Restricts amplified sound coming from motor vehicles; allows for exceptions for certain police vehicles and certain vehicles used for business or political purposes.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1620
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, in relation to restricting
amplified sound coming from motor vehicles
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new
2 section 397-d to read as follows:
3 § 397-d. Restrictions on the operation of sound making devices or
4 instruments in motor vehicles. 1. It shall be prohibited for any person
5 operating or occupying a motor vehicle on a street or highway to operate
6 or amplify the sound produced by a radio, tape player, or other mechan-
7 ical sound making device or instrument from within the motor vehicle so
8 that such sound is:
9 (a) plainly audible at a distance of twenty-five feet or more from the
10 motor vehicle; or
11 (b) louder than necessary for the convenient hearing by persons inside
12 the vehicle in areas in proximity to churches, schools, hospitals and
13 public parks.
14 2. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any law enforce-
15 ment motor vehicle equipped with any communication device necessary in
16 the performance of law enforcement duties or to any emergency vehicle
17 equipped with any communication device necessary in the performance of
18 any emergency procedures.
19 3. The provisions of this section shall not apply to motor vehicles
20 used for business or political purposes, which in the normal course of
21 conducting such business use sound making devices. The provisions of
22 this subdivision shall not be deemed to prevent local authorities, with
23 respect to streets and highways under their jurisdiction and within the
24 reasonable exercise of police power, from regulating the time and manner
25 in which such business may be operated.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00965-01-5
S. 1620 2
1 4. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the noise made by
2 a horn or other warning device equipped in a motor vehicle. The depart-
3 ment shall promulgate rules defining "plainly audible" and "convenient
4 hearing" and establish standards regarding how sound should be measured
5 by law enforcement personnel who enforce the provisions of this section.
6 5. A violation of this section shall be an unclassified misdemeanor
7 punishable by a fine of forty dollars for the first offense, a fine of
8 one hundred dollars for the second and third offense, and a fine of two
9 hundred dollars and possible confiscation of the vehicle for each addi-
10 tional subsequent offense.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
