Otero County, NM Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 170, Article II, adopted by Ord. No. 04-02 in 2004, states in § 170-5 that its intent is to give citizens an environment free from excessive sound caused by an unmuffled retarder device, commonly known as a "Jake brake," or unmuffled straight pipes used to slow a vehicle. Section 170-7.A then prohibits operating a motor vehicle to slow its speed using an unmuffled retarder or unmuffled straight pipes, while carving out an affirmative defense when the device was used in an emergency to protect persons or property.

Section 170-6 defines a retarder broadly as any exhaust or engine device used as braking power on a truck, automobile, motorcycle or other motor vehicle. Any uniformed officer may stop a vehicle reasonably suspected of violating the article under § 170-7.C, and a violation is charged by citation filed with the Otero County Magistrate Court under § 170-7.B. The article applies to all roadways in the county outside any municipality's boundaries per § 170-9, so Alamogordo, Tularosa and Cloudcroft streets fall outside it, but it also exempts any road the New Mexico Department of Transportation has designated as particularly hazardous and required retarder use on to control vehicle speed.

General vehicle stereo or muffler noise not tied to a retarder device instead falls under the separate unreasonable-noise prohibition in § 170-1.A(3), which bars operating a vehicle so out of repair or mechanically altered that it creates noise affecting others' quiet.