Brazoria County, TX Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Brazoria County Commissioners Court adopted the Rules Regulating Conduct in Public Parks by Court Order No. 10 on September 27, 1982, and Section 5, headed 'Traffic,' governs every vehicle operated in a county park in unincorporated Brazoria County. Item (6)(g), filed under the Parking subsection, is titled 'Muffler Required' and bars any person from failing to use a muffler adequate to deaden the sound of the engine in a motor vehicle. The requirement stands independently of the section's other traffic items: obeying posted speed signs, a 20 mile-per-hour park speed cap unless the Director posts a higher limit, and a ban on driving off the improved park roads or designated parking areas.

Because Section 5 opens with 'No person in a park shall,' the muffler duty is mandatory rather than advisory, and it applies to any motor vehicle brought into a park, not only to vehicles on public roads outside the park. Park attendants and the traffic officers referenced in Section 5(2) are authorized to direct and enforce compliance with the traffic rules, including the muffler requirement, throughout the park and on roads immediately adjacent to it. The rule predates modern county sound-level ordinances and sets no decibel figure; it is judged on whether the muffler is 'adequate to deaden the sound,' leaving the adequacy call to the officer or Director on scene.