70% of noise pollution on Mumbai’s roads is due to excessive honking. After many attempts to curb it, Mumbai Police did what fines couldn’t – change behaviour with an unexpected dash of humour. They turned traffic signals into Punishing Signals. When honking crossed 85 dB, the countdown timer at a signal would reset. Making impatient motorists wait more. Interactive Outdoor messages at signals reminded them to honk less in a tongue-in-cheek manner. A film of this activation was subsequently tweeted by Mumbai Police. It soon became the most Liked & Shared and the #1 Indian topic, all social media taken.

Situation:

Mumbai has 1675 vehicles/km. In this fast-paced city, every motorist is in a tearing hurry. Resulting in traffic jams and indiscipline. Like excessive honking. In fact, vehicle owners fit extra loud horns than standard to navigate through teeming traffic. But law enforcement couldn’t enforce enough, with just 1293 people booked in the last 10 years. Their awareness campaigns like “No Honking Day”, “HornVrat” and “Horn Not OK Please” as well as the efforts of the environmental NGO, the Awaaz Foundation, couldn’t cut through to their audience. In the last decade, while vehicles on the road have increased, so has honking – 18 million times/hour.

Brief & Objective:

70% of noise pollution on roads still happens due to indiscriminate honking. Affecting citizens’ physical and mental health. After many attempts to curb it, the Mumbai Police sought a solution that did what fines couldn’t – generate instant results and maximum awareness.

As per W.H.O, 1.6 billion healthy years are lost to disorders and early death due to the physical and mental effects of noise pollution. And 70% of noise pollution on Mumbai’s roads is due to excessive honking. Especially at the traffic signals. The creative solution was to change this civic behaviour but with an unexpected dash of humour from one of India’s biggest law enforcement agencies - the Mumbai Police. Instead of them punishing the perps, they had the traffic signals become Punishing Signals. If honking at a ‘red’ signal crossed 85 decibels (dangerous), the countdown timer resets. Making the impatient motorists wait longer. As they wait, interactive OOH displays linked to the signal push LIVE messages, highlighting their bad behaviour with a wink and a smile. Thus making the motorists honk responsibly for the signal to turn green.

Excessive honking by the motorists on Mumbai’s roads is a civic problem. Especially at traffic signals. Mumbai Police had tried all the “classic” ways to stop this type of traffic indiscipline. Now, quite uncharacteristically, they will change the behaviour with a touch of humour. Instead of them punishing the perps for reckless honking, they get the traffic signals to do it. If honking decibels at the signal crosses 85 dB, the countdown timer resets. Making the Red stay longer, and the impatient motorists wait more. As they wait, interactive OOH linked to the signal pushes messages LIVE, highlighting their bad behaviour with a wink and a smile. And makes them honk less if they wish the signal to turn green. While this will have instant results, a film of this activation will be posted on Mumbai Police's official Twitter handle (5 Million Followers) to generate maximum conversation, awareness and impact.

Mumbai Police developed special decibel meters in collaboration with CMS Systems. With Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s help, they were rigged to the traffic signals at CSMT, Marine Drive, Peddar Road, Hindamata and Bandra West in Mumbai between 10 May 2019 and 11 May 2019. Each meter had a uni-directional mike to isolate honking frequencies in real-time. These were relayed back to the meter coded to analyse the honking dB level and relay to a Digital LED Display for all to see. If the level crossed 85 dB (dangerous), the meter activated the countdown timer to reset. Making the signal stay Red longer, and the impatient motorists, wait longer. Thus the signal became The Punishing Signal. Interactive signal-linked OOH relayed messages reminding motorists to honk less for the Green signal. While the activation got instant results, its video was posted on Mumbai Police’s official Twitter handle (5 million followers) for maximum reach.

Assessed average honking dBs at Punishing Signals a week before and a month after roll-out: 32% decrease (big plus for mental and olfactory health).

P Ashok (Mumbai Police) announced further roll-out in 10 locations of Mumbai; then to the entire traffic system (CNN).

KTR Rao (Telangana Minister) and Police Heads announced a roll-out in Hyderabad, identifying 16 locations - Times of India (ToI).

B Rao (City Commissioner) announced a roll-out in Bengaluru (ToI).

District Collector LK Jatav announced a roll-out in Indore, for “Silent City” tag (ToI).

While it had instant on-ground results, its film tweeted by Mumbai Police led to 6.6 Billion Impressions.

It was Most Liked & Shared and #1 Indian topic, all social media taken.

News outlets in 35 countries - The New York Times, The Guardian, CNN etc. - covered it in 1000+ articles.

All, at zero media spend.

Mumbai Police’s approval rating reached all-time high.