Alameda, CA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

5(b)(9) of the Alameda Municipal Code makes it unlawful to operate, play or permit the playing of a vehicle or portable radio, tape or disc device in a public place if it can be heard 50 feet away, regardless of any decibel measurement: audibility at that distance is itself the violation. The subsection, adopted under Ord. No. and amended by Ord. No. , lists this alongside other specific noise-disturbance violations such as loud televisions and musical instruments. A separate rule, Sec. 6(a), makes it unlawful to operate any recreational motorized vehicle, including motorcycles, go-carts, dune buggies and racing vehicles, off a public highway in a manner that creates a noise disturbance or exceeds the Sec.

4 exterior noise tables (up to 75 dB(A) daytime and 70 dB(A) nighttime at a residential receiver, 85 dB(A) daytime and 80 dB(A) nighttime at a commercial one). Muffler condition matters too: Sec. 7(h) strips away every exception the code otherwise grants for construction, maintenance, refuse collection and similar work whenever the equipment used, 'including mufflers,' is not kept in the condition for which it was designed and unnecessarily raises noise above a disturbance level. A vehicle or piece of equipment with a defective or removed muffler loses whatever time-of-day exemption it would otherwise have and is judged against the full noise-disturbance standard.

Complaints against any of these sources go to the Planning Department or Public Works Department under Sec. 8, which can order corrective measures or a shutdown within six months.