Amherst, NY Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Amherst treats loud vehicle stereos as a public-safety hazard rather than only a nuisance. Section 138-5C makes it unlawful to run a sound-reproduction device in a vehicle when doing so threatens the safety of pedestrians or other drivers, or when street conditions such as overcrowding or repair work mean the noise would deprive the public of safe and peaceful use of a street, park or public place; the subsection then supplies a concrete trigger, the disturbance is a violation once it can be heard from a distance of greater than 50 feet.

That 50-foot test is tighter than the general 100-foot audibility standard §§ 138-5A and 138-5B apply to stationary sound equipment, reflecting the added danger of a moving vehicle distracting drivers or pedestrians. Section 138-5D restates the safety-threat standard on its own, without the 50-foot distance test, covering any vehicle sound-reproduction device that endangers pedestrians or operators regardless of how far the sound carries. Neither subsection sets a decibel number; both are enforced on the officer's judgment of the safety threat or, under § 138-5C, the 50-foot audibility line.

A separate subsection, § 138-5J, reaches vehicle noise of a different kind, operating, repairing, rebuilding, modifying or testing a motor vehicle, motorcycle, motorboat, go-cart or minibike on residential property so as to disturb a reasonable person's quiet and comfort, but the noise chapter contains no separate muffler or exhaust-modification decibel standard.