South Fulton, GA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Sec. 6-3005(5) of the South Fulton Code prohibits operating, playing, or permitting the operation or playing of any radio, television, phonograph, drum, musical instrument, or similar device in such a manner as to create a continuing noise disturbance measured at 50 feet from the device, when the device is operated in or on a motor vehicle on a public right-of-way or public space. This restricted-use rule sits alongside the chapter's general prohibited-conduct standard in Sec. 6-3003(b)(1), which separately bars operating any radio, stereo, amplifier or similar sound-reproducing device at a volume that is plainly audible or causes vibrations at or beyond the distances set in Table 1 of Sec.

6-3003, whether the source is a building, structure or motor vehicle on private property. Muffler equipment is addressed too: Sec. 6-3002 defines a muffler as a sound-dissipative device that attenuates the noise of a combustion engine's escaping gases as part of the equipment's normal configuration, and Sec. 6-3005(1) requires all motorized landscaping and yard-maintenance equipment to be operated with a muffler, though that specific muffler mandate is written for landscaping equipment rather than highway vehicles. Automobile burglar alarms get a narrow exemption under Sec. 6-3004(b)(3): an alarm is excused from the sound-level limits provided it shuts off within five minutes if continuous, or ten minutes if intermittent.