If a young drummer took his drums into the streets of a quiet neighborhood at 2 a.m. and began pounding away, any homeowner would be justified in calling the police.

So what’s different about a kid with a modified exhaust on his car roaring through the same neighborhood? Nothing, as it applies to disturbing the peace. Nothing, as it applies to violation of the city’s noise ordinances.

So we raise a heartfelt “hallelujah!” to a decision by Fargo police to go after drivers who seem to think loud motorcycle pipes and noise-making auto mufflers are cool. They might be cool, in the sense that they make a neat sound, and part of car culture is the sound.

But they are anything but cool when the ear-shattering sounds they emit rattle residential neighborhoods and other city streets.

Mostly, they are unwelcome. That’s what the police are hearing.

Make no mistake about it: The equipment sold to alter the sound of factory exhaust systems is attractive to some auto buffs because it makes loud noise.

After all, the traditional purpose of a muffler is to muffle engine sound. The explicit purpose of replacing a muffler with straight pipes or a system to boost power and change tone and volume is – you guessed it – to make noise.

Proponents (including some of the folks who sell the stuff) make the case that citing noisy offenders is overkill. And the equipment is legal. But given the rising chorus of complaints since the noise-making systems became commonplace in Fargo-Moorhead-West Fargo, the police are obligated to take action.

The whining from some young drivers suggests spoiled brats. For example:

An unidentified young man was interviewed last week on local TV news. He was simply outraged that his modified pickup might not be allowed to make loud noises on city streets. He said he grew up on a farm with loud pickups and didn’t see why he couldn’t do the same thing in the city.

We’re tempted to say, what a dope.

But in the interest of civility, let’s just remind the young man that he no longer lives in the country. He no longer can roar down an empty rural road where no one would be disturbed but the gophers. That sort of conduct on city streets will – at last – bring consequences.

Don’t like it? Take your noisy car or motorcycle out to the hinterlands. But please, don’t show off on Fargo’s Main Avenue.

No one with a brain is impressed by noise for the sake of noise.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum

management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.