Contrary to the suspicions of some area residents, Burlington’s municipal police chief is emphatic that he hasn’t turned a deaf ear to complaints about vehicles with noisy exhaust systems.
Police chief Alan Balog publicly declared that his officers have been fully briefed on how to deal with this nuisance when the matter came up for discussion during a city council meeting on Tuesday.
“This is a very active concern,” he added, “and it’s something we’re very consistently speaking to officers about so they’re taking action whenever they see it.”
Balog made this declaration in response to an inquiry from councilman Ian Baltutis, who informed his colleagues that he heard a surprising number of complaints about noisy exhaust systems when he was campaigning for his seat on the council last year.
Baltutis, who had served as the city’s mayor from 2015 until 2021, asked to be brought up to speed on the current state of this issue, which he admitted wasn’t previously on his radar.
Balog went on to assure the mayor-turned council member that the city took steps to address the problem during his four-year hiatus from municipal government.
“A prior council amended the noise ordinance to make it a little bit easier for officers to apply to loud and noisy exhaust,” the police chief recalled. “We’ve also undertaken very specific training with officers so they know many of these things are not approved to be riding on the road.”
Under the city’s current nuisance provisions, motorists are prohibited from engaging in a whole inventory of behaviors that deemed “excessive, disruptive, and/or annoying to a person of reasonable sensitivities.” These actions include “operating a motor vehicle which has had its muffler-exhaust and/or noise-control equipment removed, altered or maintained in such disrepair as to create unreasonably loud and disturbing noises.”
The city’s police department is authorized to issue civil fines for people who violate this prohibition. These penalties can range from $150 for a first violation to $500 if it’s the motorist’s third offense within a 12-month period. The police department is also empowered to pursue criminal sanctions against those who persist in their illegal actions beyond the third strike.
Balog added that anyone who spots an apparent violation can report the vehicle’s license plate to the police department for an officer to follow up.
“We’ll go to somebody’s house and just talk to them,” he went on to explain. “We would prefer to educate rather than enforce. Many of the folks think they’re doing something that feels fun, and they don’t understand it impacts on others. We’d as soon not issue the ticket if they fix the issue upfront.”
