Noise – the Menace
Silence – the way to inner peace. A human being’s mind needs to be free of fatigue in order to function properly; therefore, silence is imminent for the peace and tranquillity of a mind. People have their own set of problems and worries in their lives, and this plagues the minds. Deep thinking and meditation is a prerequisite for finding proper solutions to a problem, and one needs silence for such circumstances. Silence is also essential for studies, relaxation, sleep and various other situations. Sound breaks the silence … but it is not a menace unless it violates certain limits and metamorphoses into something disturbing, called Noise.
Noise is a menace for society and is one of the numerous forms of pollution. There are many sources of noise, and one of them is a horn.
A horn is defined as an alarm device that makes a loud warning sound. These days, one can find various kinds of musical horns in the market. Such horns are used by cars, buses, trucks, lorries, coaches, motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, and vendors. The basic purpose of a vehicle’s horn is to warn the other party in order to avoid an accident. But this is not how a horn is being used today. These days, a horn is used to annoy others, rather than being a polite warning.
If one happens to go out on a road at any time of the day or night, the level of noise is extremely high and it is so nerve wrecking that one would wish to be deaf rather than go through such torture. One can see the drivers who have a hand stuck to the horn and would not stop honking till the vehicles in the front start moving. It is used as a weapon to intimidate fellow drivers. This causes annoyance and aggravates the other driver, resulting in accidents. The official purpose of the horn is to lessen accidents, whereas this misuse actually leads to an increase in accidents.
Not only are vehicles using these horns, but nowadays there is a new trend of musical horns being used by street vendors. Gone are the days when the vendors used to shout at the top of their lungs to grab the attention of the public, nowadays the vendors have found the new, modern way – a musical horn!
A few months ago, I was extremely ill and it took me hours to fall asleep. As my room’s window faces the road, I was suddenly woken up by the sound of loud music being played by an ice-cream vendor. The music stopped after two, three minutes and as I tried to go back to sleep, the vendor returned within 10 minutes, blaring the same music again. This continued for the next hour and by that time my fever had risen by several degrees.
The misuse of horns is a very important issue and needs to be addressed by the public. A petition was filed with the Lahore High Court, this Friday, by MD Tahir against the abusive use of pressure horns by motorcyclists and ice-cream vendors. This comes as a sigh of relief to many, like me, who have gone through immense mental torture due to the abuse of such devices. There is a legal ban on the use of pressure horns under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance and Motor Vehicle Rules but still no heed is paid to such legalities.
Our society needs to reform its ways because in all developed societies, there is a great stress on the rights of other humans. Utmost care is given to the issue of noise pollution and there are certain restrictions on the sound level, in late hours and the use of horn is prohibited near schools, hospitals and other such facilities. These rules are there to protect the comfort of other people. However, the value of people's comfort isn't much of a priority in our system as yet. We should all try to minimize noise pollution as its everyone's responsibility to ensure other's comfort and convenience and only use it when extremely necessary. Strict action should be taken against people who break these laws and such troublemakers should be duly punished for destroying the peace and harmony of other people.
Noise is a menace for society and is one of the numerous forms of pollution. There are many sources of noise, and one of them is a horn.
A horn is defined as an alarm device that makes a loud warning sound. These days, one can find various kinds of musical horns in the market. Such horns are used by cars, buses, trucks, lorries, coaches, motorcycles, bicycles, rickshaws, and vendors. The basic purpose of a vehicle’s horn is to warn the other party in order to avoid an accident. But this is not how a horn is being used today. These days, a horn is used to annoy others, rather than being a polite warning.
If one happens to go out on a road at any time of the day or night, the level of noise is extremely high and it is so nerve wrecking that one would wish to be deaf rather than go through such torture. One can see the drivers who have a hand stuck to the horn and would not stop honking till the vehicles in the front start moving. It is used as a weapon to intimidate fellow drivers. This causes annoyance and aggravates the other driver, resulting in accidents. The official purpose of the horn is to lessen accidents, whereas this misuse actually leads to an increase in accidents.
Not only are vehicles using these horns, but nowadays there is a new trend of musical horns being used by street vendors. Gone are the days when the vendors used to shout at the top of their lungs to grab the attention of the public, nowadays the vendors have found the new, modern way – a musical horn!
A few months ago, I was extremely ill and it took me hours to fall asleep. As my room’s window faces the road, I was suddenly woken up by the sound of loud music being played by an ice-cream vendor. The music stopped after two, three minutes and as I tried to go back to sleep, the vendor returned within 10 minutes, blaring the same music again. This continued for the next hour and by that time my fever had risen by several degrees.
The misuse of horns is a very important issue and needs to be addressed by the public. A petition was filed with the Lahore High Court, this Friday, by MD Tahir against the abusive use of pressure horns by motorcyclists and ice-cream vendors. This comes as a sigh of relief to many, like me, who have gone through immense mental torture due to the abuse of such devices. There is a legal ban on the use of pressure horns under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance and Motor Vehicle Rules but still no heed is paid to such legalities.
Our society needs to reform its ways because in all developed societies, there is a great stress on the rights of other humans. Utmost care is given to the issue of noise pollution and there are certain restrictions on the sound level, in late hours and the use of horn is prohibited near schools, hospitals and other such facilities. These rules are there to protect the comfort of other people. However, the value of people's comfort isn't much of a priority in our system as yet. We should all try to minimize noise pollution as its everyone's responsibility to ensure other's comfort and convenience and only use it when extremely necessary. Strict action should be taken against people who break these laws and such troublemakers should be duly punished for destroying the peace and harmony of other people.
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