LOCK HAVEN — A letter regarding vehicle noise within Lock Haven prompted discussion amongst city council on how it could combat these nuisances.

The letter, sent to council in late May, spoke about cars, trucks and motorcycles with “intensely loud mufflers” which can be heard throughout the day and night.

The letter, which was submitted by a resident anonymously, asked council if it understood the effects this noise could have on children, the elderly and others who are driving in the area.

“Surely this situation needs addressing (and) making changes regarding the safety of people,” the letter stated.

Mayor Joel Long said this wasn’t the first time he’s received a complaint regarding vehicle noise within the city. He turned to City Planner/Interim Manager Abbey Roberts who’d gathered information with help from LHPD Chief Matthew Rickard.

Roberts said Rickard was unable to attend Monday’s meeting but passed along information on his behalf.

“The officers have been increasing efforts for speed enforcement. This is something they usually do around the spring anyway,” she said.

This also is in an effort to address the loud mufflers and backfiring vehicles.

However, speed enforcement in its current state is difficult within city limits.

Roberts explained to perform a proper “speed trap” as it is sometimes referred, there must be 100 feet of distance and length of straight road between two lines, which the city does not have.

“There is also an NRAD system for speed enforcement but that takes at least two officers to operate” due to equipment, she said.

Roberts said another way officers can try to mitigate modified mufflers and other equipment that creates loud noises in vehicles is through the Pennsylvania Vehicle Inspection Code.

“Loud noises often could be attributed to equipment violations and that’s a Pennsylvania Vehicle Inspection regulation,” she said. “If they’ve (the driver) modified the vehicle in any way, the mufflers or anything like that, the officer can pull them over. But it has to be obvious,” she said.

Long noted you can often tell when a muffler has been modified by the sound it makes.

“You can tell from the noise they modified their muffler because they want it to be loud,” he said.

Roberts said the difficulty for officers in citing an individual for a vehicle violation is being sure. She noted to pull someone over for a violation it must be obvious, like a muffler falling off or no muffler whatsoever. The only other way to do so would be to perform a stop for another reason, such as speeding.

“I think the officers are running into (that) they want to be sure,” she said. She added the officers, except for the newest hire, are all certified in Enforcement of Pa. Vehicle Inspection Regulations (EVIR). The final officer will complete their training in July.

Roberts said decibel meters would be one way to be sure.

“Currently, the department does not have one, but we can look into doing that if that is what council wishes,” she said.

She added the use of a decibel meter would also include proper training.

Roberts offered a few other options for council to consider such as writing letters to state legislators to encourage them to push through a bill to allow for the use of RADAR in municipalities.

“If council would like to send a letter to our representatives we can certainly arrange for that. I know the Pennsylvania Municipal League is on that,” she said.

Long and other members of council agreed it wouldn’t hurt.

“It’s ridiculous they won’t do it,” Long said of passing the bill.”Their whole point is they don’t want a tiny little town somewhere setting up speed traps just to make money. But there’s no way in our residential streets to properly enforce (speed limits). RADAR would give us that ability.”

Councilmember Tami Brannan, who attended the municipal league’s last conference, said it was discussed how safeguards could be put in place to avoid municipalities from monetizing the use of RADAR.

“They’d have to be a fully trained officer. You can’t just be some guy off of the street,” she said.

Roberts also noted council could revisit its current noise ordinance, which does not have decibel level measurements.

“For decibel levels, that is something that’s monitored by the state. Those are levels we could refer to and put in a local ordinance,” she said.

Long noted he’d previously voted against the noise ordinance because it was missing decibel levels as a way to accurately enforce it. He said decibel readers could also be useful.

“Personally, I don’t think having decibel readers is a bad idea,” he said. “The ordinance doesn’t state a decibel level but it would still give (officers) a tool.”

No action was taken on vehicle noise, however, city staff will look into items suggested and bring information back to council for further review.