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Police crackdown on deafening musical horns
Police removed loud horns from vehicles in the Fort-Pettah area
Police have begun an island-wide operation to remove loud musical horns, with 800 vehicles being pulled over just in the Colombo Fort-Pettah area on Thursday and Friday.
Vehicle owners who agreed to remove the offending horns and hand them over to the police were given warnings and released. Those who resisted face court on charges of violating the Motor Traffic Law, Deputy Inspector General Traffic Ajith Rohana said.
The operation began two weeks ago in Anuradhapura with inspections of buses and lorries operating within city limits and heading to Colombo.
While police were on an operation to remove horns, this man was seen fixing one in Panchikawatte. Pic by Ishanka Sunimal
Horn tooting dropped 60 percent in the city following police action, Sub-Inspector Senaka Makundagamage of Anuradhapura police said.
He explained that, first, police stopped all vehicle drivers using musical horns and warned them to remove the horns. During a second inspection, people who repeated the offence were ordered to hand in the horns to police and were fined Rs. 1,000.
Inspector Makundagamage, who is Officer-in-Charge (OIC) of Traffic, said if a person were found a third time to be using a musical horn, that individual would be ordered to face court.
The Motor Traffic Act imposes strict limits on use of horns, stating they may be employed as a warning, to avoid accidents, or to indicate that the vehicle is about to overtake another vehicle.
Multi-horns or sirens may only be used in vehicles that respond to emergency situations, such as police, fire brigade or ambulance vehicles, or those used by the armed services.
Under the National Environmental Act, drivers cannot use horns that exceed 105 decibels when sounded over a distance of two metres or those that exceed 93 decibels when sounded over seven metres.
Bus and lorry drivers have ingenious ways of hiding illegal horns, positioning them in the engine compartment or radiator to avoid detection, Wennappuwa Police Traffic OIC Sub-Inspector Nelson Peiris said.
His officers had also found horns rigged in tandem and multiple horns connected to separate buttons that could be pressed to produce a multi-horn effect, he said.
“We search the whole vehicle so the culprits have less chance of being able to hide the horns and get away without being detection,” Inspector Peiris said.
“Within two weeks of the operation implementing the law against musical horns we have removed 53 musical horns.” Bus and lorry drivers were perennial culprits.
“Any person using a musical horn can be fined Rs. 7,500,” Inspector Peiris said.
Madampe Police said they had taken action again seven drivers and motorbike riders who were using musical horns.
Traffic OIC Sub-Inspector Pathum Kumara said police had stressed to offenders that loud musical horns could scare people. “Nervous drivers could get excited and, in trying to react quickly, end up hitting another vehicle,” he said.
