Walk or drive through the City's thoroughfares. It wouldn't take long to nail the biggest culprit: shrill and defective vehicular horns. Honk-happy drivers just let themselves go as their horns sing, hoot, screech, scream, pierce, ululate and wail, till the City's rhythm divine is rendered raucous.

“Shrill horns cause a deafening effect and could even destabilise the mental state of a driver as it could leave someone numb or even in a state of shock. The number of shrill horns are increasing by 10 to 15 percent every year. If the City expands at such a hapless pace then this will go up to 50 per cent every year,” observes an officer with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

Not that the authorities are just watching this brutal assault on Bangaloreans' aural senses. Case registered against shrill and defective horns are on a steady rise. The year 2006 saw 26,000 cases, with the number almost doubling this year at 40,000. An amount of Rs 500 is levied on every offender but this hasn’t proved to be a strong deterrent.

“The young are the main culprits. They don't mind paying a huge amount to buy musical horns. It's an easy way to attract attention. We are contemplating speaking with the government to bring in a stringer law against these offenders," observes a top police officer in the City.

Horn manufacturers
A horn manufacturer in the City who makes brisk business by selling musical and fancy horns says he has a whole lot of youngsters coming to him to get their car horns upgraded.

This manufacturer stocks wolf horns, high pitched power horns, ambulance horns, police sirens and pipe horns. “All these horns exceed the stipulated decibel level. This horns can be hidden in the dash board of vehicles and the driver has the provision to switch to these screechy horns whenever he wants,” explains this horn manufacturer.

The rates for these loud horns vary between Rs 350 and  Rs 900. The musical horns cost Rs 150 and have seven or eight tunes built into them. The shrill horns cost between Rs 450 and Rs 1,600.

There are close to 1000 shops, in the City, selling fancy horns. J C Road, Mission Road, Jayanagar, J P Nagar, Lalbagh road and Siddaiah road are just some of the places where such horns are sold.

Besides the fancy angle, the problem also has an existential side to it: Everyone is in such a tearing hurry to reach his or her destination that they wouldn't mind honking the other person off the streets. Actually, this pushes those on the City roads to the edge and becomes another reason for the increasing instances of road rage.

Step up the fine amount
The State Regional Transport Authority too has stepped in to rein in these aural offenders. Between April and October alone this year, the department has checked 96,479 vehicles, booked more than 2,923 cases and collected a fine amount of Rs 12,17,500. Maxi cabs, two-wheelers, tempos and four-wheelers were found to be high on the list of offenders.

The department is contemplating increasing the fine amount. “While only some four-wheelers and two-wheelers stick to horns of the manufacturing company, most others modify them. More than 70 per cent of the two wheelers have defective horns,” Transport Commissioner M Lakshmi Narayana says.

For those at the receiving end of these shrill horns, it's a harrowing time on the roads. IT professional Shekar Raj who moved to Bangalore from Chennai a year ago, thinks that “people who drive in the City have no regard for other people. There is a poverty of courtesy.”

Social worker Jolly Varghese sums up, “Shrill horns scare the wits out of you. Life, it seems, is not a priority for the offenders. People must be more sensitive towards one another.”

Noise Standards  (As per the motor vehicles Act) Noise Limits for Automobiles at the manufacturing stage. *  Motorcycles, scooters and three wheelers 80 * Passenger cars  82 *  Passenger or commercial vehicles (up to 4 MT) 85 *  Passenger or commercial vehicles (above 4 MT) and (up to 12 MT) 89 *  Passenger or commercial vehicles (exceeding 12MT) 91