Letter to Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport - please do not permit musical horns

Hon’ble Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari,
 
Awaaz Foundation is an NGO which has worked against noise pollution for nearly two decades. I have read your statement reported by PTI that horns will play to the tunes of Indian music and request that it be withdrawn urgently.
 
Indian roads have some of the highest accident rates in the world already and new roads and highways are being built at a very fast rate. If horns are used as entertainment, they will be unavailable to sound a safety alert on these roads and rather, will contribute to already high accidents and deaths. 
 
The cacophony of loud horns all sounding simultaneously will create an extremely stressful environment. Since noise causes stress and anxiety and since people are likely to use them even more than before when they start to consider horns as entertainment, musical will seriously impact people's health. For this reason, they are also currently banned under the Noise Pollution Rules.
 
I request that training programs for driving schools and drivers at the point of licensing and license renewal should be the strategy of choice to reduce cacohony in Indian roads. Restrictions not exceeding health-based limits of 85 dB maximum decibel levels of horns at the stage of manufacture and at the stage of renewal of vehicle licenses should also be notified and enforced. Together, these actions will serve to reduce honking and noise pollution and make our roads safer.
 
I request that the function of a horn as a safety device, meant to sound an alert in case of a dangerous situation is maintained as sacrosanct. If horns are considered to be entertainment, they will completely lose their value towards safety. Imagine the sound of different music playing out of sync, all together at decibel levels equalling loudspeakers all day, every day! 


Thank you and with regards. 
 
Sumaira Abdulali

Sumaira Abdulali
Awaaz Foundation
mobile: +91 982 15 20805
website: www.awaazfoundation.org