. So State Senator Fran Pavley (D-Agoura Hills) has sponsored a bill that will subject bikers to fines if they don’t have EPA stickers showing their motorcycles comply with noise laws. Is this more nanny interventionism upending a popular lifestyle? Or a long overdue tool to help keep our communities quiet?

Guests:

Fran Pavley, California State Senator representing Senate District 23 - including portions of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties in the California Legislature; sponsor of Motorcycle Noise Bill

Mike Levison, President, Southern California Harley Riders Association