Lower Merion, PA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Adopted by Ordinance No. 3888 in 2009, § 145-21.1 targets the loud compression-release noise, sometimes called a Jake Brake, that heavy trucks produce when using an engine brake retarder to slow down instead of the vehicle's regular brakes. The prohibition applies specifically to the City Avenue segment on the Township's border with Philadelphia, from Green Hill Lane to Haverford Road, and covers any gasoline-powered or diesel-powered motor vehicle regardless of size. The Township carves out governmental and emergency vehicles operating under emergency conditions, so police, fire and ambulance responses are not caught by the ban.

To make the restriction enforceable, § 145-21.1C requires the Township to post signs within the block before the prohibited area begins, warning that the restriction lies ahead, and additional signs along every block inside the prohibited zone repeating the notice. This is a narrower, more specific tool than the Township's general noise regulations in Chapter 105, which govern exterior sound levels and hours township-wide; § 145-21.1 instead addresses one recurring vehicle-noise complaint on one arterial road by banning the equipment use outright rather than setting a decibel limit.

Because it sits in the Vehicles and Traffic chapter rather than the noise chapter, enforcement runs through traffic citation procedures rather than a noise-complaint process.