ORBA Convenes Turn Down the Volume Summit
Government representatives, powersports industry organizations, aftermarket exhaust manufacturers and off-highway vehicle (OHV) enthusiasts recently assembled in Corona, Calif. to explore ways to work together to reduce excessive OHV sound and its affects on the communities in which such vehicles are operated.
The Santee, Calif.-based Off-Road Business Association (ORBA) sponsored the “Turn Down the Volume” Summit, an event which included speakers from California State Parks OHMVR Division, the Motorcycle Industry Council, the American Motorcyclist Association, the BlueRibbon Coalition, the National Off-Highway Vehicle Conservation Council, Dirt Rider Magazine, FMF Racing and Chemhelp.
ORBA is a national trade association comprised of off-road related businesses united to promote common goals that support the prosperity and growth of the off-road industry. ORBA officials said they organized the event to try to stem the avalanche of closures and restrictions on OHV use that is sweeping the nation, affecting private and public land including both recreational riding and competition events.
Malcolm Smith opened the meeting with his personal experiences and views on excessive sound, including his recommendation that all motorcycles and ATV’s should have a 93 dba maximum limit at the pipe. Jeremy McGrath, spokesman for a new “Quiet is Cool” campaign, then spoke about his personal experiences with proposed loss of use of his private property in Riverside County because of excessive sound.
Bill Dart, ORBA’s Director of Land Use, believes that the problem can be reduced significantly through education, engineering and enforcement. He also heralded the momentum of similar efforts, such as the AMA’s “Sound Advice” publication.
“The industry needs to accelerate the development of quieter high performance exhaust systems like some are already making and focus more marketing efforts on those products,” Dart said. “On the enforcement side, more efforts are needed to enforce rules for competitive events as well as existing sound regulations and ordinances for recreational riding.
”We all need to work together and address excessive sound in a pro-active manner and take charge of our future. Excessive sound is a universal problem all across the nation and it is the one issue that is turning the general public against all of us. We must deal with the problem ourselves or others will do it for us in ways none of us will like.”
