 |
|
||
 |
|||
| Improve Your World | Home | About Us | Sitemap | Search | Contact Us | ||
|
|
||||||||
| Also see : Noise Pollution, Environment, Environment : News Articles, Plastic Pollution |
| Below are the News Articles / Stories pertaining to the Social Cause
'Noise Pollution'. To see our Resourse Section on 'Noise Pollution', please click here. |
| Home >> Noise Pollution – News Articles >> Noise Pollution – News Articles |   Email this Page |
|
|||
|
Horn NOT OK please
6,295 drivers booked in latest effort to bring order to city's anarchic roads...Megha Sood Mumbai
IN BOOMING Mumbai, you can get away with blowing your own trumpet, but if you are caught blowing your own horn, you will have to cough up Rs 100.
With more than 1.5 million vehicles swarming Mumbai's rapidly gridlocking, anarchic roads, and 500 vehicles being added every day, the traffic police - after battling drink driving, rash driving, driving without helmets or seatbelts -- are trying to curb our tendency to keep a hand on the horn. Various studies have showed that the decibel levels of Mumbai traffic are now louder than a jet plane taking off. The maximum permissible limit on any road is 80 decibels - it's 45 in silent zones and 55 in residential areas. But many autos are as loud as 85 decibels and the noise on our roads often exceeds 90 decibels, said Harish Baijal, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic police (suburbs). The latest 'drive', as the police call it, against indiscriminate honking ended in fines for 6,295 drivers, most of whom were perplexed and indignant on being fined for something that comes as naturally as digging their nose or scratching their cheek. "The mentality of drivers cannot change in a day but we have made a start to educate the masses of increasing noise pollution levels," said Baijal. RAJESH MISHRA He was one of the 6,295 people fined for unnecessarily honking on No-honking Day on Monday. No-honking drive To reduce noise pollution Started: June 2007 2,786 cases till April 6, 2008 6,295 cases on April 7 - Rs 100 for honking, Rs 500 for multi-toned honking. Fine collected: Rs 3 lakh PAST DRIVES Drink driving Undertaken to reduce accidents, especially on weekends and holidays Started: June 2007 4,728 arrests till date 4,063 put in jail, some as long as six months. To prevent fatal injuries in case of accidents Started: January 2008 3,006 cases till date offenders fined Rs 100 Driving without helmets To prevent fatal injuries in case of accidents Started: February 2008 32,600 cases till date offenders fined Rs 100 ------------------------------------------ Police officers on Monday were joined by more than 50 NGOs and 2,000 volunteers
Was the drive a success? "It is a good start," said Baijal, part of a triumvirate of traffic police officers determined to bring change to Mumbai's roads.
The enthusiastic public re sponse to the drive indicated how irksome honking has become: Police officers on Monday were joined by more than 50 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and 2,000 volunteers. Baijal said violators can be fined Rs 500 and their driving licences could be temporarily suspended if they do not pay the fine. Three years ago the traffic police had submitted a report to the Central government stating that Mumbai is the third noisiest city in India. Only Delhi and Kolkata were noisier. Mumbai may have outstripped them by now. "The traffic police contacted us and the volunteers had begun work by spreading the message in churches, schools and colleges," said Sumaira Ab dulali, founder of the NGO Awaaz Foundation. "The joint commissioner of traffic police has said that he would step up the campaign and include the offence of honking in the environment protection act," she said. The traffic police hope that fines and awareness campaigns will make drivers aware that meaningless honking is wrong, much as they made Mumbai aware that drinking and driving are not acceptable.
|
| Also see : Noise Pollution, Environment, Environment : News Articles, Plastic Pollution |
