Stafford County, VA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Sec. 16-6(a)(6) bars playing, using or operating any radio, television, tape or CD player, digital music player, musical instrument, phonograph, loudspeaker or sound amplifier that is located within or attached to a motor vehicle or truck, or that operates upon public streets or parking lots, when it is plainly audible at fifty feet or more from the vehicle or other source. Unlike the general nighttime device rule in Sec. time restriction of its own. The rule expressly does not apply to sirens, loudspeakers and emergency communications radios on public safety vehicles, nor to motor vehicle alarms or other security devices, protecting legitimate emergency and anti-theft equipment from citation.

Because the standard is plainly audible rather than a specific decibel reading, a deputy's testimony that the sound carried fifty feet is sufficient without a calibrated sound meter reading, though Sec. 16-4's property-boundary decibel limits remain available as a backup measurement tool. Sec. 16-2 sets the penalty for any unspecified chapter 16 violation, including this one, at a class 2 misdemeanor.