By John B Monteiro

Jun 30: Honking on Bangalore roads is set to come down in the coming days with Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation joining the “I won’t honk” campaign on June 27, 2014 - with the launch of two Volvo buses carrying the message against unnecessary honking. Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and former India cricketer Rahul Dravid flagged off the two buses. Dravid is also brand ambassador for the campaign.

Honking is a major problem on multi-lane roads and highways as also in urban streets and lanes. Noise pollution because of honking impairs hearing and disturbs patients in hospitals and other vulnerable groups. The situation in Mangalore, typical of the status in Indian cities, is highlighted in a perceptive report titled "No respite from erratic honking in Mangalore" in a recent issue of Deccan Herald and excerpted here before offering an innovative solution.

Despite rules and regulations in force prohibiting harsh and shrill sounding horns, there seems to be no respite from erratic honking in the city. Penalty, sign boards, awareness progrmmes have not had any impact in controlling the soaring decibel levels. Be it the hospital areas or schools and colleges, signboards indicating no honking zone are mostly ignored. A traffic jam will only worsen the situation, with vehicles honking continuously beyond the permissible decibel level. Ambedkar Circle in the heart of the city reflects the situation at its best. Despite the junction being a non-honking zone, with KMC Hospital located on one side of the road and Government College, Balmatta located on the other side, vehicle drivers continue to honk violating the rule.

Booking cases against the rule violators and imposing them with a minimum penalty has failed to control the rising noise levels. Though permissible level of sound in residential areas is 55 decibels and 65 in commercial areas, the errantly honking vehicle drivers most often escape the eyes of the traffic police.

Though the number of cases booked against those honking incessantly has comparatively increased in the last few years, it has not succeeded in curbing the noise pollution. If 656 cases were booked for excessive honking or for altering the adjustments of silencers in their vehicles in 2012, the number of cases booked increased to 945 in 2013. The traffic police have booked 183 cases in 2014 and have levied the penalty ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 900. Not strictly implementing the Motor Vehicles' Act (2012 Amendment) which provides for suspending the licence of the offender who violates traffic rules for three consecutive times, has made people to take the traffic rules on a lighter note. While there have been no instances of cancelling the licence of motorists who violate the rule by honking erratically, the police and the RTO said that they were not aware of any law that provides for the cancellation of licence.

There was a time when noise was sign of life. But, today noise is viewed differently. As Ambrose Bierce notes, "Noise: a stench in the ear. The chief product and authenticating sign of civilisation." One of the manifestations of civilisation is the motor vehicle. There are two sources of noise in an automobile - the engine and the horn. Knowing the harmful aspects of noise, laws and rules governing motor vehicles have made provisions in this respect.

First, the legal position under The Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988:

Reduction of Noise

119. Horns. - (1) Every motor vehicle shall be fitted with an electric horn or other device conforming to the specifications of the Bureau of Indian Standards for use by the driver of the vehicle and capable of giving audible and sufficient warning of approach and position of the vehicle.

(2) No motor vehicle shall be fitted with any multi-toned horn giving a succession of different notes or with any other sound-producing device giving unduly harsh, shrill, loud or alarming noise.

(3) Nothing contained in sub-rule (2) shall prevent the use on vehicles used as ambulance or fire fighting or salvage purposes or on vehicles used by police officers or officers of Motor Vehicles Department in the course of their duties of such sound signals as may be approved by the registering authority in whose jurisdiction such vehicles are kept.

120. Silencers. - (1) Every motor vehicle shall be fitted with a device (silencer) which by means of an expansion chamber or otherwise reduces as far as practicable, the noise that would otherwise be made by the escape exhaust gases from the engine.

(2) Noise Standards. Every motor vehicle shall be constructed and maintained so as to conform to noise standards as indicated in the Table below.{This Table lays down standards for noise for vehicles from two-wheelers (80 dB) to vehicles weighing 12,000 kg and above ( 90 dB)}

Then there are Karnataka Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989:

221. Restriction on Use of Sound Signals. - (1) No driver of a motor vehicle shall sound the horn or other device for giving audible warning with which the motor vehicle is equipped, or shall cause or allow any other person to do so needlessly or continuously or to an extent beyond that which is necessary to ensure safety.

Against the laws and rules, what we see (or hear) is blatant misuse of horns by drivers. Nationwide there are anti-noise pollution laws and rules and the Supreme Court has severely restricted the use of loudspeakers in public places even during festivals like Ganesh and Navarathri. On the other hand, the use of horns by drivers to carve out right of way (overtaking) is beyond the scope of, and contrary to, the Acts and Rules cited above. If traffic police or RTO do not book such violations, they are either ignorant of legal provisions or inefficient to enforce them or have their personal hidden agenda to collude with the violators. It may be argued that the vehicles are too numerous and violations are so frequent that it is humanly impossible to bring violators to book.

Why not tax honk maniacs?

Against this background, I am presenting here a novel idea to encash horn violations. Drivers can be disciplined by installing horn meters which cumulatively register the noise generated by the horn. This should be monitored periodically (say once in three or six months) and charged on a graduated slab rate - like in the case of Income Tax - after giving an initial free allowance for use of horn for safety and warning purposes. While the vehicle owner is obviously the person to pay for the metered amount, it should be possible for him to recover the whole or part of the amount from the driver. That would put the fear of the devil into him next time he is tempted to extend his itchy hand to the horn. How to collect such tax - pollution certificate issuer can be the periodic reading and tax collecting (against a certain percentage commission) entity. Such honk meters should be compact and detachable for recording use. This is within the current trend of electronic mechanisation. The electric and piped water meter reader uses hand-held machine to read on-site meters and issue bills. Issuing bus tickets has been widely mini-computerised (BEST in Mumbai and ST in Karnataka).

In the RTA meeting held in the first week of June 2014, bus operators in DK district have been asked to get into the computerized ticket mode. So, the idea of horn meters is not far-fetched but feasible and would be an additional weapon to control noise pollution through excessive, erratic and maniac use of horns. If this is done three birds can be shot with one stone - revenue for state, noise relief to citizens and well deserved punishment to offending honk-maniacs.

Who will bell the cat?