Jophiel wrote:
I could point a "sound detector" at your car from 100' away, make a loud yelp as I hit the button and say the 60 decibel reading on the gun came from your car.
But a law that could REALLY use such a device can be tossed in overnight due to being impulsive.. then the hopes are that the technology follows.... [:shrug:]
as for sound and distance.. well it doesn't magically stop at 5' or 10' for that matter.. and two cars beside each other are WELL within a 5' envelope.. and what sounds perfectly fine at 5' can also be heard pretty well at 10' too...
As I said 75 feet is a BIG range.. however it's that area between approx 15' and about 30' or so that's rather "gray", now without knowing the lettering of the ruling I don't know if it's audible at 75 feet or up to 75 feet.. taking a stab at human nature I'm going to guess it's up to 75 feet.. I can't claim to be the legal type but a ruling of at 75 feet seems a bit silly since I doubt a policeman is going to walk approx 75 feet away and give a listen.. just doesn't make sense..
however..
if indeed it is
up to 75 feet.. in theory if a police car pulls up beside you and your music is the type to annoy the crap out of him.. (and remember two cars side by side is within a 5' envelope) he can claim it's too loud and at least slap you with the fine...
if it's
at 75 feet and say a policeman were to pull me over about stereo volume first thing I'm going to say is "let's take a walk" and I'm going to make him go 75 feet away from my car......
--------------------
it's TOO subjective, what's worse is depending on wording it's subjective in favor of someone in a position of power over music which reaks of personal preference. To compound it there is no easy way to mitigate the human factor..
true most traffic issues are at the discretion of the officer but the difference between a lot of them is that you *know* when you don't signal... you know when you're swerving a little, and you know when your seatbelt isn't on, all these things have very obvious visual cues..... If your stereo system is turned to the max you know it's loud.. but it doesn't come with a distance meter... if it's not turned to the max.. can you honestly tell me without doubt that at 20 to 50% volume it can or cannot be heard at 75 feet?
probably not.. but it can be heard at 10 to 15 feet at that volume without a doubt, and even as high as 20'+
That law as it stands now needs some re-thinking... if it's *at* 75 feet it's effectively useless against all but the most powerful of systems.. if it's *up to* 75 feet it puts far far too much power at the whim of human nature.