Prescott Valley, AZ Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Town Code § 10-01-070 handles vehicle noise in the Town of Prescott Valley through two short rules. Subsection C(4) requires that every motor vehicle be equipped with a muffler in good working order and in constant operation, and makes it unlawful for any person operating a motor vehicle to use a cut-out, by-pass, or similar muffler elimination appliance. Subsection C(3) makes it unlawful to play, operate or use a sound truck, loudspeaker or sound amplifier, radio or any instrument of any kind or character that emits loud and raucous noises and is attached to and upon any vehicle.

The reach of the term motor vehicles is wide. The section defines it as any self-propelled device in, upon, or by which any person or property is, or can be, transported within the Town, including licensed or unlicensed vehicles, automobiles, off-highway vehicles, minibikes, go-carts, motorized skateboards, and motorcycles. A dirt bike or go-cart ridden on private land inside the Town falls under the muffler rule just as a licensed car on a street does.

Vehicle stereos are handled by the sound amplification rules rather than by a decibel number. Subsection C(2)(a) bars operating personal or commercial sound amplification systems, a term that includes any radio or stereo, at any time so that the sound is plainly audible at fifty (50) feet in any direction from the operator or causes awareness of vibration at that distance. The code does not set a separate engine-brake or exhaust decibel limit in this section; the muffler and cut-out prohibitions are the exhaust rules it prints.

Subsection E exempts emergency work, sounds made to alert persons to an emergency, danger or attempted crime, and activities or operations of governmental units or agencies, and parades and similar events that remain within sound limits approved by the Town.