FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — It’s an unsettling experience when you’re sitting at a sidewalk cafe, enjoying a meal or beverage, and someone in a car drives by, or stops at a nearby traffic light, with music so loud you can’t have a conversation.
That’s part of the reason Florida passed the new loud music law, which goes into effect Friday. The law says law enforcement officers can write a ticket if the music or other sound-making devices can be heard 25 feet from the car. Vehicles used for business or political purposes are an exception.
The new law’s intention is protecting residents and businesses from a public nuisance.
“This is a good first step,” said Fort Lauderdale commissioner Steve Glassman, whose district includes the beach.
But some wonder whether the law will be applied equally, and whether law enforcement officers will specifically target young Black men.
“Law enforcement often uses these as a basis for disproportionately stopping or searching persons of color,” said Johnny McCray, a defense attorney based in Pompano Beach.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said deputies won’t discriminate.
“The law will be applied fairly and impartially to anyone driving a motor vehicle in Broward County,” spokesman Carey Codd said Thursday in an email.
Fort Lauderdale police echoed that sentiment.
“The law does not target any person in particular,” Capt. Tim McCarthy, Fort Lauderdale police captain of operations support, said in an email. “Loud music or amplified sound in violation of the statute is what is targeted.”
Fort Lauderdale police were alerting drivers this week about the change to the law.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said it plans to have deputies “write warnings and provide education on the law for approximately the first 30 days as a first step prior to enforcement,” according to Codd.
The fine for an infraction, which isn’t considered a moving violation, could be as much as $115.
The law also states a person is in violation if the music is “louder than necessary for the convenient hearing by persons inside the vehicle in areas adjoining churches, schools, or hospitals.”
Glassman is happy to see progress because he said residents don’t like the noise pollution so close to their homes.
“This is an issue that is really important to us, especially in the beach and the Las Olas corridor where we’ve had a lot of noise issues,” he said.
Fort Lauderdale police said they’ll pay special attention to those areas while not ignoring other residential locales.
“The areas that the City of Fort Lauderdale is focusing on is the high-density tourist, business and residential areas, specifically the Beach/Barrier Island and downtown,” McCarthy said. “We are also aware that our residents expect a quality of life in residential neighborhoods and will respond to these complaints.”
Glassman said he isn’t concerned this will be a negative issue for tourism considering many tourists rent Slingshots, the two-seat, three-wheel open air vehicles that have become so popular the last few years, and blast their music. Glassman said he thinks police will use “judgment and discretion” while enforcing the law.
But McCarthy warned any vehicle is subject to enforcement.
“Any motor vehicle operating on a roadway in violation of the statute may receive a warning or citation,” he said. “This includes motorcycles, slingshots, golf carts and scooters.”
McCray is remaining optimistic about the new law’s application, but he said he’s seen enforcement go awry in other circumstances.
“I hope it will be enforced equally,” he said, “but I’ve seen the seatbelt laws, the [window] tint laws, applied unevenly across the board.”
In previous years residents, patrons and businesses near Fort Lauderdale beach have complained about noise from loud music in bars, car radios, and loud cars and motorcycles that rev up their engines or have loud exhaust systems.
As recently as February, Fort Lauderdale’s Noise Control Advisory Committee, which meets once a month, had been checking into what other cities have done to abate noise.
In late February, Studio 404 Frozen Daiquiri Bar and Cafe in Delray Beach, the subject of 74 noise complaints from June 2021 through September 2021, closed because of failure to pay rent. However, because the business was located between a condominium and a residential neighborhood, its loud music was a disturbance to its neighbors.
And for those thinking they might be able to catch a break, say, about 8 or 9 p.m. when nightlife isn’t yet crazy and people might not yet be ready for bed, think again.
“The statute can be enforced at any time, day or night, in the State of Florida,” McCarthy said.
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