Easy-to-fit illegal sirens & horns boom on roads, escape cop net in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Along with other traffic violations, Hyderabad's policemen are struggling to arrest another serious offence: Illegal use of sirens and pressure horns.
Turns out, the city is swarming with motorists who've fitted these devices to their vehicles - right from two-wheelers to swank SUVs - either to jump signals without being challaned or cut through traffic during peak hours.
While a businessman was recently arrested from Bowenpally for resorting to this crime, such crackdowns aren't easy, police officials admit. Especially since this device, readily available at motor accessory shops or online stores, is embedded within the usual horn and isn't easy to trace.
Though traffic cops have booked 4,420 motorists for using prohibited horns between January 2022 and now, there's no specific data on how many of them were sirens. In fact, majority of those caught were found with pressure horns largely used by trucks and buses, followed by air horns attached to two-wheelers and cars. The sound emitted by these horns is way above the average permissible decibel level of 100 to 110 dB and cross 150 dB in many cases. While so far, offenders were imposed a fine of 1,000 and their horns seized, officials have now decided to also file criminal cases against such motorists, given the rise in cases. "Many discreetly use these horns during peak traffic situations, which is a difficult time for traffic police to nab them as they are busy," said the official reiterating the challenges in catching culprits red-handed.
"They keep the siren horns as a dual option with their regular horns and use hidden switches to toggle them... Also, while the misuse of these horns is illegal under the MV Act of 1988, there is no law against sale of siren horns," the official added.
Low cost pushes sales upwards
In fact, when TOI visited some car accessory shops in Minister Road, Koti and Filmnagar recently, it found that siren horns were being sold over the counter for as low as 349 to 1,299 (excluding fitting charges) and being fitted by technicians then and there. The salesmen said that there is reasonably high demand for such horns, especially for SUVs or four-wheelers that have a 12V DC power connection.
"Considering the chaotic Hyderabad traffic situation, many buy air horns as the default horns don't work well. The sale of siren horns are still significantly lesser than the usual horns, but the demand has certainly increased in recent years," Kishore Mishra, proprietor of Rajalaxmi Car Accessories in Film Nagar told TOI.
The products were also found floating around on e-commerce websites at prices as cheap as ₹198 for smaller cars and as expensive as ₹11,000, which provides the exact police siren along with a public announcement system.
"More than common people, these siren horns are used by politicians, their kin and other affluent strata of society. There needs to be a strong and unbiased enforcement drive on this. The government also needs to regulate sales of these products," said Vinod Kamula of Indian Federation of Road Safety.