Honking on the city streets
I had recently visited Thailand after a gap of 33 years. When I last went there back in 1985 before this visit, there was no overhead or underground mass rapid transit system in Bangkok.
Yet, there were a lot of buses everywhere, which were among the leading causes of its notorious gridlocks. With the introduction of the “Skytrain” in 1999, the metro system in 2004 and the subsequent extensions, the traffic situation improved rapidly with much fewer buses running on the roads.
What impressed me the most was the fact that there was not a lot of honking by drivers on the streets. In Dhaka, drivers almost seem to find it pleasurable to honk needlessly at other vehicles. Until we implement our own mass rapid transit system, can we at least reduce the noise pollution level a little, for the sake of our own sanity?
People need to realise how harmful this constant honking is to human health. Horns should be used by drivers only in emergency situations, or to alert someone, not just for the sake of honking.
ABM Nurul Islam
Dhaka
