Albuquerque, NM to Make Engine Revving a Crime

by Robert Farago

Published: June 27th, 2009

albuquerque nm to make engine revving a crime

Revving your engine will soon be a crime punishable by a fine of up to $500 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mayor Martin Chavez (D) proposed adding a blip of the throttle to the city ordinance listing “nuisances” that the city uses as a justification to seize automobiles. The city council is expected to vote on the idea next month. “It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in exhibition driving in the Downtown Quiet Zone by operating a vehicle in a manner that willfully creates excessive engine noise because of revving the engine to magnify the engine noise,” the proposed ordinance states.

The quiet zone is set up in a half-mile square encompassing the core of the downtown area, although a further amendment is expected to allow ticketing anywhere in the city. As written, the proposal allows fines of up to $500, imprisonment and car seizure as penalties. The city says it intends only to charge $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third.

At first, Chavez will ask police set up traps to ticket motorcyclists before going after other motorists. In 2006, a UK court took a different route to criminalize such conduct. It jailed a man for what the judge called “revving his car in a racist manner.”

Robert Farago

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Holydonut on Jun 28, 2009

Re: JonnyZX 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.

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John Williams on Jun 28, 2009
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. That took stones. I'm surprised you didn't get arrested.

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Dynamic88 on Jun 28, 2009
That took stones. I’m surprised you didn’t get arrested. 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.

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AG on Jun 29, 2009

The point is, even revving your engine in a car with stock exhaust isn't going to make the obscenely loud noises of some aftermarket cherry bomb or straight pipe douchebag who is intentionally trying to be loud. Besides, where there's loud revving engines, there's usually street racing. That alone would be enough to justify this ordinance. That being said, I will now listen to E-40's song "Muscle Cars"

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