Ocala, FL Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

City Code § 34-172(4) defines 'motor vehicle noise' as any noise made, continued, permitted, or caused from within a motor vehicle that is plainly audible 50 feet or more away, and the definition expressly reaches engine and exhaust pipe noise caused by the vehicle itself, not just a stereo or sound system. That 50-foot threshold applies at any time of day; the code does not carve out a louder daytime allowance for vehicles the way it does for some other noise sources. 'Plainly audible' is defined in § 34-172 to require only that an officer, using ordinary unenhanced hearing and a direct line of sight to the vehicle, can clearly hear the sound over the ambient noise; the officer does not need to pinpoint the exact source inside the vehicle, whether that is a modified exhaust, an amplified stereo, or the engine itself.

Under § 34-173(a) it is unlawful to knowingly or intentionally cause that noise, and § 34-173(b) presumes a knowing violation once an officer has warned the driver or owner and the noise continues. The exemption list in § 34-174(7) carves out 'the operation of buses, trains, ships, airplanes, helicopters and trucks in good repair,' so a delivery truck or bus running normally is not swept into the vehicle-noise ban, but a vehicle in disrepair, or one whose stereo or modified exhaust exceeds the 50-foot threshold, still is. Violations are punished under the general penalty in City Code § 1-9.