Middleton, WI Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

05(2)(g) flatly bars any truck or motor vehicle operator from using a compression brake anywhere in the City. The ordinance defines the device by its common names, jake brake and engine brake, as one that uses the vehicle's engine, through compression of air or other gases, for the purpose of braking, which covers both aftermarket jake-brake installations and factory-installed compression-release systems. Unlike the City's other noise provisions, this section has no time-of-day carve-out: there is no window when compression braking becomes legal, and the prohibition runs around the clock, seven days a week.

The only escape from liability is an affirmative defense that squarely places the burden on the driver to show the brakes were used in a genuine emergency that could not reasonably have been foreseen or avoided by an alert operator, and that using them was necessary to prevent immediate danger to life or property; routine downhill braking or a driver simply preferring not to ride the service brakes does not qualify. Public safety vehicles, expressly including fire trucks, emergency medical vehicles and police vehicles, are excluded from the prohibition altogether, so first responders can use engine braking when responding to calls without exposure to a citation.

05(2) noise article that regulates amplified sound, refuse trucks and construction equipment, reflecting the Common Council's broader effort to police mechanical and vehicular noise near residential areas rather than singling out truck traffic alone.