Short answer: owning a Train Horn for Milwaukee® 18v Battery in Arkansas is legal, but Ark. Code § 27-37-202 and city noise ordinances in places like Little Rock and Rogers decide when you can actually blow it. I pulled the statute and both city ordinances before writing this, and here's how each one lands on a horn you can carry from the truck to the boat dock.
What Ark. Code § 27-37-202 actually says
Arkansas keeps its horn rule in Title 27, Chapter 37, Subchapter 2 of the vehicle code, the "Safety and Emergency Equipment" section. The statute is § 27-37-202, titled "Horns and warning devices — Flashing lights on emergency vehicles." Strip out the emergency-light parts and four things matter to a train horn owner:
- (a) Equipment and use: every motor vehicle on a highway needs a horn in good working order that can be heard from at least 200 feet. No horn or other warning device may emit an "unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle." The driver sounds the horn only when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation.
- (b)(1) Sirens, whistles and bells: no vehicle may be equipped with, and no person may use on a vehicle, a siren, whistle or bell except as the section allows.
- (b)(2) Theft alarms: a commercial vehicle may carry a theft alarm, as long as the driver can't use it as an ordinary warning signal.
- (b)(3) Emergency vehicles: authorized emergency vehicles carry a siren, whistle or bell audible from at least 500 feet, of a type approved by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and use it only on an emergency call or in pursuit.
If you've read my Oklahoma guide, this will look familiar. Both states borrowed the same model traffic code language. Arkansas just tucked the words "or a whistle" onto the loudness rule.
The 200-foot rule is a floor, not a ceiling
People get this backwards on forums all the time. The 200-foot number is a minimum for the horn your truck is required to have. Your factory horn already clears it. The statute never sets a maximum, and there's no decibel number anywhere in § 27-37-202.
The ceiling is "unreasonably loud or harsh." That's a judgment call, and the person making it is the trooper or deputy who just heard your horn. A train horn is built to be loud on purpose. I'm not going to tell you a horn rated at 150 dB+ will be called "reasonable" by an officer who caught it on I-40 outside Russellville.
Note the wording, too: "no horn or other warning device." The loudness rule doesn't stop at the factory horn. A battery horn sitting in the bed counts the second you fire it on a public road. And the use rule, sounding it only when reasonably necessary for safe operation, rules out the greeting blast, the gas-pump prank and the "light's green" honk.
Arkansas also doesn't run a periodic vehicle safety inspection. The state dropped its inspection requirement under Act 974 of 1997, so nobody is going to fail your truck for a horn on the rack. Enforcement happens at the roadside, which puts it right back to how you use the thing.
Little Rock: Sec. 18-52 and the horn-while-parked rule
State law covers highways. Inside city limits, Arkansas lets cities write their own noise rules, and Little Rock's is stricter about horns than the state is. Sec. 18-52 of the Little Rock Code of Ordinances bans "unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary noise," then lists examples. Number one on the list is horns:
- Sounding any horn or signal device on a vehicle while not in motion, except as a danger signal when another vehicle is approaching apparently out of control.
- When moving, only as a danger signal after or as the brakes are being applied and you're slowing down.
- Any "unreasonably loud or harsh sound" from a signal device.
- Sounding the device for an "unnecessary and unreasonable period of time."
Read that first bullet again. In Little Rock, laying on any horn in a parked truck is on the city's list of unlawful noises, train horn or not. That kills the parking-lot demo for your buddies on a Friday night. The same section lists radios and audio equipment played loud enough to disturb people, especially between 10:30 PM and 7:00 AM, so a tailgate setup with a horn and a sound system is two problems, not one.
You'll also see a story online that Little Rock bans honking near places that sell sandwiches or cold drinks after 9:00 PM. Plenty of sites repeat it, but they don't agree on the section number, and I couldn't confirm the current wording in the official code. Either way, Sec. 18-52 already covers it: don't honk in a parking lot in Little Rock.
Rogers: Sec. 18-26 and the 2012 court case
Up in Benton County, Rogers uses nearly the same horn language. Sec. 18-24 of the Rogers code bans "unreasonably loud, disturbing, and unnecessary noises" in the city, and Sec. 18-26(2) spells out the horn part: no horn while the vehicle is not in motion except as a danger signal when another vehicle is approaching apparently out of control, while moving only as a danger signal while braking, no "unreasonably loud or harsh sound," and no sounding it for an unreasonable length of time.
Rogers adds a few rules that matter if your horn lives in the truck alongside other gear:
| Rogers rule | Section | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Horns and signal devices | 18-26(2) | No honking while stopped, no loud or harsh sound, no long blasts |
| Yelling, tire screeching, noisemakers on public streets | 18-26(4) | Restricted 10:00 PM to 7:00 AM if it disturbs others |
| Vehicle audio on public right-of-way | 18-26(8) | Can't be plainly audible from 30 ft or more, any hour |
| Outdoor loudspeakers | 18-26(1) | Need a permit from the chief of police |
These rules have been tested. In Garcia v. State (2012 Ark. App. 80), a driver cited under the Rogers noise ordinance argued it was unconstitutional. The Arkansas Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction. I wouldn't want to be the next test case, and neither do you.
Fayetteville, Springdale, Bentonville and Conway all have their own noise codes, so if you live in town, test somewhere else. I wrote up where to test a train horn legally for exactly this reason.
Where a train horn makes sense in Arkansas
Most of the Arkansas folks I hear from aren't trying to scare people on the interstate. They're running rice and soybean ground in the Delta, duck hunting on flooded timber, hauling bass boats to Greers Ferry and Bull Shoals, or riding the Ozark trails. That's private ground and open water, and it's where a horn earns its keep. My take on that side is in my guide to train horns off-road and on private property.
If you want the most horn you can get, the Extreme Quad Train Horn for Milwaukee® 18v Battery is the top of the line at 150 dB+, with four trumpets and a wireless remote rated up to 2000 ft. It runs straight off a Milwaukee® M18™ battery you already own: no air tank, no compressor, no wiring into the truck. That last part matters legally. Because nothing is tied into your steering wheel, you can't fire it by accident when you meant to tap the factory horn in a Little Rock parking lot.
If the horn is mostly for calling a hunting partner across the timber, waking up a grain cart driver, or the occasional backyard flex, a Dual (130 dB) or Quad (140 dB) model is plenty and a lot easier on everybody's ears, including yours. Here's the full lineup of M18-compatible train horns:
Whatever you buy, wear ear protection when you test it up close. The numbers are in my guide to hearing protection for a 150 dB train horn. Loud is a feature. Install it right.
FAQ
Is it illegal to own a train horn in Arkansas?
No. Ark. Code § 27-37-202 regulates how a horn sounds and when you use it on a highway. It doesn't ban owning one, carrying one, or using one on private land.
Does Arkansas have a decibel limit for car horns?
No. The only number in § 27-37-202 for a regular vehicle horn is the 200-foot minimum audibility. The upper limit is the subjective "unreasonably loud or harsh sound or a whistle" standard.
Can I honk a train horn in a parked truck in Little Rock or Rogers?
Not legally. Little Rock Sec. 18-52(b)(1) and Rogers Sec. 18-26(2) both list sounding a horn on a vehicle that isn't moving as an unlawful noise, with a narrow exception for warning an out-of-control vehicle.
Does a train horn count as a siren in Arkansas?
No, a train horn isn't a siren, whistle or bell. But don't pair it with a siren speaker or a wailing tone pattern. Under § 27-37-202(b), sirens are reserved for authorized emergency vehicles.
Arkansas borders states with nearly identical horn wording but different details. Compare Missouri's horn law, Tennessee's rules and Louisiana's rules before you cross a state line with the horn in the truck. — Cole
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