Menace Of Excessive Honking In India

[Akash1886]

Menace Of Excessive Honking In India.​

Friends,

One of the most apparent tantrum of the fellow motorists on Indian roads that we see daily be it 2 wheeler, 3 wheeler, 4 wheeler or many times the trucks is the excessive honking. I mean what is the need of doing it? We all are on road to certainly reach our destination and if there is a traffic jam ahead, none of us can fly over it man! Honestly, there is no significant need for honking excessively on fellow motorists on roads. It’s not only increasing the level of noise pollution but also shows how immature the driver is who doesn't even bother to take note of the road’s traffic. Even after placing bumper stickers of all types that highlight "No Honking" or "Do Not Honk" still a really big section of motorists prefer to turn a blind eye towards them.

I have often seen, in no honking zones like hospitals, schools and defense areas here in Delhi, people comfortably break this law and at times even my own driver does it which is absolutely insane of him and I simply don’t promote this kind of unethical attitude. I mean what’s the gain of honking madly? Will you be awarded on a National Celebration Day? Come on, when we all show ourselves as educated, civilized people then why most of us give a deaf ear to concerns like excessive honking?

Moreover another menace that I have often encountered is the use of high decibel horn in a 2 and 3-wheeler. This thing kills me more than anything on road. College student doing tripling without a helmet and blaring their all types of flute, guitar and trumpets musical horns in public places is purely insane. In India, if ever a census is done about the average number of times a person honks, I am sure majority of the motorists shall win our country a gold medal in this senseless deed. What I feel is that the impatience of the fellow motorists on road is expressed through the easiest way and i.e by honking excessively over the fellow motorists.

Another scenario where one’s impatience is highlighted by excessive honking is on a Red signal, when the motorist in front is slightly slow in moving, without any regards, the fellow behind starts to honk as if he’s about to soil his pants. Tell me something, if there is a jam or the car gets abruptly switched off due to a jerk on a signal, then, is it the person’s fault that is ahead of you? Absolutely No! Be more considerate to fellow-motorists on road instead of going insane on honking. Maybe someday even you might as well be in the same situation. Believe me , even if you honk the life out of your vehicle’s horn, neither the signal timing shall end soon, nor the switched off vehicle shall start any sooner if it developed a issue.

In my opinion and surely you all will agree too, Horn is an instrument just to intimate the fellow motorists about your intentions. When someone is turning on blind turning, wherein the on-coming traffic is not that visible, like in colonies, there you may honk once or twice. If you are reversing your car then surely you need to honk to make sure the vehicle/person behind is out of the way of your car. When all of a sudden, vehicle in front starts to roll back, then it is always safe to sound the horn at the driver to revive his/ her lost alertness. On the Highway, if you need to take a pass, horn is an effective medium to request.

I am sure you all might have also encountered this issue many times, therefore, please share your suggestions and experience in the benefit of all the other motorists out there so that all can be prepared to deal with such kind of drivers.

Regards

Akash

 

[bhaveshce]

Re: Menace Of Excessive Honking In India.

Completely agreed with you Akash. Horn should be use to just communicate with the fellow driver on the road for smoother & safer movement. Honking never helps at traffic jam. It doesn't make any difference to traffic jam, it only increase the noise pollution and increases the temper of the driver who is continuously honking but doesn't see any impact.

Even if you need to honk to alert the vehicle ahead of you before over taking or alert the vehicle or pedestrian on corner, just sound the horn one or two times for only couple of seconds. Please don't sound the horn continuously even if the usage of horn is necessary and advisable (my 2 cents).

 

[GrandRk]

Re: Menace Of Excessive Honking In India.

Akash, you have taken a nice initiative of writing on topics encountered in day to day commutation.

Unnecessary honking always irritates and increase my blood pressure. After observing honking trends I can now conclude that maximum honking starts when signal turns Green from Red. The person in the car who is at 11th position from junction also starts honking from the bottom of his heart, he should be thinking that his honking will make other 10 cars in front of him disappear.

You said it right that high decibel horn is another irritation. On my morning walk I mostly encounter two college going guys on bullet which is fitted with “Volcano” (name of cracker) type sounding horn. Though the roads are empty in early morning, this guy keeps his thumb pressed on horn and zooms at high speed, the sound of bullet plus sound of horn in that cool morning makes fellow people irritate to maximum. I guess this guy loves it that way, the sound of his horn is heard till that guy goes beyond 1 KM.

I have also seen some vehicles who starts continuous honking when I decrease my speed to cross speed breaker. After crossing when I look in IRVM it is seen that he has also decreased his speed to cross speed breaker, then why did he honked?

 

[Akash1886]

Re: Menace Of Excessive Honking In India.

Akash, you have taken a nice initiative of writing on topics encountered in day to day commutation.

Thanks RK. It is really important to address such common issues that we all encounter daily. Common people like all of us, in simple words, can best describe these day to day situations buddy.

I have also seen some vehicles who starts continuous honking when I decrease my speed to cross speed breaker.

This happened with me yesterday evening while I was at dad's office. I just slowed down for a rickshaw to move ahead and give me space to park. Just in that 2-3 minutes a CITY Zx guy came at such high speed and honking as if he is driving for the last time and used that Skoda Type trumpet horn. When I gave him pass, just saw 3 college kids trying to show-off!!

Regards

Akash

 

[GrandRk]

Re: Menace Of Excessive Honking In India.

I have also seen some vehicles who starts continuous honking when I decrease my speed to cross speed breaker. After crossing when I look in IRVM it is seen that he has also decreased his speed to cross speed breaker, then why did he honked?

Today i have got answer to above quote. I was travelling with my colleague in his ZEN Estilo for 5 KMs. The road which we took were having 3 speed breakers on it. As per my habit i started observing his driving pattern apart from chitchatting and believe me that he was driving worst (off course without seat belts). This guy never decreased his speed while encountering speed breakers, i was bouncing inside along with him.

After few moments i asked him the reason for that high speed on speed breaker, to which he told me that daily he encounter 22 speed breakers on his way from home to office, hence stopped bothering about them

Now i understood that such guys starts panic honking when i reduce my speeds to encounter a speed breaker. I have no answer for there wrong habits.

 

[powerpacked]

It even goes worst in combination of high beam+fog lamp and thumb on horn.

 

[GrandRk]

It even goes worst in combination of high beam+fog lamp and thumb on horn.

I second your thought. Now a days i am losing the purpose of horn, because here in Pune even the pedestrians doesn't move when you honk. In fact you will get those nasty looks from them.

 

[Jerwin]

I honestly honk only when I am being cornerd by some other car. But our roads are such that it is simply impossible to drive without honking. I think the culutre of not following rules and regulations, lane system is the reason for it.

 

[icecool]

Road is full of idiots and if I dont honk and keep them at bay, I doubt I will ever reach my destination.

 

[Akash1886]

Buddies,

The Govt. Of Maharashtra has banned the phrase "Horn Ok Please" from all the commercial vehicles. If any commercial vehicle is found violating the order then stringent fine shall be levied on them which amount to Rs 500 or can lead cancellation of their permit. But now question is, will this ban lead to excessive honking by other motorists?

State transport commissioner Mahesh Zagade on Thursday issued a circular banning the use of the phrase "Horn Ok Please" on the rear side of commercial vehicles, such as trucks and tempos, across Maharashtra.

link

Regards

Akash

 

[Dezire]

‘Horn Ok Please’ Now Banned In Maharashtra

Maharashtra’s state transport commissioner issued a circular banning the ‘Horn Ok Please’ phrase that is displayed at the rear of all commercial vehicles like trucks and tempos across the state. The unique move was taken by the state transport department because they feel that the display leads to excessive honking by motorists in silence zones, which lie in areas near hospitals, schools and colleges. The ban on this phrase is also expected to reduce noise pollution by an extent.

The new circular has been given a warm welcome by a few transporter’s associations and the All India Motor Transport Congress’ former president, Bal Malkit Singh said that this phrase is a thing of the past and is of no use now. He said that many years ago, someone would really have to honk while overtaking as roads were much narrower earlier, to alert the vehicle in front of you. But this is not required at a time when we have much wider roads including four to six-lane highways. Drivers nowadays can use dippers and indicators while overtaking and there is not much of a need to honk while doing so.

According to the circular, displaying the phrase ‘Horn OK Please’ is a gross violation of Section 134 (1) of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Rules, which deals with signs that can be used on the rear and sides of vehicles. It also states that the phrase encourages people to honk while passing a truck or tempo, which sends a wrong message to citizens.

An RTO official said that they will be conducting a drive to check all commercial vehicles next week onwards. Any truck or tempo found violating the order will face stringent punishment, leading from the suspension of permits to fines as high as Rs. 500/-. Anti-noise pollution activists also welcomed the decision and said that excessive honking was a nuisance for those residing in silence zones, especially to hospital patients. According to a few WHO guidelines, the relative risk of hearing loss rises when one is continually exposed to noise levels that exceed 85 dB, with the danger increasing at 90 dB and above.

'Horn Ok Please' Now Banned In Maharashtra | MotorBeam – Indian Car Bike News & Reviews

 

[Akash1886]

Friends,

Recently, The Noida Police and other activists did a No-Honking Drive on DND Flyway in Noida. Here is a clipping from Noida Times Newspaper today of the same. See what Noida people think about honking on roads.

​

Regards

Akash

 

[generalmax]

Personally,I am also against unnecessary honking.The practical point is,our roads are narrow,two way,curved,with lots of people and cattle.Honking is the only way to avoid accidents. Nobody honks on a straight highway.How many J walkers you can find on the middle of the road? If we don't honk,somebody else from behind us will do that.The problem comes down to infrastructure and attitude.

 

[es.midhun]

I feel like our fellow drivers are thinking that a 30 secs of honking can magically solve a traffic jam. But that honking is really arrogant.

 

[ram123]

As the horn is directed towards the subject it gets very irritating to the subject. The honking guy does not realize this. There are many type of people who honk for various reasons
1) Some novice drivers are so scared they honk for everything
2) Some honk at regular intervals, one of my friends bro does this, I ask him why the heck, he answers we need to be alert all the time.
3) Some Honk using a large horn for small vehicle or fancy horn. These guys want to pretend that a big vehicle is coming from behind so we get scared and give way. Fancy horns are banned but people use them.
4) honking at traffic so that signal will turn green
5) Some honk continuosly to scare you to submission like the taxi guys
6) Most irritating is the school buses which come to colony and honk till the kid comes out