If you are someone who drives around with loud music playing, you may want to avoid Florida (although you should probably avoid Florida anyway). NBC branch NBC 6 South Florida reports that a new state law that goes into effect on July 1 could affect a lot of motorists — especially those who enjoy music.
The new rule basically make it illegal to play loud music in your car if the music is audible from 25 feet go. This means that the police officer behind you in traffic can fine you if they hear your music from inside their patrol car. Laws are getting stricter for places like schools and churches.
However, the law becomes murky when you get into it. The whole rationale behind the law is that the driver is listening to music too loud to be able to hear the ambulance. Of course, ambulances are also exempt from the law. However, the gray area is part of a commercial or political “audio device” exemption (316.3045 subsection 3). This seems to mean that I’m going to get fined for playing Kendrick Lamar too loud, but some guy promotes his carpet cleaning business through sound systems or loudspeakers or a political candidate drives around with their loudspeakers bellowing “vote for me” will not be moved.
This has the potential to get ugly. Please note, Florida lawmakers attempted to enact a similar law in 2012. But the state WILLupme Court threw it out, saying that people have the right to play loud music and that the law is too intrusive. This law also opens the door for a lot of policemen to annoy people just because. Who says they’re right when they say you’re 25 feet away and they can hear you? That would be an excuse to drag someone over to look for other violations.
When a frustrated person brings in Facebook regarding the new law: “Will all departments have a device that registers the correct decibel level at the time of filing a claim or witnessing the incident? Or are we trying, tried and true ‘The police said so should it be true?’
Other states there is a law of noise. California has The Noise Act of 1973 and Massachusetts noise violation if the sound is above 10db. However, no place is as small and wide as Florida.
