City police urge Mumbaikars to complain against car reverse alarms
Mumbai: Conducting a special drive, the Mumbai traffic police have booked 2,047 motorists for using reverse horns. Traffic officials, however, say booking motorists is difficult during the day as most vehicles usually move forward and do not require to use the reverse horns.
The department has now appealed to people to register complaints against the use of reverse horns. The complaints can be lodged at www.trafficpolicemumbai.org. Residents have been complaining about the nuisance caused by reverse horns, especially at night.
Traffic officials say a good number of complaints are against call centre vehicles, which have to visit residential areas at unearthly hours to drop and pick staffers. “The call centre vehicles are the biggest culprits when it comes to the misuse of reverse horns. But as our traffic personnel cannot be physically present at all the places, we want citizens to note down the numbers of the erring vehicles and report to us,’’ said a traffic official.
The campaign against the injudicious use of horns has continued ever since the traffic police observed No-Honking Day on April 7. In the special drive against horns carried out till May 18, the police penalised 606 motorists for using pressure horns. A total of 29,719 motorists were penalised for honking unnecessarily, which in itself is an offence under Rule 231 of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989.
The use of pressure, musical and reverse horns is illegal under Rule 119 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, punishable with a fine of Rs 500. “This includes even the use of a musical system in a car, if played at a very high volume,’’ the traffic official pointed out. On No-Honking Day, the traffic police had penalised 6,154 offenders. The department had also roped in actor Amitabh Bachchan to drive home the message of not honking without a reason.
Traffic officials say there are more than 1.5 million vehicles on Mumbai’s roads, including 1.10 lakh autos and 55,000 taxis, all of which create a lot of noise pollution due to unnecessary honking.