Abington, PA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 106, Noise, adopted in 1975 under authority of Section 1502 of the First Class Township Code, declares that loud, unnecessary and unusual noise harms public health, comfort and repose. Section 106-3 lists specific prohibited acts, two of which govern vehicles directly. Subsection B bars sounding any horn or other signaling device on an automobile, motorcycle, motor bicycle or other vehicle in any street or public place of the township except as a danger warning signal, meaning horn use for any other purpose, such as greeting or venting frustration, is unlawful regardless of volume.

Subsection C separately requires every motor vehicle or motorcycle operated in the township, whether licensed or unlicensed and whether on public or private premises, standing or moving, to carry an appropriate muffling device on its exhaust system so as to prevent unnecessary and unreasonably loud or harsh sound; a vehicle running without a functioning muffler, or with one modified to increase exhaust noise, violates this subsection regardless of a specific decibel reading. Enforcement of Chapter 106 falls to the Abington Health Department and the Abington Police Department under § 106-4, both empowered to measure sound using a calibrated sound-level meter meeting American Standards Association specifications when a numeric standard is at issue, though the horn and muffler rules in subsections B and C do not depend on a meter reading, only on the presence of the prohibited or missing equipment or conduct itself.