Do you even find the time to honk during an accident?
Discussion
no , personally i rarely use the horn ,likewise i don't see it having any benefit other than alerting somebody that i don't think has seen me , or scaring wildlife away from country b roads. Also You never know who you are beeping at , i saw a guy get and floor two blokes who got out of their van once after they beeped him , a situation and an expensive dentist trip that could have easily been avoided.
I'm the same, normally concentrating much more on taking evasive action and keeping the car under control in the resulting circumstances than I am on finding the horn. In all the films when there's a car accident the cars normally skid into one another with the horn being held down which just isn't that realistic. Unless I suppose you were a taxi driver in a busy city and leaning on the horn became a sub concious action.
I agree. Never enough time to honk. Sometimes I've done an emergency stop and not pushed the clutch pedal in and stalled the car.
Those who honk tend to be the self righteous. Lady in front of me made a small mistake at a roundabout, pulled out a little and stopped when a Renault Laguna came at speed from her right. There was little chance of car to car interface yet he still had time to honk and honk for 100 yards past her!
Those who honk tend to be the self righteous. Lady in front of me made a small mistake at a roundabout, pulled out a little and stopped when a Renault Laguna came at speed from her right. There was little chance of car to car interface yet he still had time to honk and honk for 100 yards past her!
Even if I've anticipated the issue I find re-positioning, applying the brakes or accelerator in some combination far more effective in helping to avoid a collision. Those who beep rather than do this first are right up there amongst the 'the laws of physics or Highway Code don't apply 'cos I was indicating' lot.
SAS Tom said:
IMO if you have time to honk then you have time to get out of the way. My thought process never includes finding the horn as it's in such an awkward place on the bike.
+1 If you have time to honk you were never going to hit them in the first place.
Eta - Except when you're stationary and some buffoon is going to slow manoeuvre into you - then a horn blast is necessary!
Even if I've anticipated the issue I find re-positioning, applying the brakes or accelerator in some combination far more effective in helping to avoid a collision. Those who beep rather than do this first are right up there amongst the 'the laws of physics or Highway Code don't apply 'cos I was indicating' lot.
maverickdrives said:
I don't get how people find the time to hit the horn before crashing?
They don't. maverickdrives said:
Another thing I am a fairly new driver
Ah, that'll be why you thought that then.I've forgotten how many times I've driven past an incident where I needed the horn looking everywhere muttering 'WTF is the horn in this thing?!"
SAS Tom said:
IMO if you have time to honk then you have time to get out of the way. My thought process never includes finding the horn as it's in such an awkward place on the bike.
I don't agree though I haven't ridden a bike for many years and am commenting regarding cars mainly. Using your horn can prevent an incident if you anticipate a hazard.Whenever I drive through a hazardous situation (eg approaching blind junction, overtaking large vehicle on motorway, overtaking slightly erratic driver, approaching junction and stationary car has not made eye contact with me etc) I automatically have one finger or thumb on the horn, I then beep loudly if I even think they are beginning to manoeuvre. It's much quicker to let them know you're there and stop their manoeuvre than braking or accelerating or even swerving.
It has served me well a few times, including yesterday when joining a Motorway in my Smart. As I came down the ramp in the RHS lane overtaking a lady in a TT she started accelerating hard holding station with me as we got ready to merge. I wasn't even in her blind spot but parallel and I was sure she was about to turn into me. She actually turned around just as I started to beep and from the shocked startled look on her face I knew she had no idea I was there. In this case my beep was a fraction unnecessary and by the look on hers passengers smiling face, he had warned her about me, as we held station for what seemed like a few seconds.
Like all driving, anticipation and identifying potential hazards is key. Where you can anticipate early the horn can be invaluable. I would also add it's only useful where a manoeuvre has either not started or only just started. After that all you are doing is admonishing and as has been said your far better concentrating on controlling your own vehicle then.
Boshly said:
SAS Tom said:
IMO if you have time to honk then you have time to get out of the way. My thought process never includes finding the horn as it's in such an awkward place on the bike.
I don't agree though I haven't ridden a bike for many years and am commenting regarding cars mainly. Using your horn can prevent an incident if you anticipate a hazard.A few years on in a different car I'd probably never get to it in time.
A few months back someone joined the dual carriageway in to lane 2 in front of me as I was overtaking doing about 80 in the Defender, braking distance is large enough from that speed that I had time to chuck the brakes on, and hold both the horn and the high beam on. They braked in response to this reducing the distance I had even further and I had to dive in to lane 1 (Car I was overtaking had just about pulled up several meters back).
I had to pull in to the next junction and change my underwear, kindly someone else stopped and checked I was ok. The car that pulled out just drove on.
I had to pull in to the next junction and change my underwear, kindly someone else stopped and checked I was ok. The car that pulled out just drove on.
ding trees and walls I hit still wouldn't have got out the way.Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff