Car and two-wheeler horns are unrelated to vehicular motion. Yet, a closer look at our busy roads reveals a constant din caused by drivers honking relentlessly, even when unnecessary. Once serene residential areas now reverberate with the cacophony of different horn sounds. The noise at traffic signals and bottlenecks is hitting deafening levels of around 90 decibels (dB), and vehicle drivers ignore ‘silence zones’ near schools and hospitals. People continue to have multi-toned and high-pressure horns, which they use out of habit, while many vehicles have their silencers modified.
Numerous articles and awareness campaigns in Bengaluru and other cities have focussed on this problem, but there is no headway made in effectively implementing no-honking rules.
Noise pollution in Bengaluru is regulated by the Transport Department, Traffic Police and the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). But, there is no clarity about which agency is supposed to implement rules on the ground. When this writer contacted the traffic police to complain about noise pollution at a busy junction, she was asked to get in touch with the jurisdictional police (law and order). However, when she contacted the police helpline, the staff did not have clarity on handling violations related to noise.
So, what are the rules and regulations that govern noise pollution and specifically, honking in the city?
Read more: Noise, dust and traffic: Coping with redevelopment in neighbourhoods
What the rules say
- The 2019 amendment to the Indian Motor Vehicles Act mandates that vehicle horns should be used only as a safety measure. Excessive honking can result in a fine of ₹1,000 and ₹2,000 for subsequent offences.
- According to the Bengaluru Traffic Police, an individual can register a complaint about excessive honking and musical horns with law and order police, through the ‘112’ helpline. The complainant must provide their name, address and the location for where the issue is being reported.
- Currently, there is no mechanism to gather details of the vehicle or track it, because the complaints are registered with the law and order police rather than the traffic police.
- Regulations mandate a radius of 100 metres around hospitals, and educational institutions to be declared as silence zones.
- In Bengaluru, the Karnataka Pollution Control Board has assigned the responsibility of displaying silence zone signages to the DGP and Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic division.
- The responsibility of displaying silence zone signages around Government hospitals and the High Court lies with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.
The Central Pollution Control Board declares the following as the permissible noise levels:
Ground reality
Despite these rules and guidelines, there is little effect on vehicle users, who continue to honk indiscriminately.
For example, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) has put up no-honking boards under Namma Metro stations to curtail noise from the tunnel boom effect that amplifies sounds. However, most vehicle users ignore the warning.
Here is a video clip taken on a day with relatively less traffic, that shows the spike in decibel levels with every honking sound:
Sheela Gopalaswamy, a resident of BTM layout, observes that people don’t stop short of a single honk. “Continuous and multiple honking has become the norm now. The same people who create so much noise pollution on the road, expect calm and silence in their homes after a chaotic day; we also expect the same silence within our homes.”
A few more video clips of major roads in Bengaluru, where the noise levels are quite high:
Here are the real-time decibel levels in different localities in Bengaluru that fall under various zones. In most instances, the noise pollution levels are way above permissible limits.
Health impact of noise pollution
Excessive exposure to noise pollution can have adverse effects on the physical and mental health of an individual.
Vijay Mehtry, a psychiatrist at Phoenix Psychiatric Centre, explains, “When individuals are constantly exposed to any form of external stimuli, such as overexposure to bright lights, intense smells, repeated incidents of skin exposure to stress, and continuous loud sounds, it can adversely impact their cognitive abilities. Their focus, performance, creative thinking, and emotional abilities may be affected.”
He notes continuous honking or loud noises can lead to physical issues including discomfort, palpitations, sweating and increased blood pressure. They can also impact a person’s psychological well-being and make them give in easily to frustration.
“Some people who spend long durations being exposed to high decibels of sound may seem well adapted. In such people loud sounds may not have an immediate bearing but this, combined with other risk factors, can prove detrimental to one’s health in the long term. The higher the number of risk factors, the higher one’s chance of eventual consequences,” Dr Vijay adds.
According to the World Health Organization’s guidance on noise pollution, long-term exposure to air and road traffic sounds of values more than 65-70 dB(A) can increase the risk of heart disease.
Effects on creatures big and small
Not just humans, sound pollution can negatively impact birds and animals. Colonel Navaz Shariff, Chief Veterinarian and General Manager at the People for Animals (PFA) Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Centre, says, “High-pitched sounds interfere with communication in birds, which in turn can impact breeding, nesting and foraging patterns. This eventually leads to habitat disruption and a fall in population. It also causes stress and anxiety, leading to a range of physiological and behavioural problems in animals and birds.”
Amidst the impact that honking can have on the public, we cannot forget the guardians of our safety — those who manage road traffic and pedestrian movement. A traffic cop who does not wish to be named says, “The chaos is one thing but people’s impatience and their expression of it adds undue stress on our system. The horn has lost its meaning and is now just a tool to vent out frustration.”
What can we do?
In today’s urban landscape, honking has evolved from a mere habit to an unwritten norm — so ingrained that it is now widely accepted. Alarmingly, many fail to recognise it as a serious issue. Without questioning this behaviour and raising awareness, the problem is bound to escalate further.
One can use smartphone apps to measure sound levels and check against the permissible limits set by the Central Pollution Control Board. When the noise pollution levels in a particular locality go continuously above the limits, it is advisable to make a complaint.
Addressing such a pervasive issue requires collective action and innovative solutions from all corners of society. We invite readers to share their ideas and suggestions on how noise pollution caused by excessive honking can be effectively mitigated.
Please provide your inputs in the form:
Inputs to analyse honking problem
With eloquent articulation, this article uncovers the overlooked rules and regulations often unnoticed by the public or they are unaware.
Excellently researched and written. An eyeopener. Kudos.
Though article is good but there are some flaws from government side as the decibal levels defined by Supreme court is not in acceptable range. SC should compare with European countries pollution control systems. Their cities are very quite and respecting human life. In India people, government, corporates don’t respect human life as they treat normal citizens as dogs living in dung. And thts how they define torturing frameworks of noise, water, electricity, basic needs etc. A true Kalayuga is going on.
Great insights and well researched article.
The best thing that Bengaluru can do is to adopt the Mumbai System – where for every honk, the waiting time at the signal would go up by 2 seconds…..commuters do not otherwise respect traffic rules (A number of roads are converted to one-way – BUT, the educated themselves do not follow them) – pathetic situation in Bengalure.
No respect at all for senior citizens
I am sure you have seen Bangalore as just a city of garden in 60s and 70s when the decibal levels were 10db – 60db. Now its very very hard to find a single peaceful point in Bangalore where decibal level is below 25db. Such a noisy life we humans are living. A true Kalayuga.
Types of noises in average living area in bangalore:
Since Bangalore is a IT city and professionals are doing mental work which needs focus on the brain efficiency. Unfortunately due to heavy noise pollution which became a major factor in the IT sector delivery as it is always a compromised level compared to other cheap labour countries as China, Singapore, Thailand, Malasia (south east asia basically). For example an average IT guy would be living some where buildings, gali/locality next to semi busy road (50 meter max) next to busy road (max 250 meter) and little more far from main road (max 500 meter). And this this living would cause noises as below ( similar to my residential area / narrow road / gali )
1. 5-10 neighbors children playing (1 hr morning + 2 hrs evening) – 40 db
2. School children playing (3 hrs), Evening Yoga / Marshal arts practice in the school (2 hrs on weekends) – 30 db
3. Vegetable wala, walking sellers (Onion/Onion/Patato auto wala 2 rounds etc – 1 hr) – 40db
4. 3-4 Music lovers in neighborhoods (2-3 hrs) (high volume with all doors opened, looks like they want to entertain outsiders instead themselves) – 50db
5. Morning 5AM-6AM… many dosa grinding machines / loud mixies / cookers (1hr) – 25db
6. Individuals talking loudly / misc TV sounds from neighborhoods (6hr) – 30db
7. Traffic noise (every 5 minute 1 vehicle ~ 100+ vehicles /day = 3-4hrs /day) – 40db
8. Wood cutting monthly 1-2 times (6 hrs) – 45db
9. Construction noise (1-2 hrs) – 60db
10. Festival chanting / celebrations / Kalyan mantap functions (monthly once 4-5 hrs) – 50db
11. Gali functions (Birthday / marriage / last rites) – full day – 25db
12. Temple chanting(6:15AM – 10:45AM) + (5PM – 8:30PM) = 6 hrs /day – 45db
13. Water Borewell drilling (Gone case 7am – 10PM) – so far 9 times in the Gali in 5 yrs – 70db
14. Occasional vehicles(outsiders) / SUNDAY afternoon speaker songs on scooter / Election party visits / NGO vehicle / flights / helicopters / police patrolling van / fire crackers etc – 50db
As you clearly see in 90% day time you are exposed to on average 35+db noise. In night 90% time noise level is 25db (10% of times some vehicle or AC humming or gen sets etc makes 40-50db). Now lets see different noise levels in India (other countries are less populous).
Possible Noise Levels:
1. Himalaya/Desert: 0 – 5 db [95% times absolute zero – 5% times when windy]
2. Forest(Includes all 8 kind of forests from Amazon Rainforest, Taiga (Boreal Forest), and Congo Rainforest to India Western ghats, Kanchiranga wild life centuaries etc): 5 – 35 db [80% times pindrop silience (humming/self noise/sounds from very far) – 20% times birds, tree leaves rustling, animals walk/run, sometimes animal loud barks(max 1 hr in a day for all types of animals)]
3. Human occupied areas: 15 – 30 db [30% times very quite in night / during covid / curfew – 70% times outskirts hightension electric noise/remote passing highways/ villege outer]
4. small villge with radius of 1 km (< 1 lakh population) : 15 – 40 db [30% times during night / extreme weather times – 70 % times little machinery / cattle sounds / religeous chanting / passing highways / train / air plane ]
5. large villeges / Tier 2 cities (< 25 lakh population): 20 – 50 db [25% night / extreme weather – 75 % schools / machines on every 500 meters as atta chakki/small construction/occasional loud music etc. / factory / occasionally road traffic / generators / mela / haat / religeous functions /election rally ]
6. Tier 1 Cities ( < 1 crore): 25 – 90 db [20% times only in night 9pm-6am – 80% times regular street traffic / children playng areas / ocean waves / road traffics / near by railway track / high pressure horns / more religeous chanting & functions / public places announcements / bus depots / fly overs / heavy machineris on every 2 km (large building/highway/township constructions etc) / near by shopping malls / large factories / loud music system in every 50th house / colleges / universities activities in day time / loud speakers on signals for sales/offer / factory sirens / cannt area army activities / people talking in loud words ]
7. Metro Cities(18 in India-Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Visakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Madurai, Kochi, Trivendrum): 25 – 120 db [10% times only in midnight 11pm-4am – 90% times #6 + metro with 90db/fly overs every 5 km with 60db/full road traffic noise with 75db/very loud party halls with 80db/whole city is covered with machines vibration/humming as AC, Mobile towers, gensets in evry shops, loud religeous chantings(due to dense areas normal chanting cannot reach to far house/homes so ppl sitting far demanding loud chanting ) large bakeries/retaurants, large welding shops, automobile rpairing shops, big malls promotional sales/offer/games etc with 60db / construction/renovation work on every 10th house/ large township / weekly/monthly events with 60db / every 50 meter traffic noise with 50db(1 bike makes 30db sound for 5 sec be passing, 2 bikes make 45db for 5 sec etc)/ bigger religeous tamples/mosque with 95 db, large public rallies/protests/annoucements etc/ huge market(mandi) with flyovers+metros passing with 105 db/ marriage halls with extreme music with 125db / near by air port with 130db(jet engine)/ every street gali some manufacturing activity with 60db / every corporate office building AC plant with 80db/evry 20 meter neighbour making home sound as 35db(TV/Mixie/Washing machine/pet barking) / on top of all these noises ppl needs cinema halls with 160db movie?? / very very hard to find a point in whole city with 25-30db / 20 big festivals in a year celebrations on road with 70db / even very quite places in Metro cities like library/quite building basement/underground bunkers-rooms/sound proof offices/home theater studios/high rise(10+ floors) building top floor the level is 30-35db in day times]
So there are two big funadamental problems need to address:
1. Definition – The noise levels defined by Supreme court frameworks under Noise Pollution (Regulation and Control) Rules, 2000 is totally incorrect. As you compare with nature noise vs human created noise has big difference. Ideallt our noise should be same as nature but soupreme court noise guidelines are far deviated due to commercial and pollitical interests.
2. Action – There should be a very proper framework of popullation control to city design to resource(which directly cause noise) balancing (human as well as machines). Just borrowing german / french / usa framework would not help as they have written action machenism as per thier feasiblity which is completely different in India.
Unfortunately no govt has taken it seriously. No private body even educated people are ready to consider it as a legitimate issue. If you send email to below email addresses there is no response ever.
adgpbmtf@gmail.com,
bmtf.policestation@gmail.com,
comm@bbmp.gov.in,
aejeevanbheemanagara_e6@bescom.co.in,
complaints@kspcb.gov.in,
iccc.kspcb@gmail.com,
wmc1.kspcb@gmail.com,
ccb.cpcb@nic.in,
chairman@kspcb.gov.in,
ms@kspcb.gov.in,
seon@kspcb.gov.in,
bngcityeast@kspcb.gov.in,
seoc@kspcb.gov.in,
seos@kspcb.gov.in,
seoe@kspcb.gov.in,
comm@bbmp.gov.in,
complaints@kspcb.gov.in,
aejeevanbheemanagara_e6@bescom.co.in,
chairman@kspcb.gov.in,
ms@kspcb.gov.in,
centrallab@kspcb.gov.in,
seoc@kspcb.gov.in,
seon@kspcb.gov.in,
seos@kspcb.gov.in,
seoe@kspcb.gov.in,
bngcityeast@kspcb.gov.in,
bngcitywest@kspcb.gov.in,
bngcitysouth@kspcb.gov.in,
yalahanka@kspcb.gov.in,
dasarahalli@kspcb.gov.in,
bommanhalli@kspcb.gov.in,
anekal@kspcb.gov.in,
rrnagar@kspcb.gov.in,
bngmdpura@kspcb.gov.in,
sarjapura@kspcb.gov.in,
peenya@kspcb.gov.in,
Hoskote@kspcb.gov.in,
dbpura@kspcb.gov.in,
nelamangala@kspcb.gov.in,
bbmpeastzc@gmail.com,
jceastzone@gmail.com,