Kolkata is set to launch a seven-month no-honking campaign involving around 30,000 school and college students, as institutions and road-safety experts seek to reduce unnecessary honking near hospitals, educational institutions, tourist destinations and other noise-sensitive areas.
Titled ‘Stop Honking, Start Caring’, the initiative will begin with a cultural event in the city on Wednesday, November 18. Students from several schools and colleges will use reels, digital posters, placards and street-level awareness drives to encourage motorists to avoid honking unless it is necessary for road safety.
The campaign is the brainchild of Bhargab Maitra, a civil engineering professor at IIT-Kharagpur and an expert in traffic safety, transportation planning and urban road management. His traffic and driving guidelines identify hospitals, educational institutions and places of worship as areas that should be designated as no-honking zones.
Participating institutions include Ashok Hall Group of Schools, Ashok Hall Girls’ Higher Secondary School, G D Birla Centre for Education, Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar, Rabindra Bharati University and Future Institute of Engineering. The campaign is being organised in association with the Public Relations Society of India’s Kolkata chapter and IIT-Kharagpur.
According to experts cited in the campaign, honking accounts for 70% of the total noise pollution caused in Kolkata. A recent survey across 10 city crossings recorded one honk every eight seconds at each location. On average, the experts said, a crossing in the city receives more than 10,000 honks a day.
Maitra said unnecessary honking causes irritation, distress and anger among road users, while also distracting drivers and potentially increasing the risk of road crashes. He said the campaign was intended to address noise pollution, protect public health and promote responsible road behaviour, including respect for silence zones.
Several participating schools already conduct anti-honking activities through assembly discussions, expert talks and creative programmes. Sampa Banik, principal of Ashok Hall Girls’ Higher Secondary School, said students also carry the message to parents, relatives and neighbours. Principals of Mahadevi Birla Shishu Vihar and G D Birla Centre for Education described honking as a nuisance and a harmful road behaviour that requires public awareness.
Soumyajit Mahapatra, chairman of the PRSI Kolkata chapter, said the initiative aims to double the number of participating students by December next year. The next phase will therefore depend on bringing more educational institutions into the campaign after its November launch.
