Drivers in Shanghai have a habit of honking their horns....often....loudly.....and repeatedly....not just a little "beep" but "beep..beep....beep....beep....beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeppppppp!!!!! This was one of the first things that we noticed when we arrived in China. It was a little unnerving especially when they honk at pedestrians. Some times they honk at the car in front of a line that is sitting at a red light. I can never figure out what they think will be accomplished by this type of honking.....It's a red light!!! Nobody is moving!....and it's not like the guy in the front of the line has control over when the light will turn green. The honking here though is not "road rage" honking because no one seems to care if they are honked at. They just continue to do their thing and do not give the honker a mean look or any sort of hand gestures that you might see in the US. I guess we have sort of gotten used to the honking now because I don't jump out of my seat anymore when we get honked at. Thank goodness Mr. Zhang keeps his honking to a minimum. But.....apparently the city of Shanghai is cleaning up their act because the noise from all this honking is very annoying. It was announced in the newspaper yesterday that police will be giving tickets for "excessive honking". The Shanghai Daily says "from June 1, drivers of cars, mopeds and bikes will be banned from blaring horns". The fine can be up to Y200. The article also says that police cars are banned from using their sirens during the day.....except in emergencies. Hello!!! When else would they use the siren? It goes on to say that police officers caught breaking the rules by abusing sirens will also receive a ticket. I bet you are wondering the same thing I am wondering....exactly who is going to give the ticket to the police officer? Evidently there are not enough of these "siren abusing police officers" because....another quote...."given the limited number of traffic police officers on the street, they will focus efforts on hostile noise-makers behind the wheel. The highest penalties will be given to drivers who press their horns for a long time, creating prolonged loud noise out of "impatience and bad manners". The traffic police officers are required to "gather evidence". They must see the driver using the horn as well as hear the horn honking.
Believe it or not....the streets were much quieter today. I guess the drivers were practicing for June 1st. I am very happy that the "siren abusing police officers" will be on the watch for "impatience and bad mannered" drivers and the annoying honking will be reduced!!!!