Kumari Palany & Co

No. of views : (3027)

Honking not allowed in the Chennai roads, but who cares

Posted on: 04/Oct/2019 10:00:27 AM
Noise from an air horn could be highly irritating and unbearable for us but not for the motorists and other vehicle users. There are some motorists and other vehicle users who love this peculiar noise or sound from an air horn and have fitted their vehicles with these air horns.

It is important to note that air horns are banned and in Chennai, many motorists still use these air horns and create many issues for others. It is said that that honking is an obsessive-compulsive disorder for many motorists.

Point is in spite of penal action taken by the government agencies for using air horns and making unbearable sounds the motorists have retrofitted their vehicles with these banned air horns.

According to official data, in 2018 as many as 23,800 cases were booked against the vehicle users for using illegal air horns. It is revealed that many of these violations were committed by the trucks (11,000) and omnibuses (9700). In addition to these, large number of two-wheelers and private cars were also responsible for using illegal air horns.

The shocking piece of information is many among these horns were multi-toned and pressure triggered and they emanate noise levels up to 110 to 120 decibels. It must be noted that as per the norms the horns should have less than 80 decibels and longer exposure to noise above 80 decibels could result in hearing loss.

It has been mentioned by an activist working on roads and transport, Mr. Kathirmathiyon, that the government must ban the manufacturing of the air horns if they are really interested in reducing the noise pollution and book those shops that sell the air horns.  He spoke about how these air horns were available easily in Pudupet in Chennai from Rs 300 to Rs 2500 and how the motorists purchase them for their vehicles.

The point to be noted is the violators must be booked under the Pollution Control Act instead of the Motor Vehicle Act (just Rs 300 to Rs 1000 is collected as fines under this act). It must be noted that the impatient motorists keep honking until other road users give way for them.