New Regulations Mandate Horns As Loud On Inside Of Car As Outside

Automotive repair and installation establishments have been issued guidelines for calibrating existing horn systems to adapt them to the new requirements.

Tel Aviv, March 8 – Automotive regulations scheduled to go into effect on the first of April will require that the volume of car horns in the interior of the car be of comparable or greater strength to its outside volume. The measure is aimed at reducing noise and the liberal use of the car horn.

Licensing Authority representatives visited all registered vehicle inspection stations over the last six months to inform technicians of the regulatory change. A Ministry of Transport spokesman told reporters that all cars manufactured after the 2009 model year will be obligated to have the feature installed.

“Noise pollution from honking cars is a major source of unpleasantness, especially in crowded urban settings,” explained the ministry’s Deputy Director for Operations Tzopher Hazak. “This new requirement is the result of intensive committee work and analysis of the most efficient methods to reduce that noise pollution. This new rule will condition drivers to activate their horns only in life-threatening situations.”

“The truth is we can’t really take credit for the idea,” confessed Hazak. “It came from an American retiree who lives in Jerusalem. He shared the thought with a cab driver, who got really excited and called people, who called other people, and we just loved it. So here it is.”

Automotive repair and installation establishments have been issued guidelines for calibrating existing horn systems to adapt them to the new requirements. Convertibles and open-topped vehicles will be exempt from the rule, at least in the initial phase; the applicability to those types of vehicles will be reassessed after an evaluation period that will end in 2018.

Consumer advocates criticized the rule, mostly in asserting that it does not go far enough. “I think the committee should have considered a different idea,” lamented downtown Tel Aviv resident Anita Facepalm. “Leave the volume of the horn the way it is – you don’t want to damage a baby’s hearing, you know? Instead, have a readout on the steering wheel that displays the number of honks that car is still allowed to make. Cap it at, I don’t know, ten honks before the system is disabled. It’ll cost a pretty penny to have a licensed mechanic reset the counter each time.”

“Better yet,” she continued with rising tones, “instead of just shutting down when the car reaches its limit, if the driver attempts to use the horn after its allotment of honks is exhausted, spikes come out of the driver’s seat and impale him.”

“It’s always a him,” she added. “Not that I am bitter.”

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