IS HONKING AN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANT? A LEGAL DISCOURSE

ABSTRACT The essential need for laws and restrictions to regulate sound and prevent unreasonable noise is of an eminent nature to ensure peaceful co-existence of man, animals and the environment. Laws and regulations have been made to an extent to protect hearers from extensive noise, most especially from factories and industries. However, law has not covered a major aspect of this dense factor. For instance human interaction with his property. A person may handle his property as he sees fit which may one way or another have an effect of another. This may be brought to the Court of law, however damage must be proven on the part of the Claimant that the action of the Defendant is what caused the damage. As regards road usage, road signs and traffic regulations have been created that governs how a road user should use the road to prevent accidents and for good traffic. However, an under though aspect of road usage is the blaring of horns, most times unnecessary, by road user most especially in certain areas in Nigeria, like Lagos. This blaring are common where there is a ‘go slow’, congestion, where the vehicle in front is stationary when the traffic starts to flow, where the driver in front is distracted, where a driver desires to overtake, to gain the attention of another driver or to warn them about an issue in their vehicle, to reach out to a friend at the road side, and it is a common practice in Nigeria to honk at a security personnel or gatemen when driving through a gate as a sign of recognition and respect. Honking, among other things, is a mode of communication of a vehicle. Does honking however constitute noise? What are the legal Implications? Should this factor be restricted by law? Is honking an Environmental Pollutant?