HYDERABAD: Drivers who are in the habit of honking for no or little reason, excuse. In a bid to rein in erratic drivers honking relentlessly at traffic junctions and scaring pedestrians, the Pearl City will be observing ‘Horn Not OK Day (HNOD)’ starting every Tuesday.
After successfully implementing car-free Thursday and Raahgiri Day, in a bid to protect the environment and decongest roads, Hyderabad, which is always at the forefront in taking up eco-friendly drives, will be observing HNOD on Tuesdays. A week-long awareness programme will be conducted with a message ‘Noise is Evil’ aimed to educate nearly 80 lakh vehicle users.
The initiative is taken up by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) - Young Indians (Yi).
Ankit Agarwal, chair of the initiative, said “On the occasion of Swami Vivekananda birth anniversary, we decided to observe this. We want to create awareness on this issue and make our city honk-free, like US and UK.”
CII will also conduct orientation classes for Ola and Uber cab drivers in a bid to sensitise them about the menace, he added.
“Apart from this, we will take up a digital campaign with the Star Wars theme. We have launched an app, which lets people report the decibel levels in their surroundings and click a selfie,” Agarwal added.
On the eve, a group of volunteers from Yi took to streets carrying placards reading ‘Horn Not OK Day’ at KBR National Park.
According to statistics, the decibel levels in Hyderabad are way above the prescribed limits (70-80 decibels) and in some busy junctions it touches 150.
“So far, we have received more than 1,000 pledges from drivers. We will also seek permission of transport department and paste the message ‘Horn Not OK’ in all buses and autos.
This will help in spreading further awareness,” said Heem Desai, member of CII-Yi.
No Horn Please
Horn Not OK Day on Tuesdays
To be launched on Swami Vivekananda birth anniversary from Tuesday.
People who pledge not to honk unnecessarily to get special discounts on Ola and Uber rides.
Orientation classes for cab drivers.
CII-Yi app to facilitate users to report decibel levels in their locality