Current noise ordinances are not enough to keep our neighborhoods quiet at night.  Where I live in northeast Salem, I can hear loud cars every couple minutes (or more frequently) until midnight and later.  This has kept me awake more nights than I care to count, making work the next day a struggle.

Specifically, these are the cars with custom exhaust systems (mufflers) that are installed to make the car louder and, from what I've read, faster.

These cars aren't only a problem at night.  They cause comfort and safety issues for people during the day as well.  Below is a list of reasons I believe they should be banned:

Sleep is as necessary as water and food for survival.
We can't live without sleep.  Our children need restful sleep for healthy development.  Even mild disturbances in sleep can make the next day difficult.  For adults, the quality of our work the next day is impacted by poor sleep.  For some professions, it means a bad day for the individual and loss of productivity/money for the organization.  For others, such as a doctor, people's lives depend on their full alertness.

Some people are extremely sensitive to loud noises.
Some people, for varying medical or personal reasons, are extremely sensitive to loud noises (whether daytime or night).  For these individuals, the noise goes beyond discomfort and into painful/disturbing.

Loud cars on the road are unsafe for other drivers and pedestrians.
The loud noise can be disorienting and mask other important sounds, such as sirens, horns, or even normal tire/engine noise that would notify a pedestrian of an oncoming car behind them.

Throughout most of the research I've done, the people who are against a ban such of this have a few common reasons.  I'll address them below.

You're taking away my freedoms by telling me what I can and can't have on my car.
I fully respect everyone's rights and freedoms.  However, the comfort and safety of the public supersedes the desire for loud and fast cars.  As with other laws, you're free to do as you please so long as it doesn't harm others.  I don't see why this issue should be any different.

I do it for the performance, not just to make noise.
Public roads are constructed and maintained with tax dollars, and they exist to provide safe travel for motor vehicles.  Performance vehicles contradict that goal and should be restricted to private roads and racetracks.

My exhaust isn't that loud.  It's the other ones that wake people up.
Setting a decibel limit for exhaust systems isn't feasible.  First, all police officers would need to be equipped with a device to measure the sound.  Finding the tax dollars for that would be difficult.  Second, a decibel limit would need to be set in conjunction with a distance from the source.  40 decibels measured a foot from the vehicle is different than 40 decibels at 100 feet away.  Maintaining the correct distance from the vehicle to take a measurement could be problematic.

Considering all of the above, it just makes sense to ban all after-market systems rather than attempt to set specific limits.  They serve no purpose other than entertainment for the individual driver, yet they have an adverse impact on the many hundreds of people who have to endure their sound.

Please sign this petition to help keep our neighborhoods safe and peaceful.

Thank you.