Bethlehem, PA Noise from Specific Sources: Car Alarm Limits (2026)

Section 509.03(a) of the Codified Ordinances lists motor-vehicle-alarm false alarms among the conduct that makes unnecessary vehicle noise a declared public nuisance in the City, alongside horns, engine whistles, bells and sirens. The specific rule, 509.03(a)(4), forbids causing or allowing more than one false alarm within a 24-hour period from a motor vehicle alarm; a single false trip is not itself a violation, but a second one inside that same 24-hour window is. The section was adopted by Ordinance 4399 on November 8, 2006, and sits within the same nuisance framework covering stereo volume and muffler noise, so the same six exceptions apply, including police, fire and ambulance vehicles and emergency alert sounds. The Police Department has the general duty to enforce the Traffic Code and its noise provisions under Section 509.01, and the ordinance is not intended to override the more stringent noise provisions of Titles 18 and 75 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes where those apply.