Sound (N)OK Horn

I have been a resident of Bangalore all 3 decades of my life. And the roads never fail to remind me that I am in India - A land that loves to be loud and boisterous. Before I get into that, let me classify our roads first. We have a few roads that are always in shade - beautiful canopies that are absolute pleasure to drive through (late in the evening), like the one short stretch from Trinity circle to Hosmat hospital on Old Madras Road. Then we have the beautiful flyovers like the one to electronic city - another 9kms of smooth drive on an elevated plane allowing you to sight roofs of buildings. And then we have the poads... roads that have more potholes than tar.

Having been here long enough, I do plan my daily route rather well. Barring the few days that the various government offices, BWSSB for instance, dig out my predetermined routes, I have very few surprises on the road. I seem to have seen 'em all. The one-way road with an oncoming auto-rickshaw, the protruding stone that once was in line with the divider, the unscientific humps that take the lumps out of your throats, the buses overtaking from your left and disregarding the red signal, and all my co-motorists who have to absolutely be somewhere right now - no questions asked! It does make me wonder though: while we have little regard for other persons' time and where punctuality remains the elusive virtue, where is everyone hurrying to? 

'Sound OK Horn'

This all too familiar phrase on the back of trucks plying the roads of India has indelibly engraved itself onto the minds of our motorists - Sound OK Horn.

Frankly I have never managed to get to bottom of it. What are these truckers insisting? Can they not notice you in their rear-view mirrors? Are bikes and cars too low for their elevated vision? And there would be few protests when I proclaim that they simply ignore you even when you blare your horn. For they are big and that somehow makes them the master on the roads!

Like cigarretes, the horn manufacturers ought to display a statuatory warning on the vehicle that their horn gets fitted into. This warning should read, in capital letters, "The noise can be deafening to the ears, yours including".

In my traffic sense, I understand that one should honk only for two reasons. Either you have lost control of your vehicle and intend to warn others of the impending danger. Or the driver ahead of you acts in such a way as to endanger the safety of other commuters on the road. And our roads aren’t void of the latter characters. The recent spate of deaths due to road accidents is a testimony to this fact. If honking can avoid such a situation, it is by all means welcome. As a matter of fact, it is mandatory that the horn on your vehicle should be serviced to working condition!

But our motorists have other motives, and creative ones at that. Let me list a few cases, or commandments should I say:

·    Thou shall honk when the traffic signal is about to turn green and the driver ahead   of you is still stationary

·    Thou shall honk when the driver ahead of you slows down even if he does so due to a traffic snarl

·    Thou shall honk whenever in a hurry and other motorists seem unaware of your urgency

·    Thou shall honk when encountering a road hump

·    Thou shall honk to make all obstacles that come in your way to vanish into thin air!!

And I am not alone in this observation. Most of my colleagues share the opinion that the biggest pain in driving is not really the mismanagement by the police. In fact, the present traffic police commisioner, Praveen Sood, an IIMB alumnus, appears to bring some innovative changes on the roads and in the mindset of his personnel. The pain brought about while driving is the incessant honking by the co-drivers which is indeed deafening.

I have made a few attempts at putting my point across to these compulsive honkers. More often than not, I get a rude reply and at times things get nasty even. But the other day I was pleasantly surprised to see a sign on the windshield of a car passing in front of me. It read "Gentlemen, please dont horn". It brought a smile on my face :-)
Perhaps one should launch a “Sound NO Horn” awareness campaign!