Good idea, Larry! There's a paradox at work here: you want to live in a neighborhood where people keep their property looking nice, but the price is non-stop noise from this equipment. Seriously, do people need their lawns serviced every week? And while there are a lot of good guys out there simply trying to make a living, there are a lot of lawn care workers who simply don't care. I see them blowing debris into storm drains all the time and even cramming small limbs and twigs in too. I once made the mistake of pointing that out to one worker, who snarked,"What? I can't hear you for this blower," then smiled a nasty smile and continued on. Time is money and they want to get on to the next lawn, so they really have no incentive to be nice.

In my opinion, lawn care is important and I have no problem having lawn care service providers provide that service. However, lawn care machines should be limited to lawn mowers that are as quiet as possible, and most lawn care service providers use pretty quiet lawn mowers. But leaf blowers are unnecessary and produce a whole host of problems, not the least of which is all God awful and nerve shattering noise they spew out and the nasty debris they kick up.

Leaf blowers are a relatively new kid on the block, and a noisy, nasty and annoying one at that, and we got along fine without them for years. Rakes and brooms do the job of leaf blowers just fine and do a better and much quieter job to boot. And those simple lawn care tools don't kick up all that nasty debris.

Leaf blowers are just plain unnecessary and the problems they create are not worth putting up with. The best and simplest way to deal with the leaf blower problem is to ban their use, as communities all over the country have begun doing. And as an imperfect compromise, they should be regulated for noise and their use subject to day of the week and times of day restrictions.

Man, what a problem to have. I should be so lucky!

Care4ALL, I take it by your comment you don't have problems with leaf blower noise in your neighborhood. Indeed, you are the lucky one and I am happy for you, but others are not so lucky.

same problem with pickups
what is the law?

Care4All, it is a problem. I work from home and have tinnitus. I have a hard enough time concentrating as it is. Check out the site that Larry D recommended. Some leaf blowers are louder than police sirens. And it's not just the dust they stir up. They also stir up chemicals and fertilizers people apply to their lawns. Do you really want to breath all that?

What is the state law for motorcycle exhaust noise and mufflers?

Here it is, but it needs to be enforced for a change.

NC STATE STATUTE: § 20-128. Exhaust system and emissions control devices.

(a) No person shall drive a motor vehicle on a highway unless such motor vehicle is equipped with
a muffler, or other exhaust system of the type installed at the time of manufacture, in good
working order and in constant operation to prevent excessive or unusual noise, annoying smoke
and smoke screens.

(b) It shall be unlawful to use a "muffler cut-out" on any motor vehicle upon a highway.

Would someone who lives in Raleigh/Wake County be so kind as to look up the city's/county's motor vehicle noise ordinance and post it here?

Raleigh's noise ordinance is pretty vague: http://raleighcounty.com/DocumentsCenter/Noise_Ordinance.pdf.
One neighbor, who used to drive through our area on a motorcycle with specially outfitted mufflers, was asked to modify his ride to make it more bearable and he complied. It was "rattle the windows" loud and would hurt your ears if you were on the street when he passed. I don't know if the people who lived next to him asked, or if the RPD was involved, but he toned it down. He actually used earplugs when he was riding, which begs the question, why did you want a loud motorcycle in the first place?
Which brings up another point: If the operators of leaf blowers wear ear protection (and many of them do) how could they not realize they might be disturbing others with this activity?

I think you have the wrong noise ordince here. It appears to be for Raleigh, West Virginia. I think you need to try again.

At first I thought you were joking, but yeap—my bad! That is Raleigh County, WV.

Well, the landscaping crew is back and they've been using their loud blower for over 30 minutes. City of Raleigh, if you're reading this, what can be done? I had time to take the dog for a walk (couldn't work for the distraction) and return. The noise is so loud, I did not hear an approaching car on my walk. My nerves are raw.

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