Pensacola cracking down on loud vehicles downtown starting Thursday

Drive through downtown Pensacola with a modified muffler that creates extra noise or music blasting above the legal limit − expect to get a ticket beginning Thursday.

That was the message Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves had during his weekly press conference.

The Pensacola Downtown Improvement Board is paying for extra police to patrol downtown with a focus on enforcing state laws that prohibit noise that is too loud from vehicles.

"We're saying now this weekend we are going to be out there to enforce the state statutes that are already on the books," Reeves said. "There's no new rules that we're putting in place. These are rules that are complex to enforce. They take bandwidth. They take people to be able to enforce."

Last month, the DIB, which is funded by a tax on downtown property owners, approved $25,000 to pay for extra police officers to patrol downtown while off-duty from their regular shift to specifically enforce noise ordinances.

Past efforts: Crackdown on 'problematic' loud vehicles, revving engines coming for Palafox Street

DIB Executive Director Walker Wilson said loud vehicles cruising down Palafox Street have been an issue that business owners and visitors have complained about for years.

"It's truly just an annoyance," Wilson said. "I don't know why people feel like they need to do that and rev their engines or blare their music for the world to hear. And the way Palafox is set up, it certainly doesn't help the issue by having essentially a tunnel down here that everything echoes off."

Wilson said business owners, visitors and residents have all complained to the DIB, and a small number of people can ruin the downtown experience.

"We've had about all we can handle, and we've got an avenue to try and tackle the issue," Wilson said. "And so that's why we're trying to start this program."

Operating vehicles with modified mufflers that create extra noise has been illegal in Florida for several decades. In 2022, Florida adopted a "Loud Music Law" that makes it illegal to play music in a car that is "plainly audible" at a distance of more than 25 feet. The 2022 law has come under criticism as an investigation by the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication found that in its first year, Black drivers were three times more likely to be cited under it.

Walker said the DIB had tried to fund efforts before, even buying a noise meter for the PPD to use in 2021, but it wasn't until the 2022 law passed that the PPD told the DIB they'd be able to enforce the noise ordinances.

Walker said the PPD is handling the scheduling of officers, but the $25,000 should fund anywhere between four and six officers over a "couple of months" to work the extra duty.

After the funding runs out, Walker said the DIB, PPD and the mayor's office will evaluate if the program was effective at curbing the problem.

"If it's something that we think we need to continue, then DIB's willing to continue the program," Walker said.

Reeves said he supports the DIB's funding to address the issue.

"We do talk about vibrancy, and we talked about quality of life," Reeves said. "And I don't think any of our residents, or any of our visitors, go downtown, just so they can be deafened by aftermarket mufflers. I don't think that's what makes Pensacola what it is downtown."

Reeves said the ordinance is currently enforced across the city but the DIB is paying for officers to work "off-duty" to focus on noise issues downtown.

"Obviously, the Downtown Improvement Board's primary interest is the downtown," Reeves said. "So that's why this initiative is starting there. That doesn't mean that the only place that you can get a ticket for noise ordinances is downtown, I can tell you that."

Reeves said the downtown also has a problem with this issue as it draws people spending time outside along with slow-moving cars.

"It's one thing to hear an aftermarket muffler on a six-lane road somewhere in the city, which would be an annoyance and would be against the law," Reeves said. "It's a little different to hear it echoing between buildings in the heart of the downtown moving at 10 mph, while people eat outside and walk outside with their children, two different scenarios. So, it doesn't make downtown more important than any other part of our city. I just think that that's where the focus lies, and a lot of that genesis is from the DIB's interest in it."

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola cracking down on loud vehicles downtown starting Thursday