Subchapter B. NOISE LIMITS

Sec.

157.11.    Vehicular noise limits.
157.12.    Measurement tolerances.

§ 157.11. Vehicular noise limits.

 (a)  Prohibition. No person shall operate either a motor vehicle or combination of vehicles of a type subject to registration at any time or under any condition of grade, load, acceleration or deceleration in such a manner as to exceed the following noise limit for the category of motor vehicle within the speed limits specified in Table 1.

TABLE 1
Maximum Permissible Sound Level Readings (decibel (A))
Highway operations test

	soft site		hard site
	35 mph or less	Above 35 mph	35 mph or less	Above 35 mph
(1) Any motor vehicle with a manufacturers gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more and any combination of vehicles towed by such motor vehicle.	86	90	88	92
(2) Any motorcycle other than a motor-driven cycle.	82	86	84	88
3) Any other motor vehicle and any combination of vehicles towed by such motor vehicles.	76	82	78	84

 (b)  Measurement distance. The noise limits established by this section shall be based on a distance of 50 feet from the center lane of travel within the speed limit specified in this section. Measurements at distances closer than 50 feet from the center of the lane of travel may be made. In such a case, the measuring device shall be so calibrated as to provide for measurements equivalent to the noise limit established by this section measured at 50 feet.

 (c)  Trucks. A truck, truck tractor, or bus that is not equipped with an identification plate or marking bearing the name and gross vehicle weight rating of the manufacturer shall be considered as having a gross vehicle weight rating of 6,000 pounds or more if the unladen weight is more than 5,000 pounds.

 (d)  Exemptions. This section does not apply to any of the following:

   (1)  The sound generated by a warning device, such as a horn or siren, installed in a motor vehicle, unless such device is intentionally sounded in order to preclude an otherwise valid noise emission measurement.

   (2)  An emergency vehicle, such as a fire department vehicle, police vehicle, ambulance, blood-delivery vehicle, armed forces emergency vehicle, one private vehicle of fire or police chief or assistant chief or ambulance corps commander or assistant commander or of a river rescue commander, or other vehicles designated by the State Police as emergency vehicles, when responding to an emergency call.

   (3)  A snow plow in operation.

   (4)  The sound generated by special mobile equipment which is normally operated only when the motor vehicle on which it is installed is stopped or is operating at a speed of 5 miles per hour or less, unless such device is intentionally operated at speeds greater than 5 miles per hour in order to preclude an otherwise valid noise measurement.

Cross References

   This section cited in 67 Pa. Code §  157.1 (relating to purpose).

§ 157.12. Measurement tolerances.

 (a)  Factors. Measurement tolerances shall be allowed to take into account the effects of the following factors:

   (1)  The consensus standard practice of reporting field sound level measurements to the nearest whole decibel.

   (2)  Variations resulting from commercial instrument tolerances.

   (3)  Variations resulting from the topography of the noise measurement site.

   (4)  Variations resulting from atmospheric conditions such as wind, ambient temperature, and atmospheric pressure.

   (5)  Variations resulting from reflected sound from small objects allowed within the test site.

   (6)  The interpretation of the above cited factors by enforcement personnel.

 (b)  Limitations. Measurement tolerances shall not exceed two decibels for a given measurement.

---

No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.