Hey guys, I was at a light last night and the light turned green. I revved up to 2k, and let the clutch out pretty quickly so the tires chirpped a little bit, not even close to a massive burnout. It gripped at about 2.5k and i took first up to 4.5k then shifted to 3rd. The cop pulls me over, and gives me a ticket for "Excessive Noise from tires." Have you ever heard of a law saying that you cant make noise with your tires. He cited a chapter and section of the law, so I looked it up online. This is the link to the law.

http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/mgl/90-16.htm

From my understanding of that paragraph, I didnt break it did I? Not trying to make another "I was speeding how do i get out of it?" Just trying to understand how I broke the above law? Unless someone can show me how I broke it, I will request a hearing.

Thanks a lot,
-Mike

 

yur lucky! in california, it is "Exhibition of Speed" or "Sideshowing" and u can get yur license suspended for the first, and car impounded for the latter...

"Sideshowing" would be burnouts and doughnuts and stuff

regarding yur ticket, i think he got u here: "No person operating a motor vehicle shall sound a bell, horn or other device, nor in any manner operate such motor vehicle so as to make a harsh, objectionable or unreasonable noise, nor permit to escape from such vehicle smoke or pollutants in such amounts or at such levels as may violate motor vehicle air pollution control regulations adopted under the provisions of chapter one hundred and eleven."

 

Yes, I can see how tire noise could fall under that category. If you fight a ticket and lose, you just have to pay it and no other penalty results, correct? I am tihnking of just fighting it anyway and saying I am still leanring stick and it was an accident (have only been driving the stick for a month, and it is sort of true lol)

 

Hey man,

Thats rough. I blatenly peeled out in front of a cop back in high-school and got a warning for "excessive acceleration." I was pretty sincere with the cop, conceeding how that was a pretty idiotic move . . . was the cop cool or out to get you? Its hard to think if you chirped them a bit by accident he would give you a ticket!?

 

You got off easy. Pay up.

 

It might a harsh or objectionable noise but that's only if you can consider the tires to be a device.
"No person operating a motor vehicle shall sound a bell, horn or other device"
Fight it, worse case your out a max of $50

 

I'd fight it also. Your reason sounds valid.

-Wayno-san

 

not to get on your back, but i don't blame the cop for giving you the ticket. in normal driving, why would you have to rev up to 4500 rpm before you shifted? also, i don't know how the tires can chirp if you had shifted only at 2500 rpm unless you really dropped the clutch. if you usually drive that way around cops too, you're just asking for a ticket

 

I'd make a court appearance. This law like so many others is written vaguely so as to give maximum latitude to the State in terms of how it will be enforced. To me a reasonable explanation is that the car was new to me, and therefore I inadvertently chirped the tires. Now keep in mind that there's a big differance between an inadvertent tire chirp, and leaving a 20 foot tire patch on the highway. If the cop testifies that you left a large tire patch, you'll have to come up with another defense.

 

But here's the thing... ...for me, at least:

You know you can get into trouble for spinning them in front of the cops. So when you get popped for it, how is it suddenly a bogus thing? You wouldn't do so with one sitting next to you, so that pretty much sums it all up. You thought it was safe to get away with and, instead, you got busted.

Granted, the ticket for tire noise may have taken you by surprise and have you thinking "WTF is this?!?", but that doesn't change what took place. Would you be complaining if the ticket was written for "Exhibition of Acceleration" or something similar? Would those carry a higher fine than the citation for excessive tire noise?

Consider that wasting the Court's time might incline the judge to agree with your contention that this didn't qaulify as excessive tire noise... ...but that it was, instead, exhibition of acceleration.

 

It's unreasonable and I would fight it. Sounds like the cop had a hair up his a$$. A long a deliberate burnout-yes, but a chirp due a sudden light change or too much throttle-I don't get it. So if there is a light layer of snow on the ground and I give my 6 speed car with 270 lb/ft of torque too much throttle and spin the rear tires and make a small chirp, the cop can give me a ticket? What if I'm a new manual tranny driver, who dumped the clutch? Do a deserve a ticket? If I stall at a light, do I get a ticket for holding up traffic? C'mon dude, some of these laws leave too much up to subjectivity.

"in normal driving, why would you have to rev up to 4500 rpm before you shifted?"

Huh? Where do you normally shift? Actually, I believe there are minimum shift rpms in the owner's manual. This keeps undue stress off the engine by shifting too low.

 

if you were trying to merge onto an expressway or freeway, i could understand the need to accelerate and shift at 4.5k. however, in normal street traffic, why would have to shift at 4.5k or higher? perhaps, i'm getting too old, but i normally shift at about 2.5-3k rpm in street traffic. you're only wasting gas when you rev up the engine higher. but, i guess it's just a difference in driving techniques...i'm just an old fart

 

I learned to drive stick in San Francisco (lots of hills). Yes, I did a lot of tire chirping to prevent me from rolling back into someone else because the clutch thing was new to me. I didn't matter to me if a cop was sitting next to me at a light, I was scared $hitless. If I chirped while in my learning process while a cop was next to me, It was not my intention to try to get away with a free chirp. The law doesn't allow for new drivers? Bear in mind that a misshift from 3rd at 60 mph into 2nd would most likely cause a chirp. I for one, have done this on numerous occasions. Does that situation warrant a ticket? Is it a deliberate attempt to get away with something?

 

Seriously, check your owner's manual. I'm too lazy, but I remember reading about minimum shifting points for each gear. You may be saving gas, but stressing your engine because it has to move 3600 lbs (car and driver) from 2500 rpms, which is not near its peak power level from a high gear. Remember, with each shift you lose 500-1000 rpm, so you're really going into second gear at 1500 rpm at 20 mph.

 

Ok, I think this is being taken too far. A cop is likely to understand a new driver mastering a clutch on a hill. But I doubt that was really the case in this situation. The author admits to intentionally spinning the tires, not to a bad start due to lack of experience. I think we all know what was going on with the driver, just as this implies:

"I revved up to 2k, and let the clutch out pretty quickly so the tires chirpped a little bit, not even close to a massive burnout. "

Even while trying to diminish his actions by stating it wasn't a massive burnout, he explains:

"It gripped at about 2.5k and i took first up to 4.5k then shifted to 3rd. "

For anyone with the same car, this illustrates pretty well what was going on with the driver. As I said, Exhibtion of Acceleration was probably a more appropriate citation, but which of the two carries a cheaper fine?

Go one step further and look at the author's question/gripe. It's not that he got popped for spinning his wheels, it's that he doesn't think squelling his tires really fits the definition of the law quoted. And that may be the case. But do you really go in and argue to the judge that it was exhibition of acceleration instead of excessive tire noise? Not if you're trying to get out of it. You lie and tell them some BS story about how you suck bahls when it comes to a manual transmission, so you can avoid being held accountable after getting popped.

The intentions of his actions seem crystal clear in print, so I doubt the cop had trouble seeing the same firsthand. We are getting the story from the side trying to illicit our support. Likewise, he first ran to investigate the law to see if the cop could, in fact, pop him for it, rather than simply protest that it wasn't an intentional act but rather inexperience.

I'm no angel... ...and that's why I know most of you aren't either.

FWIW, "No person operating a motor vehicle shall sound a bell, horn or other device, nor in any manner operate such motor vehicle so as to make a harsh, objectionable or unreasonable noise,..." seems to be where he's trying to get you with this law. Unfortunately, the "objectionable or unreasonable" part is subjective. Look at the fines for the alternative citations you could have received and compare them before pressing the issue. Decide if you're going to simply pretend your tires never spun as part of your defense, etc.