With school starting back up, traffic will be increasing two fold in one day. Of course that means lots of drivers, some brand new to driving, have hit the road. Depending on what region you live in, some drivers never use that pesky device that makes noises when you press your steering wheel too hard. Some, on the other hand, use it for all manner of communication.
Some research into the topic has yielded some interesting legality issues to using a horn. Some of what we use our horn for on a daily/weekly basis may surprise you that it is indeed, illegal. For instance, in the states it is illegal to honk at a driver AFTER they have cut you off in traffic, but you can honk at the driver before they cut you off. In the UK, it is illegal to honk at a pedestrian, but not so in the US. And yes, even honking at people’s silly bumper stickers that ask you to “honk if you…”, will garner you a nice $100+ fine.
Now, the enforcement of these laws is quite difficult and honestly ignored unless it becomes a nuisance, but it brings up some great questions. Even more so when you take into account regional and rural vs. city/suburban dwelling driving tendencies.
- Do you use your horn at all?
- If so, do you use it only to alert someone out of danger (i.e. they are about to walk into the street, pull into your lane, etc)?
- Do you use it to tell someone they did something wrong (i.e. they sat too long at the light, they pulled out in front of you without signalling OR having enough room to really get in, ran a red light, block an intersection after the light has turned in lots of traffic, etc)?
Are horns a useful tool in a car or would you even notice if car manufacturers removed them completely from the car? I mean, at the end of the day you still have your high beams!
Looking forward to your responses!
Uh, I’ve been known to lean over and honk the horn while my dh is driving. I really don’t use my horn that often, but if you’re an idiot, don’t you deserve it? I can’t remember ever rudely honking, though. It’s usually a quick beep to remind you that you’re not paying attention. On Tuesday evening, I stopped at a green light while turning right to allow a pedestrian to clear the crosswalk and the person in the car behind me laid on the horn several times. Guess I was supposed to run over the woman.
I rarely use my horn, but I did the other day when a woman on her phone just swerved into my lane with no turn signal. I have my one year old daughter in the car so I honked to alert her that she almost hit us! She did not even notice!
I honk if someone is taking a while at the stoplight, they’re kind of short here. And I honk if you’re driving dangerously/an accident could happen if you didn’t look my way. I think I’ve honked maybe a handful of times in my life because I consider honking rude unless serious danger could be avoided by you looking at me. But I had someone honk at me recently when we were in a construction zone. The lanes were very tight, and they were in an oversized truck that was so large that it was over the lines, while I was trying not to clip a worker or hit a cone. Rather than staying back so we both had room, he rushed ahead to drive right alongside of me so then I was trying hard not to hit anyone and cones while also being quite close to clipping HIM too as it started to rain and the lines were disappearing and they were sporadic and strange anyway (since they’re all temporary lines around the work and not normal straight lines.) Rather than FALLING BACK so we both could have room, or letting ME fall back by that point someone honked at me as I began to reduce speed and try to let big truck get past me so I’d have room to gasp. I don’t curse, but I came close that day.
I do use my horn, probably 4-5 times a month. Most commonly it is when someone is “taking their half in the middle.” My 4yo always asks if I really needed to use it.
My last car was a Honda Element and it had the most pathetic horn ever. Just embarrassing, not very loud and high-pitched. I felt silly blasting it, which stopped me from raging too much 🙂
I am probably more resistant than most to use the horn, but I do use it sometimes. I’d say more often than not it is pre-meditated. I see the idiot in advance and know they are going to do something idiotic and then let them know it was indeed a dangerous choice. Within the last few years there is a new phenomenon that has probably caused me to honk more than anything else. Those saintly drivers who don’t call or text while driving? Well, they do at stoplights. They don’t even notice when the car next to them starts moving. They will remain motionless until someone finally honks! Recently I was behind one and out of curiousity I let them go through an entire light cycle and they didn’t even notice. Fortunately no one was behind me or they’d have certainly honked.