Say no to horns

The Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) has decided to ask motorists to refrain from using the horn within the CMC city limits as one of its novel initiatives for World Environment Day 2014, which falls on June 5.

In most other countries, especially developed ones, horn sounds are heard very rarely. Disciplined drivers do not sound the horn unnecessarily and during visits abroad, I have been driven by drivers who did not use the horn at all for the duration of the entire journey. While this may be impossible in Sri Lanka given the bad state of road discipline, it is really possible to drive safely without sounding the horn unnecessarily if you are determined to do so.

I regularly do so, to the point where my passengers sometimes ask me whether the horn is not working.

There really is no indication so far as to how this ‘ban’ would be enforced, because old and ingrained habits die hard.

In other words, will police and CMC officials catch those who sound the horn unnecessarily on June 5? It seems to be a case of voluntary compliance, which is an alien concept to most people here.

Pre-publicity should be given to this initiative through both print and electronic media, so that motorists have an idea of how to behave on June 5.

Convenient

The municipal bodies islandwide should take a cue from this move and declare a no-horn day either on June 5 itself or on another convenient day. Cities such as Galle, Kandy, Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kurunegala could follow in the CMC’s footsteps.

This silence will be highly appreciated by members of the public burdened by the heavy use of horns by motorists, especially private bus drivers, who toot modified powerful horns mainly to intimidate other motorists.

Heavy vehicle drivers and three wheeler drivers are next in line, though car drivers are not lily white either. It will certainly be a refreshing change and some drivers may even try it out on subsequent days.

The Police earlier announced plans to crack down on motorists who use loud horns above a certain noise level, but we do not know whether any concrete action has been taken in this direction.

If properly implemented, this will indeed be a commendable move, given the proliferation of modified horns on the road.

In fact, the Police and the RMV must educate the public on the correct and appropriate use of the horn - there are occasions when you need to sound the horn to warn pedestrians, cyclists and other motorists.

This is a fact that many of our motorists do not know - the horn is a device used to warn others of a possibly dangerous situation (or even acknowledge a friendly gesture of another motorist), but it should never be used to send a “get out of my way” message to another motorist.

While checking for loud horns, the Police should also look out for drivers who had modified the silencers (exhaust pipes) of their vehicles to make a roaring sound.

Headlights

The same goes for lights. Many motorists flash their headlights to intimidate other road users and get the right of way, but they should actually be used to indicate a friendly gesture on your part, such as letting another motorist coming from a side road to enter the main road on which you have the right of way. You can, of course, use them to warn of a potential hazard, but headlights should not be used for purposes other than these.

Some modern High Intensity Discharge headlights are very powerful especially in the high beam position, and may dazzle and disorient drivers of oncoming vehicles. This can lead even to fatal collisions. The authorities again should launch a campaign to educate drivers on the correct use of headlights.

Without necessarily stopping with the horns, the authorities should step the campaign against sound pollution in all its forms.

Our roads are among the noisiest in the world, with a cacophony of sounds assailing our ears, from the incessant traffic noise to the blaring loudspeakers of lottery sellers.

Many laws have been promulgated recently to deal with sound pollution and misuse of sound equipment, but there is scope for additional laws to come in. Prolonged exposure to loud sounds can damage hearing in some people - there is an unseen health cost to the problem of sound pollution. It is thus in our interest to minimise all forms of sound pollution.