Traffic police’s anti-honking initiative creates buzz on Twitter; aims to create noise-free commute
In what is being lauded as a witty yet brilliant move on social media,
the traffic police on Friday released a video
about an experimental initiative that was started in November 2019.
The Punishing Signal campaign involves connecting decibel scanners to traffic signals. When the decibel
level exceeds a dangerous 85dB, the signal timer will reset itself, forcing
motorists to wait longer at the signal.
Pravin Padwal, Additional Commissioner of Police, Mumbai traffic police,
said, “We connected decibel scanners to signals at spots like Marine Drive,
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Bandra and Tardeo, where the phenomenon
of motorists honking for no reason at red lights was observed in high density.
The apparatus was only made operational for 15 minutes on one day so as to not
cause major traffic problems and yet help us gauge the reactions of the
motorists.”
Mr. Padwal said cameras were stationed beforehand at a couple of locations
to record the reaction of people. The reactions were edited and made into a
video, which was released on Friday.
The video, which is a collage of visuals with a voice-over, shows the
city and its traffic. The voice-over speaks in Hindi with a pronounced Marathi
accent. The narrator throws in some Marathi words, which is in sync with the
general public’s image of an average policeman.
Honk louder, wait longer
After a few establishing shots, the video talks about the tendency of
motorists to honk at red lights even though it serves no purpose and adds to
the city’s noise pollution. It then takes the viewers through the initiative
and shows the confused reactions of people, till a billboard displays a message
saying, “Honk more, wait more”, followed by a scene of two traffic police
personnel exchanging high-fives.
“Kashi vatli idea [How did you like the idea]?” says the
voice-over before ending with a chuckle.
Traffic police officials said a decision is yet to be taken on whether
the initiative will be implemented as a policy. “We are still taking stock of
feedback for the experiment and further course of action will be based on it,”
Mr. Padwal said.
The tweet was released on Friday morning through the Mumbai Police’s
official Twitter handle and remained its ‘pinned tweet’ throughout Friday.
“#MumbaiPolice” was among the top trending hashtags on Twitter till Friday
night.
