Traffic police have intensified checks after enforcing a ‘No Horn’ drive in Kathmandu Valley eight days ago. According to the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, 2,192 riders were booked for violating traffic rules on Friday alone.

Those facing action include 536 lane rule violators and 168 honkers. The offences of stopping vehicles at zebra crossings, haphazard parking and drink driving were also punished.

The division, in association with the Kathmandu Metropolitan City, implemented the ‘No Horn’ regulation starting on the Nepali New Year Day. Since then, traffic police have booked 1,808 drivers in total for blowing the horn. Eighty percent of the drivers are motorcyclists, followed by cabbies and those running micro-buses.

The drive has got a mixed response from the public. Some have welcomed the new fiat, which is helpful in reducing noise pollution in the Valley, while others have called it a publicity stunt of the authorities. People say that the rules will be ineffective until the roads are widened and traffic lights installed at the major junctions. Some social media users have accused the government of enforcing this rule to divert people’s attention from the intolerably high level of air pollution caused mainly by the dusty roads.

The division is holding meetings with the stakeholders and various organisations to start an awareness programme for jaywalkers from next week. From May 15, traffic police are going to penalise people caught jaywalking. Nearly 1,300 officials have been deployed to book rule violators.

The fines range from Rs200 to Rs1,000, as provisioned by the Motor Vehicles and Transport Management Act-1993.