{"id":372467,"date":"2026-07-14T12:55:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372467\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T12:55:13","slug":"austin-engine-noise-ordinance-no-citations-issued-in-first-3-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/372467\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin engine noise ordinance: No citations issued in first 3 months"},"content":{"rendered":"

Austin police officers did not issue a single citation or warning under the city’s new vehicle engine noise ordinance<\/a> during its first three months in effect, despite dedicating nearly 95 overtime hours to targeted traffic enforcement along RM 2222 in response to neighborhood complaints, according to a memo from Austin Police Chief Lisa Davis.<\/p>\n

The memo shows officers worked about 95 overtime hours in May in the area around\u00a0RM 2222 in West Austin, where residents have long complained about loud motorcycles, speeding and reckless driving. During the operation, officers issued 78 hazardous traffic citations, 17 non-hazardous citations and 127 warnings while making contact with 10 motorcyclists.<\/p>\n

The memo does not explain why the new engine noise ordinance was never used.<\/p>\n

The Austin Police Department did not immediately respond to questions about why officers issued no citations or warnings under the ordinance between March and May, whether it has proven difficult to enforce or whether officers are having trouble identifying violations, or whether any citations or warnings were issued in June or July. The department also did not answer questions about whether the overtime operation reduced excessive engine noise or reckless driving.<\/p>\n

City Council members approved the ordinance in February after years of complaints from residents near\u00a0RM 2222 about excessive engine noise from modified motorcycles and high-performance vehicles. The ordinance, which took effect March 9, allows officers who personally witness excessive vehicle engine noise to issue citations carrying fines of up to $500.<\/p>\n

“A lot of work went into developing that ordinance, and it’s been frustrating that they haven’t even enforced it,” said Lisa\u00a0Capps, who lives about a mile from RM 2222 and helped organize neighborhood advocacy efforts.<\/p>\n

Capps said residents have noticed more police patrols but have not seen a meaningful reduction in the problem.<\/p>\n

“The noise and reckless driving has not changed at all since March,” she said.<\/p>\n

Lisa Sanchez, who lives along\u00a0RM 2222, said she has noticed a stronger daytime police presence in the area but that patrols appear to end before the racing activity begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe noise level has just moved to a different part of the day,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In her memo, Davis said the Police Department will continue engaging neighborhood stakeholders around the issue while separately studying whether to expand noise regulations to cover non-vehicle engines, such as landscaping equipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin police officers did not issue a single citation or warning under the city’s new vehicle engine noise…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-372467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=372467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}