No Honking Day in Delhi on New Year

If you like honking your way through the streets of the capital, devoid of concern that a hospital or a school is around, the first day of this new year is for you to stay indoors.

If you like honking your way through the streets of the capital, devoid of concern that a hospital or a school is around, the first day of this new year is for you to stay indoors.

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With unnecessary honking becoming a menace for Delhi and many other metropolitans across India, an NGO in collaboration with the Delhi Traffic Police will observe January one as a "no honking day" signalling stricter implementation of rules, including slapping of penalty on violators.

In the capital, which is already abuzz with posters and banners asking people driving on the roads to behave, the "no honking day" will imply that traffic police will crack down on those who unnecessarily blaze horns.

"Besides creating unnecessary noise pollution on the roads, it also leads to problems like stress, high blood pressure and hypertension in turn," Ravi Kalra, founder President of the Earth Savours Foundation said.

The campaign which started on December 13, however, will not end with January 1 but continue till the society imbibes the habit and graduate "from no honking to never honking", Kalra said.

While the definition of honking implies blazing horn in case of an emergency, in India it has become a norm rather than an exception, Kalra said.

"In any civilised country people will give your vehicle a pass if it honks on the road, believing that you have an emergency to attend to. No wonder, foreigners are left aghast at the lack of civic sense among our people and their tendency to blow horns unnecessarily," he said.

Also part of the initiative is the Delhi Traffic Police, which intends to prosecute those who do not adhere to the prescribed rules on the day.