LaPorte County, IN Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

06 defines a compression release engine brake or Jake Brake as a hydraulically operated device that converts a power producing diesel or gas engine into a power absorbing retarding mechanism. Under that section, a driver operating a motor vehicle equipped with such a brake on Severs Road may not use it in place of the vehicle's service brake system, except when the service brakes have failed or in a genuine emergency. The ordinance was adopted as Ord. 2003-04 on April 17, 2003, and applies specifically to Severs Road rather than to county roads generally, so the county has not enacted a blanket engine-brake or exhaust-noise ban on every road it maintains.

The County Highway Department and the County Sheriff's Office are the agencies positioned to observe and cite violations, since the offense turns on a driver's choice to engine-brake instead of using the service brakes absent an emergency. Because the restriction sits in Chapter 71, Traffic Rules, alongside the county's weight-limit and speed-limit provisions, it is enforced as a traffic ordinance violation rather than through a general nuisance-noise process, and the fine is fixed by the chapter's own penalty section rather than the county's general Title 7 penalty schedule.