Is the trusty vehicle horn now seen as a tool of aggression?

[J4CKO]

MC Bodge said:

There is quite a difference between a short toot-toot and a long BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPP.

Yes, but both seem to be sometimes interpreted as "fk you small penis, and I fully intend to bum your dog with no mercy or lube, come on lets have a punch up at the side of the road"

I was going down a local single track road, one of those that you tend to avoid once you have used it as it looks like a shortcut but is a pain, narrow, foliage either side, come to an unsighted corner so beeped to warn anyone approaching of my presence (As that's kind of what it was for, before it became the universal rebuke) and a woman in a Merc Convertible came round the corner and flicked the bird at me !

So, I had used it to alert her, before I had seen her but she still took it as a rebuke/comment on her driving enough to make a rude gesture at me as her response.

There seems to be some drift going on from actual driving standards to some law of the jungle thing, like nobody seeming to ever indicate any more and the horn being something you lean on for a full minute when an old lady in Honda Jazz dithered a bit.

[BrettMRC]

All horns should have two tones; alert and rage - you can choose depending on scenario...

[RSTurboPaul]

Hol said:

RSTurboPaul said:

Burgerbob said:

I was showing down towards a long line of traffic yesterday. Chap in an Audi was parked on a shop front by the side of the road. He wanted to come out, but because I didn't stop my car to let him, he used his horn at me in angry tit mode.

The result, I did then stop, blocking him from getting on the road, then moved on. He pulled out behind me, and I then let as many people as possible in front until he angrily sped off down a side street.

His angry tit mode, turned me into a knob (with an angry wife) and then just made him more pissed off.

Moral of the story, it's best to use the horn for what it's designed for.

Are you saying you stopped next to him when you could easily have stopped 10ft shorter and just let him out?

Are YOU saying you think it’s correct to pull out in front of people when it isn’t safe and then beep them when they fail to understand that you are more important than everyone else?

My apologies - I forgot he was in an Audi

[Digby]

BrettMRC said:

All horns should have two tones; alert and rage - you can choose depending on scenario...

You could get such a setup on old Mercs as a factory option.

[Cold]

I only use mine instead of waving goodbye when leaving a quiet neighbourhood.

[BorisnBertie]

talksthetorque said:

I now seem to use mine solely when I am in the right lane of a two lane roundabout , and I am just about to get cut up by the tt in the left lane as they try to take the short cut with me alongside.

+1 on this, too many SUV drivers seem to believe the sport bit. Often find myself having to brake as someone swings out wide for the final bit of exiting a roundabout.
In an MGTF I don't think they even see me, even with lights on.

[sparkythecat]

Digby said:

You could get such a setup on old Mercs as a factory option.

There were often two horn settings on cars of yesteryear Town and Country.

[Osinjak]

I work in a country where they actually use their horns for their intended use, to let others know of your presence. No lie, it took me about a year to stop reacting badly to being horned (so to speak) whenever I was out and about, it really caught me by surprise. No matter if I told myself that it was their way of doing vehicular business, it still got my goat and would be get me muttering under my breath with words like bell end, onanist, feckwit and so on. I'm returning to the UK in Feb and frankly dreading it (I'm actually back on leave just now and already had one weapons-grade troglodyte create a situation out of absolutely nothing when trying to change lanes in the middle of town).

[Gulf7]

I see plenty of beeping from my office in the city centre. Most seems to involve a retaliatory beep immediately. It's almost like beeping has become a way for motorists to insult each others driving rather than a warning to avoid a collision.

[Pan Pan Pan]

When I am not sure if the car in front knows I am behind them, I usually use a quick headlight flash rather than using the horn, But the horn is supposed to be used to warn other road users who might not be aware of your presence that you are there..
Of course if people gave signals, using the horn or headlight flashers would hardly, if ever be necessary.
Those who don`t give signals when other people are around, (including cyclists, and pedestrians,, and not just other vehicles) are the automotive equivalent of someone who cannot walk and chew gum at the same time.
Many years ago my driving instructor said the rule for giving a signal was so basic, even a single brain celled, sub amoebic moron `ought' to be able to grasp the principle, in that if a driver reaches any kind of junction, where there is more than one way they can go, and there is anyone around, who might be able to make use of a signal, then give one.
If people don't give signals, not sure where that puts them on the evolutionary scale, but it isn't gong to be very high.

[MC Bodge]

Roundabouts seem to confuse a lot of people, and they don't bother to indicate, and yet they are not a complex system.

[carlove]

I got beeped this morning, I beeped back and gave the coffee beans.

I'm on a two lane roundabout with both lanes taking an exit, I'm in the right hand lane and the foreign lorry to my left puts it's right indicator on, I've seen enough dashcam videos to see how this ends, so I back off and let him turn right from the left lane. The lorry behind me doesn't like being delayed by three seconds so gets right up behind me and starts flashing and beeping at me for not driving into an almost inevitable crash. So as above I beeped back and gave him the coffee beans, I think it was justified.

Here for those who like to have a nosey https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.956204,-1.012401...

[anonymous-user]

Similar to lots of people here, I never use the horn in any of my vehicles.

The last time I actually ‘beeped’ at someone was about 2 years ago when I was cut up by a VW Golf GTD which was dangerously weaving through lanes of traffic and missed my front wing by approximately 3cm trying to pass me.

As soon as I beeped, the Golf slammed its brakes on in front of me, came to a stop, a large chavvy looking fella got out in full Adidas tracksuit, and screamed at me:

“Beep your fking horn at me eh? What you gonna do about it? fk all, that’s what. Don’t ever beep at me again or I’ll fk you up”

And that was the last time I ever used a car horn.

[fwaggie]

Fit ludicrously loud air horn (simple tone, not Dukes of Hazzard stylee).

The volume of them makes any other driver jump and react to avoid whatever they imagine is bearing down on them. Takes any fight out of their sails (well, it did a few years ago. Nowadays, I'm not so sure the odd crumpet wouldn't go ballistic when they realised it's not a 40 tonne truck)

[Blakewater]

This looks to be 1930s rather than 1950s as it says.

This police officer is very keen on horn use and you can see it was considered perfectly normal and polite to give such a warning in those days. Nobody took offence.

Even a lorry driver sounds his horn as he comes up behind a cyclist and prepares to overtake.

https://youtu.be/PHyOMYBr83o?t=1

[Tannedbaldhead]

Years ago most car horns were operated from the indicator stalk rather than the steering wheel boss.
British and Japanese cars had the indicator stalk on the right of the wheel. Europeans cars had them on the left.
Confused by a bit of car hopping I let out an almighty blast of the horn instead of giving my windscreen a scoosh.
I gave each driver around me my best hurt/confused/accusatory looks. My face was saying "Why did u toot at me? What did I do?".
Convinced by the act each driver in turn gave the other drivers around them a hard stare trying to work out who tooted and why?

[captain_cynic]

funkyrobot said:

I'm a firm believer in only using my car's horn when necessary. I use it to warn others of my presence, not as a tool to show someone else I'm an angry tit.

Since moving to the UK, I've very, very, very, very, erm, you get the idea, rarely had to use my horn. It used to be a near daily occurrence back in Oz.

I prefer not to be an angry tit and use the horn for it's intended purpose, which is to notify other motorists of danger... Granted, when someone is stationary at a green light I consider them a danger (to themselves and everyone around them) so it should be used at that point.

[captain_cynic]

Klippie said:

The horn is very useful tool...letting other drivers know they are getting a bit close,

Christian Doppler to the white courtesy phone, Christian Doppler to the white courtesy phone please.

[LHB]

Tannedbaldhead said:

Years ago most car horns were operated from the indicator stalk rather than the steering wheel boss.
British and Japanese cars had the indicator stalk on the right of the wheel. Europeans cars had them on the left.
Confused by a bit of car hopping I let out an almighty blast of the horn instead of giving my windscreen a scoosh.
I gave each driver around me my best hurt/confused/accusatory looks. My face was saying "Why did u toot at me? What did I do?".
Convinced by the act each driver in turn gave the other drivers around them a hard stare trying to work out who tooted and why?

The modern equivalent of that is volume controls on the steering wheel.

I was coming up to a traffic light once with two lanes and there was a funeral procession in the left hand lane so I came down the right hand lane and to show some respect I tried to turn my music down using the steering wheel controls. Instead what I did is press my horn just as I was going past the coffin... I felt absolutely mortified

[Plymo]

Blakewater said:

This looks to be 1930s rather than 1950s as it says.

This police officer is very keen on horn use and you can see it was considered perfectly normal and polite to give such a warning in those days. Nobody took offence.

Even a lorry driver sounds his horn as he comes up behind a cyclist and prepares to overtake.

https://youtu.be/PHyOMYBr83o?t=1

I think if you came up behind a police car now and started beeping at it, their thought would not be "It's clear ahead so I shall wave him past, always let faster traffic past if you can"

The town traffic looked rather chaotic though with some very suspect driving!