The law on road traffic safety stipulates that motorists whilst driving motor vehicles in areas or sections of the city where horns are forbidden shall not honk horns.
Laying on the horn has become a habit for many drivers, usually to urge movement of other motorists, warn people of potential danger and in a lot of cases to vent!
Non-essential honking has become a problem, especially in built up residential areas.
In the past, provisions have been put into place for the implementation of no honking within urban limits, but because of the lack of long-term management and effective supervision means, many motorists still honk at will.
June 25, Haikou City Traffic Police Detachment exposed 10 vehicles across national news for honking horns in restricted areas.
The culprits were caught using special traffic management acoustic cameras that can detect sound.
A motor vehicle that honks its horn in violation of the law on a road section where traffic is forbidden will be fined 50 yuan according to the law.
It is hoped that the majority of drivers in the city consciously lay off the horn to reduce urban traffic noise and improve our living environment.
Seeing sound through acoustic cameras
Acoustic traffic management cameras have been active across Chinese cities for a number of years. The cameras catch a two second clip of noisy cars, which is then analyzed to determine if the driver who honked had a fair reason to do so.
According to reports, the traffic cameras have an accuracy rating of 92-95%.
Acoustic cameras have been used in a number of applications across the globe such as measuring sound levels of manufacturing equipment to locate problem areas in regards to safety and machine malfunction and they are also used to improve the comfort level for passengers inside cabins on trains and airplanes.
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