Train Horn on a Car? Is this legal?
Discussion
iva cosworth said:
I have noticed that a lot of larger HGVs now have a pathetic car sounding horn.
Older ones always had an impressive big airhorn,not any more.
I noticed the same thing the other day. Older ones always had an impressive big airhorn,not any more.
A car was pulling out into the path of an oncoming articulated truck so the truck driver sounded his horn as a warning and I was shocked at just how girly the "meep-meep" noise was!
It was a bit like the first time you ever heard Mike Tyson talk. He's a solid guy, with massive muscles and an aggressive look that just screams: "You don't wanna f
k with Me!", and then he started to talk with that high pitched voice complete with lisp and it threw you completely as it was nothing like you were expecting!My first thought was: "Jesus Christ boy! - You need a decent set of air horns on that rig!"
iva cosworth said:
The horn on my Fiat is quite good...... because Italian.
Even the Italians have toned things down a bit these days! ([Tarbuck]Ho-ho![/Tarbuck])Modern Ferraris use crappy electric horns these days that give a watered down wail compared to the old twin Fiamm screaming air horns that used to shout to the World: "Hey!....Hey!....Hey!.....I'm Italian and proud!".
Here you go, from "The Gumball Rally" (complete with a glorious V12 soundtrack) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpcaihBQoZ0
"It's gonna be a nice day!"
kylegordon said:
Back in 2007 I asked the DfT the following...
"I am considering importing some horns for my vehicle, and am curious about any
laws governing their volume? Is there any upper decibel limit for horns on a
privately registered vehicle in the UK?"
The reply I got suggested that the matter is a bit of a grey area :-)
"Use of horns is controlled by the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use)
Regulations 1986. Under regulation 37, every motor vehicle should be
fitted with a horn not being a reversing alarm or two-tone horn. There
is no specific upper decibel limit for horns on private cars in the UK.
A horn is defined as being capable of giving audible warning and the
sound emitted is to be continuous and uniform and not strident (overly
loud). This regulation also prohibits, with certain exceptions, the
fitting of a bell, gong, siren or two-tone horn. A two tone-horn
produces a sound which alternates between two fixed notes. It is
therefore illegal to fit a two-tone horn to a car, however, a
single-tone horn would be legal.
In addition, regulation 97 prohibits the use of any motor vehicle on
the road so as to cause any excessive noise which is avoidable by
reasonable driver care. You may wiah to note that it is not for the
Department to interpret the law in relation to vehicles. That is a
matter for the courts."
Well I'm thoroughly confused. You've been a member for five years, but chose to resurrect a thread from seven years ago to recount an anecdote from eight years ago. "I am considering importing some horns for my vehicle, and am curious about any
laws governing their volume? Is there any upper decibel limit for horns on a
privately registered vehicle in the UK?"
The reply I got suggested that the matter is a bit of a grey area :-)
"Use of horns is controlled by the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use)
Regulations 1986. Under regulation 37, every motor vehicle should be
fitted with a horn not being a reversing alarm or two-tone horn. There
is no specific upper decibel limit for horns on private cars in the UK.
A horn is defined as being capable of giving audible warning and the
sound emitted is to be continuous and uniform and not strident (overly
loud). This regulation also prohibits, with certain exceptions, the
fitting of a bell, gong, siren or two-tone horn. A two tone-horn
produces a sound which alternates between two fixed notes. It is
therefore illegal to fit a two-tone horn to a car, however, a
single-tone horn would be legal.
In addition, regulation 97 prohibits the use of any motor vehicle on
the road so as to cause any excessive noise which is avoidable by
reasonable driver care. You may wiah to note that it is not for the
Department to interpret the law in relation to vehicles. That is a
matter for the courts."
Bizarre.
kylegordon said:
I went searching for information, came across this thread, and thought it was relevant addition. My length of service and the time interval is pretty irrelevant, as the issue is still open for debate.
If it's against your rule book I'll happily delete it and move on.
No, you carry on. If it's against your rule book I'll happily delete it and move on.
Derek Smith said:
So it would appear that all that is allowed is a sort of apologetic cough.
I know I'm quoting from 7 years ago, but this amused me.A couple of hours before the MOT on my old e55 daily, I realised the horn didn't work. I scrabbled around the barn, but the only thing I could find was off my old Honda Vision moped. It's now been on the car two years.
It makes a noise as if to say "excuse me" in a high pitched Little Miss Tiny voice, rather than the dual tone "GET OUT OF WAY" that those cars were originally equipped with.
iva cosworth said:
I have noticed that a lot of larger HGVs now have a pathetic car sounding horn.
Older ones always had an impressive big airhorn,not any more.
The old Volvo FMs used to have two separate horn systems - pressing the buttons on the steering spokes operated a polite electric "please move out my way" pedestrian scarer. Mashing the airbag blew the pair of massive air horns under the front grille. These wagons were from the late 1990s, no idea what modern machines are like.Older ones always had an impressive big airhorn,not any more.
I fitted a set of triple FIAMM air horns to my Astravan recently, and I can confidently state they were worth every penny of the £35 they cost.
Prior to this install all I got was a pathetically quiet 'meeeep' from the standard Vauxhall item.
Hugely recommended. It is now a pleasure to cheerfully toot the horns when I see someone I know
http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=921983&a=i
Prior to this install all I got was a pathetically quiet 'meeeep' from the standard Vauxhall item.
Hugely recommended. It is now a pleasure to cheerfully toot the horns when I see someone I know
http://www.larkspeed.com/index.pl?p=921983&a=i
Willy Nilly said:
You'd probably need a rather big compressor to run a train horn that would bring most cars to a stand still when it started up.
It would be worth it though.
There's an item on the telecomms market called a Bedlam Tone caller designrd for use in warehouses etc, which ( from memory is in the order of 110 +dBA against a train horn of something like 120 ( although I believe here was plans to reduce it( train one) to 100/110). I don't know the reduction factor in dBA of 10 ,but in power terms this would make the Bedlam 9/10 as noisy as a train. It's designed to work off telephone ringing current, and in this case gives a warble, but it does work well from a P3 with a solid tone. I've been tempted to drive this from a tone warbler circuit, but I note the "strident " warning, so I may experiment with a direct drive from 12v .(Made by Hosiden Besson).It would be worth it though.
[quote=Who me ?]
There's an item on the telecomms market called a Bedlam Tone caller designrd for use in warehouses etc, which ( from memory is in the order of 110 +dBA against a train horn of something like 120 ( although I believe here was plans to reduce it( train one) to 100/110). I don't know the reduction factor in dBA of 10 ,but in power terms this would make the Bedlam 9/10 as noisy as a train. It's designed to work off telephone ringing current, and in this case gives a warble, but it does work well from a P3 with a solid tone. I've been tempted to drive this from a tone warbler circuit, but I note the "strident " warning, so I may experiment with a direct drive from 12v .(Made by Hosiden Besson).
[/quote]
Sound is in effect a pressure wave and is as you say measured in dbA the figures don't really tell the story properly as sound pressure doubles approx every 3dbA. So the difference between 110 and 120 around 3 times louder.. I'm not sure what difference pitch makes but the low tones emitted by those train horns you would physically feel. I worked on the edge of security and Master Blaster mains driven sirens used on intruder alarm systems to drive thieves out of premises were 140dbA. Now longer term exposure to them would actually cause permanent deafness. Had a few demonstrated to me and in an enclosed space actually hurt.
Back to original query I suspect if you were causing a nuisance the Police could probably take action for causing alarm and distress so whilst perhaps not technically illegal they could find a way to take action. Used sparingly for humorous purposes I suspect the Polce would find better things to do with their time.
There's an item on the telecomms market called a Bedlam Tone caller designrd for use in warehouses etc, which ( from memory is in the order of 110 +dBA against a train horn of something like 120 ( although I believe here was plans to reduce it( train one) to 100/110). I don't know the reduction factor in dBA of 10 ,but in power terms this would make the Bedlam 9/10 as noisy as a train. It's designed to work off telephone ringing current, and in this case gives a warble, but it does work well from a P3 with a solid tone. I've been tempted to drive this from a tone warbler circuit, but I note the "strident " warning, so I may experiment with a direct drive from 12v .(Made by Hosiden Besson).
[/quote]
Sound is in effect a pressure wave and is as you say measured in dbA the figures don't really tell the story properly as sound pressure doubles approx every 3dbA. So the difference between 110 and 120 around 3 times louder.. I'm not sure what difference pitch makes but the low tones emitted by those train horns you would physically feel. I worked on the edge of security and Master Blaster mains driven sirens used on intruder alarm systems to drive thieves out of premises were 140dbA. Now longer term exposure to them would actually cause permanent deafness. Had a few demonstrated to me and in an enclosed space actually hurt.
Back to original query I suspect if you were causing a nuisance the Police could probably take action for causing alarm and distress so whilst perhaps not technically illegal they could find a way to take action. Used sparingly for humorous purposes I suspect the Polce would find better things to do with their time.
US train horns vary tremendously as there are no standards, everything from single trumpet,airwhisltes, right upto 5trumpet . They even need tuning as the diaphrammes get older, you can buy a whole fitting kit with either a new horn or something secondhand from a spares dealer. Nathan is one manufacturer who has been around for years .
The Stebel Nautilus car horn (and its copies) claim volumes up to 139dB
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nautilus-Air-Horn-12-vol...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nautilus-Air-Horn-12-vol...
I've always wanted a Dixie horn, I think blasting past someone on a wide open A road whilst giving them the full rendition would see me laughing myself into a ditch though
Anyone know where I can get a really good one from? There are loads of cheap copies which don't sound right and have the last note missing...
Going the other way from very loud to barely legal , a "character" from the past who built his own race cars used to race a road legal Formula Ford , he was pulled many times by Mr plod , usually just out of curiosity, one day one said "where's your audible warning device ?" The driver pointed to the little bulb horn from a kiddy bike fixed to the side of the cockpit .
The horn on my truck is so weedy I can only hear it with the window open and below 1500rpm .
The horn on my truck is so weedy I can only hear it with the window open and below 1500rpm .
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