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The ‘horn-free zones’ and ‘silent zones’ in Dhaka city are hardly so, as drivers seldom feel the urge to restrain themselves from blaring their horns in the absence of any enforcement and monitoring. 

Areas surrounding the Bangladesh Secretariat, hospitals, and the airport, marked as silent or horn-free zones, almost round the hour, endure the onslaught of honking horns as a result of rampant violation of the related law. 

Authorities stress both strict monitoring and public awareness to prevent the menace. 

The government on October 1, 2024 established the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport ‘horn-free zone’, while marked the 3-kilometre stretch from La Méridien hotel to Scholastica campus in Uttara as a ‘silent zone’.

While making the announcement, adviser to the ministries of environment, forests and climate change and water resources Syeda Rizwana Hasan said that Tk 500 penalty was fixed for rule violation.

But with no enforcement, drivers feel little urge to keep their hands off the horns while they are in these zones. 

Same goes for the area surrounding the Bangladesh Secretariat, declared a ‘no horn zone’ in December 2019.

Here also, drivers go on with their happy honking, completely oblivious of the rule established for the convenience of the country’s administrative hub.

It is a same story for Shahbagh area, where sit two of the country’s largest hospitals—Bangladesh Medical University and BIRDEM General Hospital.

Section 2(J) of the Sound Pollution Control Rules 2006 designates hospitals, educational institutions and office areas as ‘silent zones’ and prohibits honking within a 100-metre radius of these institutions.

Section 4 of the rules also prohibits honking in ‘silent zones’ designated by local government authorities.

A 2022 survey by the Centre for Atmospheric Pollution Studies found that the so-called ‘silent zones’ were significantly noisier than other areas in the capital.

In 2017, the High Court banned the use of hydraulic horns in motor vehicles, violation of which continues unrestrained.

Department of Environment director Md Ziaul Haque told ¶¶Òõ¾«Æ· recently that the offence of unlawful honking was punishable with fines.

But the current law mandates that a magistrate has to be present to identify that violation has occurred after which the violator can be caught and fines imposed.

Ziaul Haque said that the presence of a magistrate was not always possible in every area. 

He said that since 2010 under two projects they conducted many awareness campaigns and trained several thousand drivers.

‘Without enforcement the drivers will not follow the rules,’ he stressed, adding, ‘inside the cantonment area same drivers follow the rules but not outside.’

He also said that young generation drivers, including the motorcyclists, were particularly in the habit of callous honking, causing health damage to fellow road users.