Curb honking to reduce noise pollution

On April 26, Bangladesh along with other countries of the world observed the International Noise Awareness Day 2023. The theme of the day for this year was: "Protect Your Ears, Protect Your Health." The choice of the theme indicates that noise pollution in many countries has already reached a high-risk level causing severe harm to human health. It is known to all that when any noise or sound crosses the limit of the tolerable level of decibel, human ears cannot receive it. Instead, ears face serious injury that negatively affects the brain and nerves. The ultimate result is the decline in physical and mental health. So, the core objective of the day is to make people aware of the distressing aspects of noise pollution and what can be done to prevent it.
The theme further shows that despite knowing the danger of excessive noise, people care little, as if they have forgotten the health hazards. So they need to be reoriented about the basic knowledge of keeping the noise level at a tolerable level. It is true for many countries, including Bangladesh, where the proliferation of casualness brings many hazards and troubles to the citizens' daily lives. A growing number of people in this county have become habituated to doing almost everything casually. Some have yet to comprehend their casualness, let alone its consequences. The problem of noise pollution needs to be understood in this context also.
A major source of noise pollution in the country, in the urban areas to be more accurate, is careless and impatient honking. It has become unavoidable and an ingrained habit of all motorists in this country, and they seem to believe honking is more important than pressing the brakes. In Bangladesh, honking has already gone beyond all limits and thus the urgency to alert nearby vehicles and pedestrians has seriously been compromised. The unnecessary honking reflects impatience and also insensitivity to other people. It is also a reflection of bad culture and casual attitude.
It is sad to note that many people of different ages are suffering from headaches to loss of hearing due to noise pollution from careless honking. It is also known that louder hydraulic horns even cause abortion in pregnant women. As there is no organised statistics, it is difficult to know how many babies are born in the country with the hearing problem due to continuous honking on roads. Citizens of all walks of life are more or less paying for nonsensical honking.
A growing number of various motor vehicles is also behind the rise in honking. Motorcycles and CNG-driven auto-rickshaws on roads honk frequently. Honking by private cars is also widespread. Public buses, however, are known for louder honking. Again, it will not be fair to blame only those behind the steering of motor vehicles. The lousy traffic management on roads and streets also drives them to honk impatiently. Failure to implement the traffic laws properly has already worsened the chaos on roads. Irregular drives to seize the hydraulic horns from buses and trucks will not be enough to reduce noise pollution in the long run.

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