No check on use of pressure horns in Patiala

Patiala, March 25

Loud noise from pressure horns fitted atop buses and trucks continue to haunt commuters. Almost six years after the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) decided to ban the manufacture, sale, purchase and fitting of pressure horns and other such loud sound-emitting devices in the state, transporters, including truck and bus operators, continue to flout the rules with impunity.

In 2017, the PPCB had put a ban on the manufacture of high-decibel horns so as to avoid their sharp, shrill and alarming noise. Vehicles found with such horns would be challaned and horns confiscated, the PPCB had warned.

“Traffic junctions have no rules on permissible sound levels for honking or vehicular noise. Horns on highways emanate noise as high as 100 to 10 decibels (db), equal to the noise levels at a rock concert,” a PPCB official said. “This is above the safe limit suggested by the World Health Organisation (WHO), which cautions that long-term exposure to noise levels from 85 db to 90 db can lead to hearing loss,” the official added.

“Not caring two hoots about the norms, government as well as private vehicles continue to use pressure horns and hooters to make their presence felt on the city roads,” Amanpreet Singh Bhatia, an advocate said. “It is high time that these horns are removed and that the administration acts tough against the violators,” he added.

“Despite the presence of traffic police personnel in the city, hundreds of vehicles flout the traffic norms. The district transport office and the traffic police have failed to enforce the ban orders on the use of pressure horns, especially in the vicinity of schools and hospitals,” Ravee Singh Ahluwalia from the Patiala Foundation, an NGO that works on road safety, said.

A traffic police official said: “A majority of heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses use pressure horns. For proper implementation, we need clear directions from the seniors in this regard.”