Dallas, TX Noise from Specific Sources: Delivery Truck Noise (2026)

1 of the Dallas City Code targets engine-idling noise from heavy trucks, including delivery vehicles, parked near housing. It defines a 'commercial motor vehicle' as any vehicle with a gross vehicle weight rating over 14,000 pounds and 'idle' as running the engine while not in gear. Subsection (b) makes it an offense for a person to idle such a vehicle for more than five consecutive minutes at a location on or within 300 feet of any residential use as defined in the Dallas Development Code, covering a delivery truck parked at a curb or loading dock near apartments or houses while the driver keeps the engine running.

Subsection (c) extends liability to the property owner or controller: a business that permits a delivery truck to idle that long on its premises within 300 feet of housing commits its own separate offense, even if the business itself is not driving the truck. Ten defenses in Subsection (d) cover common delivery scenarios, including idling in obedience to a traffic control device or a peace officer, idling while stopped in traffic, idling to defrost a windshield, a concrete mixer truck actively pouring concrete, and a utility truck idling only to power equipment for utility work; passenger transportation vehicles not idling on a public street, highway, or alley, and school buses, are also exempted.

Subsection (e)(1) sets the penalty at a fine not to exceed $500, with each instance a separate offense, and Subsection (e)(3) makes clear that prosecution under this section does not preclude the city from using other enforcement remedies available to it. 1 of the Dallas City Code.