In an effort to control noise pollution, the Kathmandu Valley Traffic Police Office has intensified its ‘no-horn’ drive.

Traffic police on Monday booked 107 drivers for unnecessary honking in public spaces, and since then, an average of 100 drivers are being given tickets every day, according to the Valley’s traffic department.

“We have found an increasing number of vehicles honking on the streets, and so, we have made the drive more stringent,” said Rajendra Prasad Bhatta, spokesperson at the Valley Traffic Police.

While the traffic police used to fine Rs500 for those violating the rule, it has increased the fine to Rs1,500 from December 17. Senior officials at the Valley Traffic Police said they increased the fine to reduce the number of offenders.

“However, we do not take classes for no-horn rule breachers,” Bhatta said. It’s mandatory for traffic rules violators to take a one-hour class for drink-driving and other offences.

According to the Motor Vehicle and Transport Management Act 1993, drivers caught blowing horns in the restricted zones will have to pay fines up to Rs1,500.

“We want to reduce noise pollution since it has various effects on human health,” Bhatta said.

Doctors say noise pollution impacts hearing power and can also cause high blood pressure, headache, stress, fatigue, depression and anxiety. Children, elderly people and pregnant women are more vulnerable to noise pollution.

Spokesperson Bhatta said the drive will run continuously. “We are keeping strictly monitoring the offenders of no-horn rule along with other drives such as those aiming to control drink-driving, disobedience of lanes, and traffic-light breaching.”

In the first week of August last year, the Valley Traffic Police had re-introduced the campaign for a third time in Kathmandu after a new chief of the Valley Traffic Police, Deputy Inspector General Mira Chaudhari, was appointed. The drive was introduced in coordination with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.

Traffic police data shows that a total of 11,477 drivers who flouted the no-horn rule have been booked so far in the current fiscal year, up from 9,477 in the whole of last year.

Between 2017, when the rule was first introduced, and 2019, the traffic police booked 12,271 drivers for violating it.

According to traffic police records, Kathmandu Valley had as many as 1.75 million in August, 2022, up from 1.4 million in 2021 and 1.18 million in 2017.