NEW LAW IN MOUNT DORA AIMS TO QUIET CARS BLARING LOUD MUSIC

With the help of Mount Dora Police Chief Brett Meade, Mount Dora City Council passed an ordinance prohibiting excessively loud, booming noise emanating from cars within its city limits.  The ordinance states that  “excessively loud, booming noise emanating from a motor vehicle is a public safety hazard, which distracts motorists, makes it difficult for drivers to hear emergency sirens and is generally a breach of peace and quiet.”

The new city law (Ordinance No. 2021-11) states that a first offense can have a fine of $100, while second offenses increase to $250.  Third or subsequent offenses have a fine of $350.   However, the City will initially make efforts to educate the public about the new ordinance. 

The ordinance makes it unlawful for any person who controls or occupies a motor vehicle in Mount Dora to amplify the sound from the vehicle so that it's plainly audible and unreasonably excessive.   If defines “unreasonably excessive”  as “sound that is plainly audible at a distance of 50 feet or more from a motor vehicle” and “plainly audible” is defined as “any sound produced by a radio or other mechanical or electrical sound making device or instrument from within or on a motor vehicle, including sound produced by a portable sound making device, that can be clearly heard outside of the motor vehicle.

The primary method of detection will be a law enforcement officer's direct line of sight and ordinary auditory senses.  The law enforcement officers don't need to hear the particular words or phrases being produced or the name of any song or artist producing the sound. Detection of a rhythmic bass reverberating-type sound is sufficient to constitute a “plainly audible sound” and enforcement is based on the sound, not its content. 

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