Horn OK Please or Sound Horn is a phrase commonly painted on commercial vehicles like trucks, buses and local taxis in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, to alert drivers of vehicles approaching from behind to sound their
horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
if they wish to
overtake.
On April 30, 2015, the
Government of Maharashtra
The Government of Maharashtra is the state governing authority for the state of Maharashtra, India. It is a democratically elected government with 288 MLAs elected to the Vidhan Sabha for a five-year term.
Maharashtra has a Maharashtra Legisla ...
banned the use of "Horn OK Please" on the rear of commercial vehicles, on the grounds that it encouraged motorists to honk unnecessarily and caused
noise pollution
Noise pollution, also known as environmental noise or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise with ranging impacts on the activity of human or animal life, most of them are harmful to a degree. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is main ...
. In Maharashtra, such signage is a violation of Section 134 (1) of the Maharashtra Motor Vehicle Rules.
Bal Malkit Singh, former president of the All India Motor Transport Congress, welcomed the ban, stating that the phrase was required in the past when the roads were narrow; but that on modern wide roads and multi-
lane
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
highways, drivers could use lights and indicators to overtake other vehicles.
See also
*
Autorickshaw
An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...
*
Indian English
Indian English (IE) is a group of English dialects spoken in the republic of India and among the Indian diaspora. English is used by the Indian government for communication, along with Hindi, as enshrined in the Constitution of India. E ...
*
Truck art in South Asia
Truck art in South Asia is a popular form of regional decoration, with trucks featuring elaborate floral patterns and calligraphy. It is especially common in Pakistan and India.
During the War in Afghanistan, Pakistani decorated trucks that ran ...
References
External links
Marketplace: ''India's Cheap Car Stirring Up Noise''Radio report on "horn not OK" campaign in India
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horn OK Please
Indian English idioms
Transport culture of India
Trucking subculture
Indian trucking industry