Long story short, I got a ticket for defective exhaust due to excessive noise in the Camaro. I went to court last night and presented the judge with all the information on the exhaust system - both stock (You were right Ellis, the car came with the SS SLP System), and the current system.

Well, the judge did not understand most of what I told her, and the officer, being confused between what was happening when he pulled me over and what he knows of the car in general, said he could hear it 100 yards away (football field! I was under 1200 rpms and that is impossible!).

Anyway, she ruled that a muffler is supposed to supress "loud and excessive noise" and therefore ruled the ticket valid. She did not seem to understand that engine mod is what makes the car loud, and that no matter what the muffler was it would be louder than usual - a muffler can only do so much!

Since I think this is a dangerous ruling, I want to appeal it, but I don't have the first idea how ....

 

I could be wrong about this but...

In a appeal I believe they only look over the information that was presented there in court, there is no new information that can be added, so I hope all points that you wanted to make you did. You should be able to go to the local courthouse and see a teller/person behind the window and they should be able to help get you set up for an appeal.

As for being able to hear the exhaust of the car, I would be more questionable as to how they were able to hear you and pinpoint it driectly down to you, I hear cars going back and fourth on the overpass by my work that is probably 100+ yards away every day, and cops that sit at the bottom watching for speeders have never once flinched at a loud car.

You just might have picked up a Mustang lover cop.

 

Small, small, small town, like 5 blocks long. I was driving like a grandma and was not accelerating at all. What I picked up was a cop that had it out for me (stemming from some hard feelings between us) ... who is, of course, playing nice now since I filed a complaint against him.

I did present all the pertinent information, the judge just did not understand it. She looked at it all with a confused look on her face and finally settled on telling me that the law says the muffler should be in working order and constant operationg "to prevent excessive or unusual noise". She failed to understand that the muffler was working, and that the noise comes from the engine .... with this ruling it could be required that if you mod the engine you have to use super mufflers ...

 

So could you win the muffler ticket & get fined for having an illegal engine? That is what your argument states. Sorry, I know what you are trying to do, but I also look for the worst case result & weigh it against the best possible outcome & try to decide if it's worth the risk....

 

Now that is an interesting question. The ticket was for faulty exhaust. From what I have researched, there are only laws pertaining to the exhaust equipment - that is, the exhaust equipment may not amplify the noise of the engine more then the stock muffler would have, and the muffler must be in correct working order. In my case, the stock exhaust possibly could amplify the noise of the engine MORE then the current exhaust.

FWIW, a state patrol officer tested the exhaust in February and it was 72 decibles at idle and 91 at 3000 (his choice based on ASE proceedure on where to test high). Assuming Ellis knows his stuff, the stock exhaust would have been around 85 decibles at idle ...

 

Well in order for him to write you a ticket for it being to loud, then he would have to have a decible reader!!! But what time of day was it and wheere did he pull you over at?( ie. apartment comples or housing?) what exhaust do you have??

 

The worst part is it is probably the quietest car in our gruop

 

Yes, doesn't the law state something about what decible level is "illegal"? You chould argue that point... you could ask the officer directly "Ok, so if my car is louder than the allowable level, how many decibles above the level was it?"

 

Decibles is a good point... I have heard of people on Clubgp getting pulled over for a S/C whine because it is a noise ordinance... but without haveing something to go off of it all comes down to a matter of tastes, some like it loud, some like it queit, some like bees in a coffee can. I am surprised it even went far without a decibel reading actually now that people bring it up, other option could have been to take the car to an actual exhaust shop and have them look for leaks and see if it is working correctly or not.

As mentioned before by WAhusker, you have to weigh if it is really worth it to persue it further. If it were a moving violation ticket I could understand you persueing it, but if it were a non moving violation, it wont affect your insurance rates, but at the same time I can understand being a little pissed to have to pay for a bogus ticket.

 

That was my next point!! yes he has to have the decibil reader in the car!! I can almost promise you that he don't have one cause only a few WSP cars have them!!!!

 

Sadly, you all used to be right about this, and are now wrong The State Senate tagged on a tiny change to a House Bill this spring regarding tailights ... the result is the law no longer has the wording that lays out specific decibles, and the officer no longer has to prove it on site, effective June 7, 2006.

Also unfortunately, the shop the car had to go to shortly after the ticket was Ellis' for the tranny ... we did not have the ability to take it to State Patrol to get it re-tested. But it would not have mattered ... the judge had decided to take the officer's opinion that the muffler was illegal. I presented to her that the Flowmaster dealer in Yakima confirmed that the system is legal, and also that it came from an authorized dealership with that system as certified used. As I said, more than anything, it came down to the fact that she just lacks knowledge about a vehicle exhaust system and what it can and cannot do. What it amounts to is that she ruled that my muffler was defective because the engine puts out more noise than an average car ...

 

They repealed that part

Now it's what ever the cop says.

 

Yep, the cop is the expert. If he thinks you were driving dangerously, or it's too loud....

 

The reason we are wanting to pursue it is not the money - it was $112 and really, in the long run that isnt that much (time payments!). It is what her ruling means to us long term (as I said, it is a tiny town) and also that she ruled that a street legal muffler was illegal without having the knowledge to do so, and having been presented with both the RCW and the WAC that said it wasnt.

 

All you need do is to go to the court clerk and file for an appeal. Not sure what it is now but typically it costs $125 to get a superior court hearing. At that point the local prosecutor office is contacted to see if they want to bother showing up - and in your case it wouldn't be cost effective for them to do so.

At least in superior court the judge gives you time to present all the evidence you need and is less rushed. If they don't understand something they take time to learn the basics to determine how to rule on the case. It may cost more but as mentioned it is the principal of the matter and may help lower court judges in the future to become educated the case was overturned on proof of evidence it is not an illegal set up.

As a general rule, a higher court judge is only interested in the merits of the ticket - rarely will it become a 'street legal' engine issue since the ticket wasn't for that.

Worth a shot to talk to the court clerk and find out where to file for an upper court hearing.