Horn Use Etiquette

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HonkingHornWith 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!

5 Comments

  1. Heather (murphydog77) August 8, 2014
  2. Brad Youngman August 7, 2014
  3. Emily August 7, 2014
  4. jwilliams August 7, 2014
  5. CPSDarren August 7, 2014