West Des Moines, IA Noise Ordinances: Vehicle Noise (2026)

Section 4-7-9 targets amplified sound coming from vehicles rather than setting a decibel ceiling like section 4-7-7 does. It bars any person from operating or controlling a motor vehicle, whether moving, standing, or parked, and whether or not anyone is seated inside it, from which amplified sound is plainly audible at a distance of fifty feet during the day. The audibility threshold tightens overnight: the same amplified sound cannot be plainly audible from twenty-five feet away between ten o'clock at night and seven o'clock the next morning.

Because the standard turns on whether the sound can be heard at the specified distance rather than on a metered decibel reading, an officer can establish a violation by confirming audibility at the applicable distance, without needing the ten-minute meter procedure that section 4-7-7(C) uses for other noise complaints. The rule was adopted by Ordinance 1892 in November 2010, the same ordinance that established the chapter's title, policy, and general prohibition provisions. Section 4-7-10 reinforces the vehicle standard by making it the duty of a vehicle's owner, not just the driver, to prevent the vehicle from being the source of a prohibited noise, and by extending that same duty to anyone in a position of leadership over an unincorporated group or gathering that might be responsible for the sound.

The city clerk and the chief of police share enforcement authority for section 4-7-9 under section 4-7-15, the same officials who administer sound equipment permits and the chapter's other noise rules.