Noisy Mufflers, Hated By NYers, Muzzled By New Law

New York City NY

29 October, 2021

11:34 AM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Sleep-deprived New Yorkers, rejoice — noisy mufflers and exhausts are about to be muzzled. Gov. Kathy Hochul visited Brooklyn to sign a bill into law that cracks down on illegal modified exhausts. The SLEEP Act raises the maximum fine for installing illegal mufflers to $1,000 and threatens to yank repair shops' certificates if they willfully violate the law three times within 18 months. "Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe and comfortable in their community, and that includes cracking down on excessively noisy vehicles on our streets," Hochul said in a statement. "This legislation deters drivers from installing illegal vehicle equipment that results in dangerous noise levels that can contribute to hearing loss and increased emissions." Noise pollution is an inherent part of life in New York City. But the coronavirus pandemic keeping scores of city dwellers at home also created a boom of quality of life noise complaints. They complained about loud parties and fireworks. By November 2020, complaints to 311 over noise rose 53 percent. Illegal dirt bikes and ATVs also frustrated many weary New Yorkers as large groups of those vehicles thundered down neighborhood streets. And drag racing complaints surged to 10 times the level seen in 2019. "...You're just talking, hanging out with your kid and these insanely loud vehicles start speeding around, revving their engines and you can't hear anything else," Jamie Harkin, an Inwood resident, told Patch. "Based on the noise you would genuinely think I lived very close to a race track, not in the middle of a small, residential area," Harkin added. State Sen. Andrew Gounardes, who represents Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst and other south Brooklyn neighborhoods, called the law a way to crack down on "obnoxious behavior that feeds a culture of aggressive & reckless driving." "Today, residents across the state can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that they won't be kept up at night by excessively loud mufflers and exhaust systems," he said in a statement. "This is a quality of life and public safety issue that plagues our community for no logical reason other than to simply make noise. Now that the SLEEP Act has been signed into law, we can remove these loud and polluting vehicles from our streets once and for all." #BREAKING: The SLEEP Act is now law! Thank you @GovKathyHochul for your support, @BillMagnarelli for his work on this bill, & @JustinBrannan for building strong community support to crack down on this obnoxious behavior that feeds a culture of aggressive & reckless driving. https://t.co/uOYqEAbZiy pic.twitter.com/8zSqPzgzDB— Andrew Gounardes (@agounardes) October 29, 2021