Boise plans legal speed bumps for downtown cruise, targets ‘excessive’ noise, exhaust
With a set of revisions to the city’s traffic laws, the Boise City Council hopes to cut down on the noise, exhaust and dangerous driving that some businesses and residents have reported with the downtown Boise cruise, especially on summer nights.
“The cruise” refers to a common weekend practice in Boise, during which sporty cars and trucks decked out in unusual light displays and with cacophonous engines circle blocks downtown, often playing amplified music.
During a presentation before the council on Tuesday, Hannah Brass-Greer, the city’s director of strategic initiatives, said that some businesses have changed their hours because of the cruise’s impact.
To curb the racetrack-esque noise and hazy fumes on weekend nights, the council wants to impose new restrictions on cars outfitted for the cruise. The restrictions target:
Engine revving, loud music: One legal change would add a prohibition against “unreasonable noise,” including “excessive engine revving, amplified music, etc.,” according to a memorandum from the city attorney’s office. The noise ordinance would kick in when such disturbances can be heard from 50 or more feet away from the source.
Under the new law, finding a vehicle out of compliance with the sound requirements would no longer require it to attain a certain decibel level, as the previous city code did.
Loud exhaust systems, smoke: Another change would allow police to cite vehicles with overly loud exhaust systems. Prohibitions would include “excessive fumes, smoke, or exhaust” and “excessive noise.”
Exhaust ‘gunfire:’ “This ordinance also updates and clarifies … a prohibition on the use of systems designed to combust fuel within the exhaust system, thus creating a noise similar to gunfire,” according to a second memo.
‘Coal rolling’ by trucks: During the meeting, Council Member Elaine Clegg asked about the practice of “coal rolling,” which is when trucks are outfitted with exhaust systems that bypass emission controls and overly saturate an engine with fuel, resulting in plumes of black, sooty smoke. The practice is illegal and causes significant pollution, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Under the revised laws, trucks doing this could be cited.
Penalties for violations would increase too:
Fines could triple: Another city change would bump up the maximum fine for violating cruise-aimed laws from $100 to $300, according to a third memo. Brass Greer told the council that, if the ordinances are updated, city staff members would ask the council to pass a resolution directing police to increase the fines for these infractions to $300, while leaving other infractions as they are.
Possible jail time: The new exhaust law also would add a provision making a second offense within a year a misdemeanor, rather than an infraction. Misdemeanors are punishable by up to a $1,000 fine or six months in jail.
Don’t ‘drive your car in a circle like a jerk’
On Tuesday, council members said they were not looking to stop the cruise itself, but rather hope to limit behaviors that cause a nuisance or are dangerous.
“It shouldn’t be illegal to drive your car in a circle, and it should be illegal to drive your car in a circle like a jerk,” Council Member Patrick Bageant said at the meeting.
Council Member Luci Willits noted that she has also heard complaints from residents about dangerous or disruptive driving in other parts of the city, like on Hill Road.
Police could cite vehicles for violating the new noise or exhaust laws, but there are also laws prohibiting exhaust system modifications, and drivers could be cited for that, too, Boise Police Capt. Mike Ruffalo said during the presentation.
100+ citations in 2 weekends
The proposed changes to city law follow concerns from local businesses that weekend cruising has consistently hurt business.
“Business owners have voiced concern about negative effects from a portion of the cruisers and people who gather in areas of downtown as part of the cruise,” the Downtown Boise Association’s executive director, Jennifer Hensley, told the Idaho Statesman by email in August.
The group held a forum to discuss the issue that month. Boise police had made 114 traffic stops and issued 74 speeding citations, 13 citations for equipment violations — meaning improper exhaust and lighting — and more than 20 citations for “various traffic issues” over the course of just two weekend nights, police spokesperson Haley Williams said in an email at the time.
On Tuesday, ordinance revisions updating the laws were read for the first time. In Idaho, ordinances generally become law after their third reading, and are generally read in consecutive weeks.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 4:00 AM.
