Now, every Wednesday will be a ‘no-honking’ day in Mumbai – Hindustan Times

Mumbai: The Mumbai Traffic Police has decided to observe a “no-honking” day every Wednesday. The police will hold a special drive to penalise motorists honking unnecessarily on all prominent roads in the city on Wednesdays.

The initiative is aimed at curbing noise pollution in the city, police officials said.

According to the traffic police, during the drive, officials will be posted at more than 100 junctions in the city to penalise motorists caught honking without any reason. The violators will also be sent for counselling.

Last Saturday, the traffic police had launched the “pausing the horn” initiative for two hours from 5 pm to 7 pm with just a day’s notice, catching several motorists off-guard and slapping a fine of ₹1,000 on each of them.

Checkpoints were set up at major junctions across the city where 1,856 motorists were caught for unnecessary honking and 14,754 challans were issued for other traffic offences. Besides, 213 FIRs were filed for wrong side driving.

In the past two months, the traffic police has penalised 12,194 motorists for unnecessary honking and 306 drivers for modification of silencers creating noise pollution. Whenever officials come across modified silencers in bikes, they get them removed and ask the bikers to restore the original silencers.

Officers said that people have been complaining of mental and physical discomfort due to noise pollution, which also results in high blood pressure and sleep disorders, among others.