Ridgecrest, CA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 15, Article XIV of the Ridgecrest City Code targets motorcycles, motorbikes, mini-bikes and similar recreation vehicles run over unimproved vacant lots close to houses. Section 15-510 makes it unlawful to operate any motor vehicle, registered or not, on private land within the city by racing, staging speed exhibitions, or driving in repetitive patterns such as back-and-forth passes, circles or figure eights, within 660 feet (one standard city block) of a residential dwelling, structure or public place. Even outside that 660-foot zone, any vehicle on private land must be run so it does not create excessive dust or noise, and it can never exceed 10 miles per hour.

Section 15-511 layers a muffler requirement on top: no one may operate a vehicle described in Section 15-510 on private property without an adequate muffler to prevent excessive or unusual noise, meaning a stripped or straight-piped exhaust is a separate violation from the speed and distance rules. Section 15-512 exempts vehicles operated on land specifically designed, built and licensed for raceways, exhibitions or similar recreation and amusement uses, provided that property is properly constructed and run under all applicable regulations, so a permitted off-road track is not swept in.

Section 15-508, the article's penalty clause, adds that a parent, guardian or employer who knowingly lets a child, ward or employee under 16 operate a vehicle in violation of the article is separately guilty along with the operator. The rules trace to Ord. No. 89-20 and Ord. No. 90-01 and sit in the general code, not the zoning title, so they apply anywhere within Ridgecrest city limits, not to the surrounding unincorporated Kern County desert or the federal China Lake base.