Bengaluru police to implement ‘honk more, wait more’ on signals: Will it work?

Experts are divided on whether the move will be beneficial in the city of Bengaluru.

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The Bengaluru traffic police are always looking for novel measures to deal with the problem of traffic on Bengaluru’s roads. News emerged on Saturday of a new measure by the Mumbai Police to curb the honking menace in their city, and the Bengaluru police did not want to be left behind.

The Mumbai police shared a video on Saturday evening that showed people who were honking at the red signal, even when the ticker in the signal was close to 10 seconds. However, the decibel monitor installed close to the signal also began increasing due to the noise. When the decibel level reached 85 dB, the ticker on the signal automatically reset to 90 seconds, much to everyone’s frustration, when another monitor displayed the message: “Honk more wait more.”

Now, Bengaluru is planning to implement something similar. Speaking on plans for Bengaluru, city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said: “Though honking is not as serious a problem in Bengaluru as in Mumbai, we are planning to implement the system at major traffic junctions to inculcate road discipline.”

Rao has spoken to Mumbai joint commissioner (traffic) Madhukar Pandey on this. “I have taken details regarding the systems and vendors. I will ask the joint commissioner of traffic police in Bengaluru to identify major junctions where honking is most reported,” he added.

Horn not okay, please!

Find out how the @MumbaiPolice hit the mute button on #Mumbai’s reckless honkers. #HonkResponsibly pic.twitter.com/BAGL4iXiPH — Mumbai Police (@MumbaiPolice) January 31, 2020

The move has been widely applauded on social media, however, Ashwathy Dilip, who works with ITDP (Institute for Transportation and Development Policy), was not too thrilled of the move. Speaking to TNM, she said, “Does Bengaluru even have that much honking? This video being shared on social media is good for spreading the message, but it is not a long term solution to the problem. We definitely need to create awareness regarding honking less, but I don’t think this would be feasible to carry out across the city.”

She added, “This is a very great tool for creating a buzz on social media, to create a constant communication with people about stopping this bad habit, similar to the Anti-Tobacco campaigns.”

She also warned of the consequences of holding people hostage to a traffic signal. “If they carry out this plan, people will get frustrated and skip the signal after a point. We already have cases of people getting tired of waiting at the signal and just leaving. The same would become an even bigger problem. This is not a tested intervention, and I suspect it has been made just to create a buzz.”

However, Pawan Mulukutla, an independent traffic expert said, “It’s a good measure, as honking is a big problem, and causes stress to people around them in crowded places. Thus it should be addressed effectively. This could work, provided it is designed effectively according to the principles of traffic engineering. We have cases of major junctions in the city like Silk Board having 300 seconds on the timer. This should be reduced to make it more feasible.”