Portsmouth, VA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Section 24-255(c) lists 'per se offenses' that count as excessive sound automatically, without any scientific decibel measurement: blowing a car horn when not reasonably necessary for safety or an emergency; operating a vehicle sound system at a level that, heard from inside another vehicle with its windows closed, interferes with normal conversation, interferes with using a car radio, interferes with a communication device such as a cell phone or CB or police radio, or creates physically perceptible vibrations; and operating a motor vehicle that generates loud exhaust sound because it lacks a muffler meeting applicable motor code requirements.

Because these are per se violations, an officer does not need a sound level meter or calibration certificate as required for the numeric dBA offenses in subsection (d); observing the described conduct, such as another motorist's windows vibrating from a passing car's stereo, is itself the violation. The same exceptions in subsection (f), including emergency vehicles and government-facility repair work, and the same penalty structure in subsection (g) apply to these vehicle-noise offenses as to the rest of section 24-255.