'Horn Ok Please' signs banned in Maharashtra
In an effort to curb incessant honking on the roads, the Transport Commissioner of Maharashtra has imposed a ban on 'Horn Ok Please' signs painted on the rear of a lot of commercial vehicles in India.The state transport department believes that the phrase encourages drivers to honk as they pass these commercial vehicles.
Bal Malkit Singh, a former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, welcomed the ban. He believes that the sign was a necessity back when roads were narrow and other drivers had to alert the truck driver before overtaking. However, this is not the case now as roads are relatively wider and many national highways are either four or six lanes wide.
The RTO will conduct a drive to check for the presence of the signs on commercial vehicles and offenders will be fined.
While the intention behind the ban is commendable, we wonder how erasing the prompt to honk off the vehicles can prevent anyone from using the horn. Given our road conditions, the horn is required to let someone know of your presence. On the other hand, some people honk, irrespective of what vehicle they are following.
And while the transport department is busy relieving the roads of such ominous perils, it could also look into pressing issues such as overladen trucks, vehicles driving at night with dysfunctional tail lights, over speeding, those using illegal HID kits, driving at high beam. . . oh and lidless two-wheeler riders.
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