Horn. not ok! Silent zone violations fall on deaf ears

Vadodara: Many may not know that they are not supposed to honk when driving on Jail Road or on the stretch between Mandvi Gate and City police station as it is a silent zone. While the traffic police launches drives to crack down on commuters driving without helmets, jumping signals or over-speeding, there has been hardly any drive against those flouting the ‘silence zone’ rules.
In fact, the list of ‘silence zones’ hasn’t been upgraded for several years despite the city growing by leaps and bounds. “We declare silence zones on the basis of representations from citizens or any group. We haven’t increased the number of silence zones in recent times but we would definitely take this up,” said Shamsher Singh, city police commissioner.
The police said that a number of new hospitals and schools have come up in new areas, especially on the outskirts of the city and hence the list of silence zones needs to be revised. As of now, the police have notified nine areas as silence zones in the city. And as a norm, honking near schools and hospitals isn’t allowed. “Noise pollution has gone up a lot in the city due to the increasing number of vehicles and commuters add to it by honking incessantly. Many aren’t even aware of the silence zones due to lack of awareness and visibility of signboards,” said Pritesh Shah, a resident of Harni.
Several studies have shown that honking incessantly doesn’t just lead to a spike in noise pollution but also leads to hearing loss and sleep disorders. Till a few years ago, no-honking boards were visible in the silent zones.
But some of the signboards went missing due to development works or anti-encroachment drives. The police said that it will hold awareness drives to educate people about the importance of driving without honking but the commuters too should exercise self-restraint.