Bowie, MD Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Bowie regulates two of the most common vehicle noise complaints separately inside § 13-3.A. The exhaust clause, § 13-3.A(5), makes it unlawful to discharge exhaust from a steam engine, stationary internal combustion engine, motorboat or motor vehicle into the open air except through a muffler or other device that effectively prevents loud or explosive noises, reaching straight-piped exhausts, removed mufflers, and similarly modified systems. Car stereo noise gets its own numeric test in § 13-3.A(14): no one operating or occupying a motor vehicle on a street, alley, parking lot, driveway or public or private place may run a sound amplification system, radio, tape player, CD player, loudspeaker or similar device so that the sound is plainly audible 50 feet or more from the vehicle, or, if the vehicle is on private property, beyond the property line.

The 50-foot test borrows the § 13-1 definition of "plainly audible," which the code says can be satisfied by the rhythmic bass component of music alone, so a booming subwoofer does not need identifiable lyrics to violate the section. The clause exempts sound emitted unavoidably during job-related operation of emergency, public safety, or government or utility vehicles. Both clauses are enforced under § 13-3.B, which requires either a code enforcement officer's direct observation or a sworn, affidavit-form complaint from at least two witnesses in separate households, each 18 or older with personal knowledge of the violation, and both are municipal infractions under § 13-6, with each hour of a continuing violation counted as a separate offense.