Thank you, Salem Police. It's a fair and sensible law, and it should be enforced.

The Newburyport case was decided a few years ago and requires trained officers on noise measuring equipment in order to cite loud motorcycles. The Salem Police should be out there more than once a week. I love summer but dread the sound of motorcycles! And don't tell me they are loud for safety's sake. If that was true bikers would be dressed in flourescent clothing instead of all black (Which blends into the background).

This is a good thing. I've heard it argued that loud pipes save lives, but overly loud pipes leave a trail of rattling windows, car alarms, and woken up crying babies at 3:00 AM.

Please go to the corner of webb/essex! Every hour on the weekends a motorcycle speeds by... I'm sick of it!

The one thing I hate about living on Bridge Street is the motorcycle noise; almost makes me look forward to winter!

I'm very pleased by this as well. The noise law has been around for a while, but never really enforced until recently. It's good for the ears of us in Salem, especially at night. I can't tell you how often I've been awakened by a loud bike roaring down Derby or Essex Streets. Oh, and if loud pipes save lives, so do dayglow orange vests and bikes painted bright yellow. At least those options are quiet.

It's great that the police are writing lots of tickets for riding loud. Motorcycle noise pollution is a growing problem all across the country. That's why groups have been formed like, New Hampshire Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (NHCALM), Massachusetts Citizens Against Loud Motorcycles (MACALM), CTCALM, NCCALM, INCALM, PACALM, AMCALM and Maine Citizens for Quiet Motorvehicles were formed. These groups all have Facebook pages with information on how to curb loud bikes.

I hope that the Salem Police are also monitoring these unlicensed and unregistered 'scooters'. I was just down at Steve's Market on Gedney. I was speaking with an employee out on break when we heard a loud muffler. It was a scooter going down Norman thru the lights and towards Lafayette. It was louder than my Harley. I would have gotten his plate number, but gee....they don't have to have one,,,or pay for insurance or registration like regular motorcycles. Why should motorcycles be fined ON TOP of everything else we pay to ride, when these biker wannabees cause more traffic problems?

It's obvious that NONE of you that have already commmented ride a motorcycle!!!! YES some bikes are too loud and something should be done about that BUT for all the others.... LOUD PIPES DO SAVE LIVES!!! Do u know how many drivers especially elderly ones who can't hear... that don't even see us coming, If it wasn't for Loud Pipes I wouldn't be here right now and my son would grow up with no mother.

@ Kelley......"It's obvious that NONE of you that have already commmented ride a motorcycle!!!! " ......WRONG!!!....2007 Sportster

There's no question that the tired, lame myth, "loud pipes save lives" is nothing more than that. There are thousands of bikers who ride quietly, safely and respectfully of others every day. If loud pipes were really needed for safety, insurance rates would logically be higher for those who ride quiet bikes. What is true is loud colors trump loud pipes. By wearing high visibility colors such as florescent orange (like hunters are required to wear) or florescent yellow green (like highway workes wear) and a high visibility helmet, collisions between motorcycles and other vehicles would decrease. The larger society (about 97 percent of the U.S. population doesn't ride motorcycles) is increasingly fed up with motorcycle noise pollution and will impose practical solutions if the biker community is unable to effectively address the problem.

Kelley: there are zero studies that support your "Loud Pipes Save Lives" shibboleth. There are NUMEROUS studies that show drivers in cars can NOT hear sirens on emergency vehicles!

Andy Ford: there are studies that say wearing hi-viz clothing doesn't work. My own anecdotal evidence is: if they can't see my bright-yellow, 800 pound Gold Wing, a silly vest isn't going to help! Search Google for the phrase "SMIDSY" (Sorry Mate I Didn't See You) and you'll get almost 80,000 hits!

Research has shown there is one device which can raise the visibility of motorcycles and reduce crashes: headlight modulators. They don't make any noise so they don't scare kids, wake the neighbors and they don't set-off car alarms.

Modulators are legal in all 50 states by federal law (Title 49 CFR 571.108), can't be outlawed by states or political subdivisions (Title 49 CFR Chapter 301, section 30103), and have been shown to be effective in the conditions most-dangerous to motorcycles (bad weather, congested traffic, etc) [Lorenzo I. Torrez "Motorcycle Conspicuity: The Effects Of Age And Vehicular Daytime Running Lights", 2008].

Peter TerHorst of the AMA says: "The three biggest problems facing motorcycling today is noise, noise and noise."

How about we prevent accidents instead of upset people who make-up the majority of those who pass laws, and hate motorcycles for no other reason than those with loud pipes? Witness Denver, Boston and other cities who have passed laws.

Well Kelly, sorry to break the news to you, but many people that object to the illegal and invasive noise pollution created by the faux-barbarian Harley crowd DO ride. I ride a motorcycle and have done so for 40 years. The difference between me and you is that I can enjoy my motorcycle without forcing everyone within a mile to participate my "lifestyle". I've heard all the nonsense from the Chopper Culture: "Loud Pipes Save Lives", "That's the sound of freedom", "I fought in (insert the name of the conflict) to defend my right to ride a Harley", etc. ad naseum. It all boils down to loud, self-centered nonsense. You have NO right to bombard the world with your illegal noise. No amount of teddy bear collecting or flag-waving will ever justify your silly "lifestyle".

Those of you that feel that enough is enough can help curb these miscreants by signing the petition below. Thanks you. Have a quiet summer.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/niceandquiet

There is a reason that these things are referred to as donor cycles, and it has nothing to do with the loudness of the pipes.

Beyond the fact that "loud pipes" don't actually save lives, if you were that concerned with safety you simply wouldn't be riding one at all.

Loud pipes = Mommy and daddy didn't pay enough attention to me. "Please notice me!" You almost have to feel sorry for them

If you want the definitive word on the topic (much better than I could put it myself), watch this hilarious episode of South Park: http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-episodes/s13e12-the-f-word

ITS CALLED PROFILING AND ITS AGAINST THE "LAW" PLUS THEY CANNOT HAVE MOTORCYCLE ONLY STOPS,THEY ARE WASTING OUR TAX DOLLARS WITH THIS PATHETIC BULLSHIT!!! I DONT SEE THEM TARGETING THOSE LOUD OBNOXIOUS LITTLE CARS THAT KIDS DRIVE TODAY ....NOOOO GIVE ME A TICKET I DARE YA TOO!!! IT WILL COST THE COURTS MORE TO FIGHT ME THAN THE TICKETS WORTH!!!! AND P.S NEW YORK TRIED THE SAME THING AND FOUND OUT THAT WITHOUT A PROPERLY CALIBRATED STATE APPROVED DECIBLE READER THEIR TICKETS DONT STAND A CHANCE!!!

Of course, police can stop any motor vehicle when there's a reasonable suspicion that a law is being violated. And if a violation is found, a ticket can be written. When a motorist chooses to challenge a ticket, it doesn't cost a court very much since there's provisions in place for such an appeal. What many loud bikers don't seem to realize is that there's growing anger towards this kind of behavior by the larger, non-riding society and that elected officials as well as law enforcement officials are going to have to address this issue. In reality, solving the problem will prove to be much easier than many currently believe. Easy to enforce laws with significant penalties will succeed in curbing loud riding despite the protests by loud bikers.

Ernie- You're funny. You and your fellow faux-barbarians act like the noise you make is different than all other noise and that we should just accept it. Profiling? That's funny. If I stood outside your home at 3:00AM and practiced yodeling, would that be acceptable? Would I be able to fight that ticket in court because the Officer didn't have "A PROPERLY CALIBRATED STATE APPROVED DECIBLE READER". Why is the noise from a Harley any different? Why is it so special? The answer is: it isn't special. It's just noise pollution. I really don't care what you choose to listen to. I care about what I am forced to listen to. You and your fellow noise-mongers will go away soon. You've blown it with your complete disregard for everyone. Sorry to break the news, but you aren't cool. You are a loud special-interest group that has worn-out their welcome.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/niceandquiet

lets go after my neighbors lawn mower and LEafblower next.Can I wear my tin foil hat to the group meeting.

Noise pollution has extremely detrimental effects on the human organism. Thank you, Salem Police, for helping to clean up some of the more aggressive motorcycle noise nonsense. It's at least a good start on the motorcycle "dirt," and I wish we could ban the horrid leafblowers too. They are earsplitting as well.

i grew up in the shadow of the power plant right next to fort avenue. you want to talk about noise well the plant was quiet to the street noise. i now live in a building at the cross roads of derby, congress and hawthorne blvd. talk abpout noise. we have trucks busses,cars,police , fire and ambulances going by all day and into the night not to mention foot traffic and the salem trolly.now there is the music at the wharf, the church and almost forgot motorcycles.
i am a motorhead at heart and enjoy the sound of a wqell tuned engine but to sit there and rev motors is not necessary. to scream out from a traffic light is not good for the equipment if you want to go fast go to the track where you will truly learn what going fast is.
so here is the bottom line, gofast and loud on the street you get caugt and ticketed or worse arrested and just to throw this in KILLED FROM YOUR STUPIDITY !!!!!!!
ride on people SAFELY!!!!!

its not just motorcycles

Everybody stops LOUD MOTORCYCLES....why don't you stop those who manufacture these loud mufflers? I personally like powerful motorcycling but being a music lover, I really hate 'NOISE'. Loud motorcycling has become a 'must' part of a big majority of motorcyclists. Unfortunately, it's addiction. We need a collective effort to stop it.

Oh yeah, one other thing about the stop light revvers: the main reason they did this aside from a poorly tuned carburetter was because most of them had installed louder exhaust and the decrease in exhaust back pressure lead to an overly rich idle characteristic (IE the carb was dumping too much fuel in the engine). So revving it would burn all that fuel off so that it wouldn't stall when the light turned green... but, as I said, the need to do that is no more. EFI compensates for that.

GET RID OF ALL ILLEGALS THAT ARE COSTING THIS COUNTRY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR , THAT THIS GOVERNOR DOES NOT WANT TO DO ANY THING ABOUT NEITHER THE THE PRESIDENT ? AND THIS STATE IS LOOKING FOR MONEY IN ANYWAY THEY CAN TO PAY FOR ALL ILLEGALS , START DEPORTING THEM BY THE BOAT LOADS, AND I WOULD HAVE NO PROBLEM ..............QUIETING MY BIKE UNTIL THEN YOU KNOW WERE TO GO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!