Montgomery County, VA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 7 Article IV Noise, Sec. 7-81 Prohibited Noise, targets motor vehicle operation specifically. It bars loading a vehicle with materials that strike together without deadening the noise, and, except under a Board of Supervisors permit, bars using a radio, phonograph, musical instrument, bell, whistle, loudspeaker or amplifier on a vehicle operating on a county highway to advertise sales, auctions or sporting events, with exceptions for vehicles in a duly authorized parade and for roadside auction sales made outside the county's business districts. It separately lists specific mechanical acts as violations: operating a vehicle so out of repair it grates, grinds or rattles; unnecessarily racing the motor while standing or moving; retarding the spark to cause backfire noise; accelerating hard enough from a stop to screech tires; and stopping hard enough to grind the brakes or screech the tires.

"Prohibited noise" is defined by cross-reference to the mobile sound-pressure tables in Sec. 7-82, which set decibel ceilings by vehicle class and speed. The county sheriff enforces the article under Sec. 7-73 and may prescribe measurement procedures, and Sec. 7-72 sets the penalty at up to $1,000 per violation, with each day treated as a separate offense. Sec. 7-74 exempts emergency alerting sound and emergency work from the whole article.