Now that Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan has been shot down by Albany, New York City needs to look at other ways to combat midtown gridlock. One weapon it already has at hand is its strict ban on honking.

Horns were invented to help prevent accidents, not to give people migraines. But as practiced in Manhattan, particularly in Midtown, honking creates congestion by pressuring drivers to “block the box” — to zip into an intersection, rather than wait. Then the people in the cars driving perpendicular honk their horns since they can’t get through the blocked intersection, adding to the cacophony.

New York City is a pioneer in battling noise pollution, becoming one of the first American cities to adopt a noise code back in 1972.

But the city is sadly falling down on fighting a nuisance that not only feeds traffic chaos but one that residents consistently rank among their very top quality of life concerns.

We’ve all seen those signs posted across the city: “DON’T HONK — $350 PENALTY.”

But, citations given for honking are quite rare. The police say they issued 580 tickets in 2006 for “unnecessary use of horn.” That’s about one and a half a day, on average. In my 17th precinct, which extends from 30th to 59th Streets and from Lexington Avenue to the East River, just 33 tickets — roughly one every 10 days — were issued for horn violations in 2006.

There should be more vigilant enforcement of the honking ban, which is set out in Section 24-221(a) of the city code and bans a “claxon” from being sounded “except as a sound signal of imminent danger.” “Don’t honk” signs have been going up in neighborhoods that request them since 1986, when the penalty was just $125 The fine started out at $50 and has been $350 for a decade now.

Some drivers may insist they are just leaning on the horn to send a message. But honking is an aggression against urban order and the peace of mind of nearby residents and office workers as well as other drivers and pedestrians. At the same time, it’s generally ill-used and for futile purposes.

“It’s people’s rudeness. It’s ‘Me, me, me, and I want to get there as fast as I can,'” anti-noise activist Arline Bronzaft, who chairs the noise committee of the Council on the Environment of New York City, said. “But it’s not going to do anything in terms of getting traffic to move.”

Cities and states across the country have adopted anti-honking laws including Anchorage, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Delaware, Denver, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, and San Jose.

There are many places around the world, such as in France, where people flash their headlights from high beam to low beam and back to signal impatience. In Britain, honking is flatly prohibited when a car is not moving. In the Dominican Republic, where there are barely any traffic rules, horns are used frequently and actually are pleasant to hear.

In Shanghai when a honking ban was put in place last year, some drivers purchased customized “horns” relying on music or voice recordings as warnings. At least one taxi driver installed a recording of a woman’s voice saying, “Please mind the car, we are making a turn,” the Shanghai Daily newspaper reported.

Admittedly, while honking can seem oppressive in New York City, there are other places where it seems car horns never stop sounding. Vietnam and Egypt are among the most infamous countries for honking. “The honking is constant, like breathing, day and night,” said one Hanoi visitor on the Maxpower blog.

But that is nothing for a city to boast about.

New York’s honking law would be much more effective if a police officer was stationed at the traffic jams sites I witness as I walk to work every morning, dramatically handing out $350 tickets.

Word of the crackdown would spread fast. Soon drivers would be as likely to honk as they are to park at fire hydrants.

But maybe the problem is the size of the fine. What cop — especially one who occasionally likes to lean on a siren — wants to personally present you with a bill for $350 for tapping a horn? Howling is likely to ensue, and maybe even violence. The fact is, $350 is really a lot of money.

Maybe a $100 fine, or even a $50 one, would be easier to impose and still symbolic of the force of law. Warnings would also help. Three honks and you’re out! An education campaign also could do wonders, particularly one aimed at taxi drivers, who appear to be among the worst offenders, routinely beeping from 10 cars back the instant the light changes.

“Just have Mayor Bloomberg announce, ‘Don’t tip your taxi drivers if they honk the horn in a non-emergency situation,'” executive director of the Montpelier, Vt.-based Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, Leslie Blomberg, said. “I think you would change the situation overnight.”

Mr. Arieff is a writer who lives in New York.