Georgia: Is it legal to put a train horn on a car?
Georgia has no train horn ban, but no horn may make an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle.
Georgia requires a working horn audible from 200 feet and bars any horn from making an unreasonably loud or harsh sound. Sirens, whistles, and bells are banned on ordinary vehicles. A train horn, built to sound like a locomotive, is likely to fail the loud-or-harsh rule, though the law sets no decibel number. Drivers may sound the horn only when needed for safety.
Conditions
- Horn must be audible from 200 feet
- No unreasonably loud or harsh sound or whistle
- Horn may be used only when reasonably necessary for safe operation
- No sirens, whistles, or bells on non-emergency vehicles
What the law says
(a) Every motor vehicle when operated upon a highway shall be equipped with a horn in good working order and capable of emitting sound audible under normal conditions from a distance of not less than 200 feet but no horn or other warning device shall emit an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle.
Sources
- O.C.G.A. § 40-8-70 (FindLaw reproduction) Mirror of official text · codes.findlaw.com
Confirm with the state
- Agency
- Georgia Department of Public Safety (Georgia State Patrol)
- Phone
- 404-624-7700
- Website
- dps.georgia.gov
How bordering states compare
- Alabama Allowed with limitsAlabama has no train horn ban, but it is a crime to make an unnecessary or unreasonably loud or harsh sound with a horn.
- Florida Allowed with limitsFlorida has no train horn ban, but no horn may make an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle.
- North Carolina Allowed with limitsNorth Carolina has no express train-horn ban, but making unreasonably loud or harsh sounds with a horn is illegal.
- South Carolina Allowed with limitsSouth Carolina has no express train-horn ban, but no horn may make an unreasonably loud or harsh sound or whistle.
- Tennessee Allowed with limitsTennessee bans sirens and exhaust, compression or spark plug whistles, and forbids unreasonably loud or harsh horn sounds, without naming air horns.