Excessive Noise Enforcement In Rancho Santa Margarita: OCSD

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA, CA — Noise ordinances have gone into effect in Rancho Santa Margarita, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. Deputies announced over Instagram that they are focusing on "vehicles without adequate mufflers."

Riders and drivers in the area of RSM can expect to get special attention if excessive noise is noticed.

"Many of you have requested this, and we are actively enforcing excessive noise from car and motorcycle exhaust," an OCSD spokesperson said. According to OCSD, local deputies are car people and motorcycle riders, too.

"We get it," they said. "However there is a difference between safe and annoying. Your community has told us, and we hear you."

Riders in the area took offense to the special attention, stating that "loud pipes save lives," when it comes to driving through neighborhoods.

Some Instagram responses felt that the noise violations reported tend to be from street racing rather than loud cycles through the area. "We all know these people refer to racing, not a soccer mom with a suburban and exhaust system," Instagram user DKAnderson4 said.

The law, regarding the excessive noise, centers from CVC 27150(a):

Every motor vehicle subject to registration shall at all times be equipped with an adequate muffler in constant operation and properly maintained to prevent any EXCESSIVE or UNUSUAL noise, and no muffler or exhaust system shall be equipped with a CUTOUT, BYPASS, or similar device.

Many motorcycle riders instill loud exhaust to alert drivers as to their presence. Instagram user @Aimeeelove feels that not all riders should be looked at with disdain.

"The people I know who ride are all the kindest most generous people I've ever met, I never imagined to have such a big biker family," she wrote. "We just want to do what we love and be seen and heard. Sorry if we're a little loud when we pass by your car, but we'll come into the neighborhood late as quiet as we can."

RSM OCSD Photo