Tonawanda, NY Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Chapter 133, adopted by the Town Board on April 2, 1984 as the Noise Local Law, lists specific vehicle-related violations at § 133-5. Subsection B bars operating any automobile, motorcycle or motor vehicle so out of repair, overloaded, or otherwise creating excessive or unusual grating, grinding, rattling or other noise. Subsection C prohibits sounding a horn or signaling device on any street or public place except as a genuine danger warning under Vehicle and Traffic Law § 375, Subdivision 1, and separately bars excessive or unnecessary horn sounding and any horn, whistle or device operated by engine exhaust that produces excessive or unusual sound.

Subsection E extends the ban to operating a horn, megaphone, siren, bell, radio or other sound-amplifying device in or upon any automobile, truck or conveyance on a public street, with exceptions for horns used to protect persons or property, emergency vehicles responding to calls, ordinary radios installed in vehicles, and duly authorized public parades. A 2003 addition, subsection L, separately bars using a sound-reproduction device in a vehicle that threatens pedestrian or driver safety or, given overcrowding, street repair or similar conditions, would deprive the public of peaceful use of a street or park; that noise is a violation if audible from more than 50 feet away.

Section 133-7 also requires that a vehicle's sound-pressure level on any public right-of-way stay within the limits set by the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law. The Building Department and Police Department jointly operate certified sound-level meters to measure violations under § 133-8.