That being said, I will now listen to E-40’s song “Muscle Cars”

I gave the keys back to the driver when he asked for them – otherwise I probably would have been arrested. We had a little “discussion” the upshot of it was that drivers for that tour company never left their buses unattended again – but they continued to idle their engines for a half an hour or so. The city of Honolulu didn’t give a damn about it.

That took stones. I’m surprised you didn’t get arrested.

Considering the ACLU often refers to itself as a coalition of freedom fighters; I fail to see why I cannot refer to them (or people who share similar views on liberties) as freedom fighters.

http://www.aclu.org/reproductiverights/gen/38478res20090126.html

Click on the link located in the inset bar to see how you can “Become a Reproductive Freedom Fighter!”

So far I haven’t found an example of someone trying to get some shut-eye referencing themself as a nanny-statist.

Gang violence is a horrible thing and it has no relevance to this discussion.

It’s absolutely relevant, as this is basically an anti-gang ordinance in disguise. The goal is obviously to have laws that the police can use to easily justify stops, fines and asset seizures, targeting groups that it doesn’t like.

The law is most likely also intended to deter them from visiting in the first place. The local government would probably prefer to contain the gangs to their own neighborhoods when possible, in order to keep them away from the rest of society, and to limit inter-gang conflicts that occur in “normal” neighborhoods. This goes well beyond cars.

Thank you Pch101. You made my point perfectly.

I drive a stick every day, and I never have reason to rev my engine in a way that makes excessive noise. If you are simply accelerating, in gear, it won’t make a lot of extra noise. It’s slipping it into neutral and flooring the accelerator that is at issue, not normal acceleration. In other words, this is about “gunning” the engine.

I don’t know what ordinances are on the books in ABQ. This seems reasonable to me, unless there are already noise ordinances that apply.

I used to have an engine noise related problem in Honolulu. Tour buses would park in front of the hotel next door to my building and leave the engine running. The driver would usually go inside the hotel. Not only was it noisy, the diesel fumes came in the living room windows. The City was no help at all. One day I entered the bus, shut off the engine and took the keys.
I don’t think a no idling ordinance would have been unreasonable.

Well, not everyone drives an automatic, “revving” is just accelerating your engine. Today, car engines spin faster, that’s where they make horsepower. Accelerating causes engine “revving”. When your muffler dies and you’re running on a straight pipe where anything over 1000 rpm sounds like a jet taking off and then you get a ticket driving to Mineke, you’ll understand. Besides, that isn’t the point. There are already plenty of noise ordinances in the city. What’s the point to yet another except to make officers (who are busy enough and remember, they have no valid way to determine what counts as an offense) and certain citizens miserable. Can you provide a good reason for this sillyness with justification beyond existing statutes?

RE: It’s absolutely relevant, as this is basically an anti-gang ordinance in disguise. The goal is obviously to have laws that the police can use to easily justify stops, fines and asset seizures, targeting groups that it doesn’t like.

Que? There is absolutely no relevance here, pretext stops, for which you seem to advocate are illegal in New Mexico.

The city council and mayor for life Chavez are simply politicians and crave attention and therefore would rather portray the illusion of “doing something”. Enough people get an idea moving in this city and it catches fire, and then a cold. If it is used for pretext stops and the officers cannot offer concrete proof of breach, it will become a headache for all involved. Better not stay at your keyboard too long, kids might be looking in the general direction of your lawn.

Before this officer was done chewing me out he made an odd request. REV THE ENGINE? I said the car was new! I just bought it and was on my way home. I said its stock if you look on the muffler you will see the stamp (Sti). Grrrrr.

I have no Idea what the laws are regarding this noise thing here in Alberta but this guy PAID to serve and protect the people apparently thought he could give me some sort of ticket for a loud car. We would not want that might scare the moose and deer on a highway in the middle of nowhere. Highway 63 is the road to nowhere. Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada.

By the way I drove away with nothing slightly bothered. The Cop drove away with out issuing a ticket.

Mitch

It’s absolutely relevant, as this is basically an anti-gang ordinance in disguise. The goal is obviously to have laws that the police can use to easily justify stops, fines and asset seizures, targeting groups that it doesn’t like.

The law is most likely also intended to deter them from visiting in the first place. The local government would probably prefer to contain the gangs to their own neighborhoods when possible, in order to keep them away from the rest of society, and to limit inter-gang conflicts that occur in “normal” neighborhoods. This goes well beyond cars.

Sure, it might have been better to set a maximum decible level, but they decided not to have cops running around with decible meeters all day. ABQ decided to limit reving, and I for one think it’s reasonable. Other people have rights too.

63CorvairSpyder: “Nice pix of the early “Beach Boys” with the ‘vette. Thanks Robert.”

An oblique reference to the intro of ‘409′ when Gary Usher revs his 1959 348 Impala. The story goes that it took all night until Brian Wilson got the exact sound he was looking for, and the effort shows.

If the rice-burners or Harley morons could get their engines to sound like that old tri-power 348 at the beginning of ‘409′, maybe the geezers wouldn’t have as much of a problem with it.

As for being run by corrupt politicians, well… We’re not as bad as Illinois.

Besides that, if you’ve ever been in ABQ downtown area and have some judgment you’re not going to want to go fast or rev quick off the start there anyway. Lots of narrow one-way streets, lots of pedestrians, lots of traffic.

Especially near Central and around UNM and the Frontier – lots of pedestrians.

BTW, I agree with the commentators about Harleys. One Harley can be heard at night around here for miles, tens of miles. So rude. I hate those @#$%.

Besides that, if you’ve ever been in ABQ downtown area and have some judgment you’re not going to want to go fast or rev quick off the start there anyway. Lots of narrow one-way streets, lots of pedestrians, lots of traffic.

Discussion on local talk radio is basically people who ride larger motorcycles worried about becoming a target and curmudgeons who have deep angst for motorcyclists and sports cars and want to target them. The bottom line is that there exist noise ordinances already throughout the city and if your neighbor is blasting anything at two in the morning, you can call on them. If I enter the freeway on my Triumph Daytona 675 accelerating through my gears at more than 8000 rpm, it may be loud but it is momentary.

Additionally, the words of our friend from Farmington are simply opinion. Albuquerque is a very large metro area and does indeed have gang problems, like many large cities with a population greater than a quarter million. Based on his occupation I would wager he sees the worst of it. Regardless, it is irresponsible to make a claim that Albuquerque’s gang problem is greater than most with no references. Gang violence is a horrible thing and it has no relevance to this discussion.

This ordinance is the result of bored city councilors and a mayor who has spent way too much and need to look like they’re still important by adopting a sophomoric statute only an old fogey could love. In conclusion, leave me alone and go guard your lawn from kids.

Top Gear’ Clarkson and Hammond were in I think Reno NV. with a new Corvette and Challenger. They revved their engines, set off several car alarms and the bicycle police gave them tickets. I thought their setting off SUV alarms was funny.
Lots of weed whacker sounding cars here in metro Chicago. Reminds me of past when Glass Paks were put on 6 cylinder Mavericks and Novas, etc. I thought and still think it’s funny/silly to spend money on the coffe can exhausts.
My friend lives near an expressway and we can hear the crotch rockets go by at 9000+ rpms.

@John Horner
Totally agree, just deal with it.
Wait until these weed whackers have kids and complain that their kids are being kept awake or scared by noisy cars.

My final verdict: I took off the snorkel going to my air filter box so I’d get more woooom sound at part and full throttle on my Fusion. Enough said.

However, I would be heavily against making it a city-wide mandate. The worst possible consequence of that is it would become possible for people working on their cars in their own garage or driveway to get tickets when they rev the motor.

The UK story about a man revving his engine in front of muslims was funny. It’s wonderful to see how the UK bends over and touches their toes for the muslim residents. It seems to have paid off, they only got subway bombings while we had buildings knocked down.

Good point! That is one weird story… “revving his Lotus Esprit in a racist manner.”

The UK must be a hell of a place to live. But we aren’t far behind, I’m afraid.

Not the way I’d want to fight crime, though.

I’m afraid that there are too many people who have never heard of such things, thus the rise of the “Nanny state” in which we live.

Whatever happened to common courtesy and respect for your fellow human beings?

We wouldn’t need speed bumps if everyone drove responsibly in parking lots.

We wouldn’t need sound nuisance laws if people didn’t blast noise from their obnoxious audio systems and modified vehicles.

But, enough people are jerks in this world that we need laws and enforcement to try and maintain something resembling a civil society. Then we get the problem of abusive cops and abusive courts sometimes going over the top. But, the problem starts with the obnoxious behavior, not with the mayor.