NO HONKING DAY

Good to see most Punters follow no honking. :up

But its tough to follow this rule in India. I agree we should minimize it.

 

Chill, guys.

We're not in Europian or American Country. From the day I started driving Bike till today, there are certain ground rules I learnt over a period of time with on-road street experiences, few examples below:

When I'm approaching a signal with still 100 meters away, the light is green, no vehicles in sight ahead of me neither on left/ right side of the signal, still I blow horn before crossing the signal. God knows, some impatient fellow seeing a completely empty signal wants to cross it from left or right, breaking the signal.

When I approach a turn - whether small or sharp turn, whether night or day, whether city or highway, I always blow a horn expecting that there IS SOMEONE GOING TO COME from the other side of the turn abruptly always assuming that he/she would be in wrong direction making a reckless turn - I always blow a horn to warn off before entering the turn.

When I overtake - whether City or highway, whether other car or a biker or a bus/ truck, I always assume that, that guy in front left IS GOING TO COME ABRUPTLY on the right side directly in front of me when I'm overtaking - I always blow a horn to warn off such guys that hey I'm overtaking.

At times I use lights also - flash/ dipper etc but I never let myself depended only on light signals, God knows who looks at light signals during day time - Horn always accompnied the light signal (when I was biking, during day time, in addition to give a turning side indicator signal, additionally I always used hand signals to turn).

We've all kinds of moron driving & I always assume that the other guy is going to break traffic rules - to be ready for the worst is the phrase. We've children playing, we've cows/dogs/animals moving on the road, we've people walking right in front of the vehicles on the main road as footpaths are invariably encrotched by hawkers or even the side portion of road is occupied by parked cars etc etc.

There are all kinds of people driving vehicles - those who are learning driving, females, elderlies etc who typically are uncertain whether to go left or right, who typically apply brakes without any reason etc etc

I do not advice anyone to reduce honking at the expense of safety. In fact, whoever I teach driving, I advocate usage of horn. There are so many other areas in India where noise/ decible levels can be reduced without compromising safety.

I'm sorry disagreeing with all of you. But as I mentioned thats how I drive - expecting the worst, always assuming the other guy is gonna break traffic rule & if not warned (by horn), will come in the way & bang my beautiful car or me and as far as things are in my control (horn is in my control), I should not allow that to happen.

There is a Gujarati adage/saying: "Pahelu sukh te jaate narya" (meaning the first happiness/ comfort is to remain healthy / safe yourself)

 

Amit your points are valid - and for sure nobody would advise "to reduce honking at the expense of safety".

But we can certainlly reduce the honking frequency. Most of the time, people (specially taxi drivers) just start honking without reason.
- On traffic light, some people gets excited by seeing Yellow light on other side and start honking.
- I mostly travell in office cab, most of the time they honk without any reason.
- Sometime, if red light is for longer duration (whatever the reason is) people just loose their patiance and start honking.

In a way, in India, most people release their temper by honking. Our driving style is so pathetic.

 

These all are avoidable. However, there is other side of the story too.

After a hectic day, you leave office at 7 pm for a gruelling 2 hour drive to reach back home & to spend whatever hours remaining with family. You're waiting in the lane at the signal. The signal opens, everyvehicle moves ahead but your lane does not move. Why? Because the vehicle in front - a yellow/black taxi or a Indica or a WagonR or a tempo stalled (why it happens when the signal starts? (Cha0s - Remember y'day?...) . This happens very frequently & happens when one is getting late. The entire lane waites & by the time that moron's car comes back to life, the deadly signal turns RED :traffic :cry: . You can't find faults of all cars honking behind that front car/cab is either stalled or the guy turned it off & the car refuses to start at green signal.

You move ahead, there are patches of high-traffic zones where you spent considerable time clearing it, getting frustrated in the process & now you're on 4-6 lane free road with a sigh of relief. You and most of the cars are doing 60 kmph or above, you're in right most lane which is very correct. You see your lane passage is blocked with slow moving car ahead. Why? Because a slumbering Autorickshaw or Yellow/black taxi or an Indica is crawling in right-most lane (which is meant for fast moving cars) at 25 kmph with all following cars forced to crawl like it, the entire scenario represents Heli's comet-like pic where that slow car/cab is leading a bunch of cars which are tailing like a tail of a comet :cry: . You can't move to left as cars are flying by at 70-80 kmph without giving an inch. And then after several minutes you hit a traffic-prone patch in a stand-still position. Your only survival now depends on how can you now maneuver car out of that dread line lead by that dreaded cab.

At the end of the day, you reach half an hour late at home at 9.30 pm. From 9 pm to 11 pm you got 2 hours to spend with your kids/ family. Half an hour late means 25% of that quality time is snatched - by whom ? :A

There are always both sides of a coin. All these happen practically on-road daily and are facts with which we've to live with.

 

Another real life street experience...

Last Friday early morning, I was driving out of our apartment complex. One side (Right Side) of the passage is blocked by the parked cars & there is 1 single lane to drive car. There was a couple walking ahead of me on the left side giving me ample room to take my car through. As it was early morning I decided not to honk within apartment complex. I passed by the couple. There was still 1 foot space on left side between my car & the walking guy. It was comfortable & not even a squeeze. I don't know what happened - whether the guy was sleeping or he did not expect any car but he got shocked / surprised when my car passed & shouted - "Arey, Horn bhi nahi bajata" (meaning Oh, Why don't you honk?). We expect others to honk to warn us. If you hit someone (or rather someone going ahead suddenly comes in your lane & bangs to your car), you find that instead of saying sorry, he'll shout at you asking why didn't you honk & why horn is given in car etc).

Bottomline - Honking is absolutely not needed provided - there is excellent infrastructure, ample road space, wider roads, entwined snake-like intersections (roads running over one another where signals are not needed), Strict traffic rules (Speeding cars in slow lanes & crawling cars in fast-lane are fined), Lanes are defined with speed-limits, Something like social security card where all your traffic offenses are recorded & fined suitably, People do not walk in the middle of the road in a matter of fact-manner, Children do not play on middle of the road, cows/dogs/animals are not roaming on streets & main road, and a long wish-list likewise...You'll then see cars stopping to a standstill giving respect to let the passerby cross the road ala "foren" countries because Walkers/ passerby's are a very few compared to cars