You’re getting up for an early class; you’re riding the bus on a peaceful day; you’re going to bed at three in the morning.

What do these have in common?

If we didn’t live in College Station, they might not have anything to do with one another. But we do, so unfortunately the correct answer is simple: They all feature motorcycles and cars with modified exhausts.

If there’s one sound that defines Texas A&M — aside from “howdy” and the Aggie War Hymn — it’s the incessant screeching of motorcycles and cars from miles away. Certainly out of sight, but never out of mind — or earshot. Although these sounds aren’t really a bother most of the time, they become extremely annoying when you least expect them.

This isn’t just my complaining either. The College Station noise ordinance specifically states that it is “unlawful for any person to willfully make, cause, or allow any ‘loud noise’ that because of its … character … annoys, disturbs, injures or endangers the comfort, health, peace or safety of reasonable persons of ordinary sensibilities.” The government website even says that a “loud vehicle” could qualify as a violation of this ordinance.

I don’t know about you, but being woken up in the middle of the night by passing motorcycles is pretty uncomfortable. I hope I’m still considered a reasonable person — and even if I’m not, it’s the motorcyclist’s fault.

This begs the question: Why do constant violations of this ordinance occur? 

They occur for the same reason a large majority of other criminal activity occurs. Criminals gain an outsized benefit from committing low-level crimes while suffering few consequences. 

Think about it. Why do people drink underage? Why do people smoke marijuana? Why do people speed? It’s because they get a benefit from performing a criminal act — whether it be the thrill of rebellion, happiness or mere utility — which is unlikely to carry a negative cost.

To be clear, I am not suggesting that criminal action should be made to carry negative consequences simply because it is criminal. I support lowering the age for alcohol consumption, legalizing marijuana and — as my lawyer has just informed me — I do not speed and do not endorse it.

Nonetheless, actions which cause actual disturbance or harm to people’s lives or property should carry more negative consequences. These constant noise disturbances certainly qualify.

So what do we do?

How about increasing the fines for infractions? 

Unfortunately, this isn’t the best idea. The primary reason people cause excessive noise with their vehicles isn’t because they’re fine with paying the current fine amounts; it’s because they don’t think they’ll ever get fined in the first place. 

Although increasing fine amounts would likely make some offenses less likely since people who are fined will be more hesitant to make excessive noise in the future, it really won’t solve most of the problems we currently have with excessive noise.

How about getting more police on the streets?

This option likely would improve the problem. However, putting more police on the streets costs taxpayer money. If the city didn’t want to take from the taxpayers, it would have to fund the police through the fines they collect from noise violations; that would create a fertile breeding ground for the police to overcharge people who aren’t consistent noise violators. Not really ideal, even if it does fix a few things.

How about allowing citizens to sue?

As unlikely as it may seem, the best option for fixing this problem is to allow people to sue noise violators in municipal court (or “Justice of the Peace Courts”). Under current College Station law, an officer must “observe the violation [of the noise ordinance] in order to issue the citation.” This places a serious cap on prosecuting noise violators, since there can only be so many police in so many places to observe violations. In addition, observing a violation is considerably more difficult when the issue involves vehicles — cars and motorcycles can move wherever they want.

This isn’t unprecedented, either. People can already instigate civil lawsuits concerning noise disturbances under nuisance law. The only difference is that these lawsuits typically involve incidents which only occur in isolated “private” settings. Noise violation lawsuits that affect the public would likely resemble class actions, with multiple plaintiffs testifying to a single driver’s violations.

Regardless of whether a law that enables these lawsuits comes to pass, please — if you like making 120 decibels in the morning with your car or motorcycle — just don’t.

Kaleb Blizzard is a philosophy sophomore and opinion writer for The Battalion.