India is a noisy country. This will be an impression of anyone who visits our country from a developed nation. The biggest cause is the number of automotive and on top of that the love for honking in Indians. Because of heavy traffic and no strict rule around lane driving, Indians are used to overtake your car from any side that might be open by just honking their way through. What makes this worse is the owner of these automotive installing aftermarket louder horns.

There are regulations around installing horns above the sound limit, but the rules are not strict enough. These practices are more prevalent in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. Here’s a video of a Mahindra Scorpio where the driver is proudly recording people’s reaction on public roads over his “train horn”. Read on to find why these loud aftermarket horns are banned.

The video is uploaded by Sonam Chib who is also recording the reactions of people around the car listening to the horn. We were unable to trace the owner of this Mahindra Scorpio. He didn’t seem to be too bothered about people getting scared and weirdly stressed due to the unexpected train horn on roads. Even though they were causing such a nuisance on the roads, the passengers in the car are seen laughing and smiling at their reactions.

Pressure horns

Pressure horns such as the ones installed in this Scorpio are actually more actively used by truck and bus drivers. Traffic Police in India doesn’t seem to take any action against them and don’t even stop them to give a warning.

Authorities are working on newer and stricter laws around the sound pollution caused by vehicles on the road. The current limit set by the law is between 93 dB and 112 dB. However, the authorities plan to bring it down to 110 dB.

People have different hearing issues. The driver on the road mostly has no idea about what a pedestrian or a fellow driver is going through. Listening to such loud horns could damage your eardrums and can also cause deafness in the longer run.

It could also create unnecessary stress and trigger anxiety attacks. Heavy locomotives have loud horns to announce their arrival on the same road as you are driving, so you make way. A lot of expedition vehicles also use it, so they can be easily tracked through unique loud noises in case they are lost.

As per the Indian laws around loud horns, the cops are free to seize the vehicle violating any law against the limit set. The owner of the vehicle can also be punished for installing such horn in their vehicles.

The first offence fine can be up to Rs. 1,000 and the second offence at Rs.2,000. Cops do take strict action against those who use pressure horns. In fact, police and RTOs of a few states have even acquired sound meters to check the loudness of a horn and exhaust.