Locking horns

Annalisa Merelli

• Last Updated: March 28. 2009 9:30AM UAE / March 28. 2009 5:30AM GMT

In India’s metropolitan areas, it’s easy to find almost everything. However, there’s one important thing they tend to lack: silence. Even in the middle of a lonely, labyrinthine neighbourhood, the constant din of heavy traffic permeates the air. Even at night, and even when there is no traffic to speak of.

Because drivers, in India, tend to blow their horn a lot.

“Blow horn, please”, or “Honk Please” the hand-painted words typically decorating the back of every bus and truck, are good evidence of how, in most cases, honking is seen as a measure of safety.

Somehow, the car horn seems to be in India what headlights are elsewhere: more an instrument to be noticed than to warn, or to be seen than to see. The din of Indian traffic is a fact of life, a reality people would not question but rather accept, grow into, and finally contribute to.

But there are those in India trying to change that acceptance. In the past couple of years, several non-profit organisations have tried to promote campaigns to reduce honking and limit acoustic pollution in Indian cities.

Vipul Shah, a recent administration graduate from Pune, has been fighting acoustic pollution of Indian traffic for the past two years. In his opinion, loud traffic is mostly a reflection of a loud culture. “As I came back from an internship in the UK,” he says, “I noticed how noisy our roads were. It’s funny that I had to be exposed to a different environment to realise it. I think that’s a big part of the problem in this country: we’re loud, without knowing that we are. We’re loud when we talk on the phone, we shout at people from distances and we make a lot of noise on the road.”

Vipul has started his campaign against traffic noise with the help of a few college friends. He has tried to raise awareness in the population through several initiatives, including a 120-kilometre bike rally in which he wore a T-shirt reading “Horn Not OK please”, ironically referring to the message painted on lorries and buses. Slowly his campaign has gained visibility, thus managing to widely promote responsible use of the horn while driving.

But, of course, not everyone is easy to convince. Rajeev Gulya, a payphone shop owner who drives a car, says he understands that honking causes a lot of unwanted noise, but there is little choice. “If one drives in a lane, honking is the only way to let drivers around you know that you are there. Plus, there are always a lot of cars driving slowly, buses stopping on the road, or vehicles trying to overtake you. Of course you need to honk to them.”

Vipul dismisses this idea. “The myth that traffic makes honking absolutely necessary is a difficult one to eradicate,” he explains. “But I think that if people stopped abusing their horns, they would actually be forced to drive in a more responsible way, thus making honking less needed”.

Manprut Singh, a businessman who drives his car to work, says honking is not at all a necessity, but rather a habit of Indian drivers. “We are addicted to the horn. It is not a matter of whether or not we need to use it. We do it because it’s a habit, and a difficult one to give up. I know perfectly well that there’s no need to make so much noise on the road, but whenever I am driving, I can’t help it.”

In the recent years, many campaigns have been promoted to educate the population on the issue, and more and more people seem to be made aware of the excessive noise on Indian roads. In Mumbai and Delhi, laws have been endorsed to forbid unjustified use of the horn. Jan 1 was labelled “horn free day”, and more than 700 fines were issued for honking in Delhi alone.

Earth Saviour Foundation, an NGO that has lately been focusing on reducing traffic noises with its campaign: “Don’t honk if you love peace”, has achieved visible – and audible – change.

“With the help of about 30 volunteers”, says Earth Saviour Foundation’s president, Ravi Kalra, “we have spread the message through stickers, leaflets, and posters. Slowly, we are getting some results. For instance, after our campaign, the Blue Line Buses changed their very noisy pressure horn into normal ones.”

“Gradually, people are trying to change their behaviour,” continues Mr. Kalra. “The main problem is the lack of education: no one has ever explained why honking so much is a bad habit, so people never stopped doing that. Many drivers come and thank us for making them understand that they were behaving incorrectly.”

As every campaign addressing a common habit, Earth Saviour Foundation’s campaign is raising polemics as well as praises. Shish Ram Seni, a printer who faces traffic riding his scooter, finds some of the posters offensive. “I have seen this new campaign saying: ‘If even a dog doesn’t bark without a reason, why should a driver horn?’. I think it’s very offensive; it’s not a lack of intelligence, it’s simply not possible to stop honking in this type of traffic. I need to horn if I don’t want to risk accidents.”

According to Mr. Kalra, the excessive honking can also be due to psychological reasons: “It’s a way for people to give vent to their anger and frustration. The more stressed they are, the more they honk.”

Dr Arne Brosig, the medical director at the German Centre for Neurology and Psychiatry in Dubai, says that, while there are many factors behind the incessant honking, it is also a cultural phenomenon. “It is a matter of mentality. But, of course, it is a learnt mentality. It is a learned pattern of behaviour.

“It is nearly impossible to change this behaviour overnight,” Dr Brosig continues. “It might take more than one generation to change.”

And Dr Brosig says the noise is more than just a mere irritant.

“If you are under permanent noise pollution, it is a kind of stress, and your stress hormones will increase and that will make you ill. You will get high blood pressure and other physical ailments. You could also become deaf to high-frequency noises.”

Interestingly, most people realise that there is a problem with road traffic and acoustic pollution, but few think they use their horn too much. Ram Jatan Chawan, a motorcycle rider, says: “I get very irritated when people honk for no reason – say for example, if a bus stops to let people get off. One should use the horn only when it’s needed, like when people drive slowly.”

According to drivers of small vehicles, a large portion of the noise is caused by faster vehicles trying to hurry the slower ones by honking at them. For that reason, auto- rickshaw drivers have joined the “No Honk” campaign in Delhi, affixing to their vehicle stickers reading “Don’t honk if you love peace.”

Rickshaw driver Pappan Amar Singh declares himself a victim of excessive honking: “I hardly honk, unless I have to make other drivers aware that I am getting on their way. I hate the noise, and cars blow their horn at me all the time: they get close behind my auto-rickshaw and honk to try make me go faster, which I can’t do! It’s very disturbing.”

The fight against traffic noise is still very much alive. The next step will be at the beginning of May when, in a public ceremony, Earth Saviour Foundation volunteers will paint over the “Horn OK Please” on a few public buses. The gesture will have a strong symbolical power, as the hand-painted sentence is one of the best-known idioms of India. Covering it with black paint means altering the aesthetic of Indian roads. The Earth Saviour volunteers, among others, hope it will also start to make Indian roads a little more peaceful.