A doctor residing in Yamuna Vihar complains, “People just don’t seem to have any civic sense or road sense. To cite just one example, at a traffic signal, the moment the light turns green, motorists behind start honking violently. If you have switched off the ignition, the few moments it takes to restart the engine are pure hell; it seems they want to blow you away,” laments Dr. Beenish Parvez.“And the worst part is that I have never seen anybody being fined for excessive honking in Delhi,” she quips, adding that motorists in Bengaluru, Chennai and Kochi in her experience behave a lot better and are more sensible.Although the Motor Vehicles Act has provisions of punishment/ penalty for excessive honking, penalties have been few. One suspects Delhi Police take action only when they receive complaints from VIPs. This is borne out by figures.In 2018, a total of 13,75,044 challans (traffic tickets) were issued to motorists for violations, out of which only 3,120 challans (around 0.22%) were for excessive honking. Similarly, in 2019, a total of 4,374 motorists were fined for excessive honking. In 2020, because of the lockdown, only 257 were issued tickets for excessive honking. The figure in 2021, up to September 30, was just 86.
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