If you take a trip to Raleigh's Glenwood South on a weekend, you’ll hear music, laughter, and likely the revving of engines.
The ear-piercing sound has gotten Raleigh police’s attention. Now, officers are cracking down on exhaust violations.
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To make mufflers louder, people often remove or modify parts of their exhaust system, which is illegal in North Carolina.
“If you have a loud muffler, if you purposely bought an aftermarket muffler and it is loud, and you come downtown on the weekend, there's a good chance you're going to get stopped,” Lt. David Davis said Monday.
The department made a concentrated effort to catch drivers with loud mufflers in the city’s busiest areas, including Glenwood South, Fayetteville Street and Capital Boulevard.
Over the weekend, the department reported a total of 97 traffic stops. Seventeen stops resulted in a citation for a loud muffler.
The noise coming from cars and motorcycles has become a nuisance in the few years James Denzer has lived in Raleigh. Multiple neighbors told WRAL the loud vehicles tend to be the worst in the late-night hours on Friday and Saturday.
“Not just a little bit of noise, but to the point you can't hear,” he said. “You already have the trains; that's noisy enough. At least, that's engaged in useful commerce. There's no excuse for motorcycles.”
Another person who lives in the Glenwood South neighborhood told WRAL they intentionally turned off audio for their home security cameras because of the frequency of loud vehicles. They also said the backfiring of vehicles causes their entire house to shake, sometimes causing false alarms with their home security system.
Coming from a law enforcement background, Denzer has a unique perspective on the persistent issue. WRAL asked him why he believed the mufflers are such a problem.
“For one thing, it's because there's zero enforcement,” he said. “I understand police may be doing something more important, like stopping robberies and that sort of thing, but in terms of quality-of-life stuff, this is pretty bad.”
Lt. Davis said the department also conducted a similar operation a few weeks ago, resulting in 14 citations for a loud muffler.
Denzer said he is grateful the department is taking notice. He believes their operations can mitigate the issue if officers stay consistent.
“If you hand out a few tickets, it doesn't work," Denzer said. "But, if you have a program, and people know about it...they get the message and hopefully, they'll stop - otherwise, they'll be paying a big bill. Low hanging fruit, if you don't fix it, it sends a bad message that lawlessness is the rule of the day, and it shouldn't be.”
During this weekend’s operation, Raleigh police also wrote tickets for speeding, registration violations, driving with a revoked license and no insurance.