Kershaw County, SC Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Sec. 24-26 of the county's noise nuisance article singles out motor vehicles and motorboats as a distinct enforcement factor: subsection (6) directs a court or other authority, in judging whether a noise complaint is a violation, to consider whether or not such vehicles are equipped with mufflers and/or such suppression devices which keep exhaust noises down to a level equal to or below that which the manufacturers of such vehicles provided as original equipment designed for acceptable use. In practice, that means a truck, car or motorboat with a straight-piped, modified or removed muffler is evidence the operator is violating the article's general ban on loud noise which disturbs the peace and quiet of any unincorporated residential area, alongside the other factors in Sec.

24-26 such as the noise's intensity, the character of the area and the time it occurs. Sec. 24-27 puts enforcement of this article in the hands of the county sheriff's deputies or the county's code enforcement officers, either of whom can respond to a complaint about a loud vehicle or boat idling or driving through a residential subdivision. Sec. 24-28 makes any violation of the noise article a misdemeanor, so a driver or boat operator cited for excessive exhaust noise faces the same penalty scale as any other noise offender under this chapter, not a separate vehicle-specific fine schedule.