Please, Don't Honk?

[pj8708]

Found this new article on AOL re: the ubiquitous blasting of car horns for the slightest inconvenience.

Whats your experience?

Cheers,

Paul

http://autos.aol.com/article/nation-of-honkers/

[1990LS400]

My experiences have apparently been completely different from that of the author of that article. I've noticed that U.S. and Canadian drivers use their horns far less than drivers in just about all the other countries I've visited and sometimes driven in. I've had other drivers in the U.K. riding my tale and honking if I'm driving only a few mph under the speed limit on rural two land roads. Italian drivers are legendary for using their horns. I especially remember a delivery truck in Paris blocking a street and what seem like a hundred drivers leaning on their horns until he moved. The author of the article is full of $#!+.

And, Paul, I didn't hear a single car horn today in Des Moines.

[dcfish]

I almost never hear a horn

[LEXIRX330]

I don't use horns I use hand signals! Just one finger... :)

[dcfish]

I don't use horns I use hand signals! Just one finger... :)

:lol:

[cduluk]

My biggest issue with misuse of car horns is when people pull up a friends driveway and honk to let them know they're there to pick them up...

However on the road i haven't found much misuse... Only time i hear people honking is when they've gotta let someone know they either 1: just did something dangerous, or 2: need to watch out. <_<

[pj8708]

Glad to see your multilingual Lexi330! The universal sign language...the fickled finger of fate.!

Here in the mid-west people are pretty good at keeping their cool and I really don't see /hear much of a problem. However, on the east coast of Florida, it seems like the horn is the only thing on the car they know how to operate. When we are there if you wait a tenth of a second too long when the light turns green your going to hear about it.

Call me crazy, but seems like we could use a little more patitence is most areas of our lives. (Isn't that sappy)

Paul

[intakerGS]

However, on the east coast of Florida, it seems like the horn is the only thing on the car they know how to operate.

They must be heart-broken, so sing along (DCfish could play the horn-part):

Radio's on, feeling all right

Cruising the strip on a Saturday night.

I smile and I wave and I hide all my pain

but the sign on my bumper gives me away:

Chorus:

Honk if you're lonely tonight

If you need a friend to get through the night

A toot on your horn, a flash of your brights

Honk if you're lonely tonight.

I know a honky-tonk where we can go.

A booth in the back with the lights way down low.

The jukebox is playing a sad melody

for heart-broken lovers just like you and me.

[1990LS400]

I just read a number of the comments under that AOL Auto article on honking and saw that people who had traveled widely around the world disagree with the author of the article like I do. I particularly liked the comment from the person who speculated that most of the honking in U.S. cities (e.g. from cab drivers) was being done by recent immigrants from countries where honking is far more common. I don't use cabs much but I cannot remember the last time I had a driver who was American born including limo driver cousins Mario and Luis who recently came here from Veracruz Mexico and shuttle us to the airport.

Regarding Paul's comment about honking on the east cost of Florida, I didn't notice it when driving there for two weeks in 2007 but maybe it was because it was July. Florida is, after all, the number one U.S. destination for foreign tourists so maybe they are the ones doing most of the honking that is being done there. Or maybe some of the west coast Florida honking is related to the rather elderly retiree/snowbird population there. I know a number of people who work in the Boca Raton office of a company that split off from the company I retired from and they had a constant stream of horror stories about elderly drivers there doing such things as mistaking a wide sidewalk for a street.

I've used my car horn only a few times in the past year -- occasionally for alerting a drivers who might have hit me but more often for "notifying" a person engrossed in a phone conversation that a traffic light had turned green or a phone user who was wandering into my lane.

The original horns for the LS400 I bought in 1990 are out in my garage in a box. The original gen 1 LS400 horns were so wimpy and ineffective that owners complained and Lexus replaced thousands of them at no cost. I waited too long and paid for the replacement myself only after I was run off an Interstate highway by a lane changing school bus driver who obviously could not hear my horn.

If my wife hadn't sold my wonderful Hella Super Tone horns at a garage sale in 1999, maybe I'd put them on my 00 LS. I still have the Italian air horns and electric air compressor I had on my Triumph Spitfire back in the 1960's. Maybe I should rig that up on the LS!

[LEXIRX330]

Glad to see your multilingual Lexi330! The universal sign language...the fickled finger of fate.!

Paul

To be honest Paul...I don't typically flick people off. But when I am on my Deuce...and I get some jack a s s that almost runs me off of the road I show them my finger.

[pj8708]

However, on the east coast of Florida, it seems like the horn is the only thing on the car they know how to operate.

They must be heart-broken, so sing along (DCfish could play the horn-part):

Radio's on, feeling all right

Cruising the strip on a Saturday night.

I smile and I wave and I hide all my pain

but the sign on my bumper gives me away:

Chorus:

Honk if you're lonely tonight

If you need a friend to get through the night

A toot on your horn, a flash of your brights

Honk if you're lonely tonight.

I know a honky-tonk where we can go.

A booth in the back with the lights way down low.

The jukebox is playing a sad melody

for heart-broken lovers just like you and me.

LOL..."Loan me your handkerchief Tex, I feel a tear com'in on!"

Like your ballad of the Lonely horn'y'? Lexus driver. Funny.

[pj8708]

I just read a number of the comments under that AOL Auto article on honking and saw that people who had traveled widely around the world disagree with the author of the article like I do. I particularly liked the comment from the person who speculated that most of the honking in U.S. cities (e.g. from cab drivers) was being done by recent immigrants from countries where honking is far more common. I don't use cabs much but I cannot remember the last time I had a driver who was American born including limo driver cousins Mario and Luis who recently came here from Veracruz Mexico and shuttle us to the airport.

Regarding Paul's comment about honking on the east cost of Florida, I didn't notice it when driving there for two weeks in 2007 but maybe it was because it was July. Florida is, after all, the number one U.S. destination for foreign tourists so maybe they are the ones doing most of the honking that is being done there. Or maybe some of the west coast Florida honking is related to the rather elderly retiree/snowbird population there. I know a number of people who work in the Boca Raton office of a company that split off from the company I retired from and they had a constant stream of horror stories about elderly drivers there doing such things as mistaking a wide sidewalk for a street.

I've used my car horn only a few times in the past year -- occasionally for alerting a drivers who might have hit me but more often for "notifying" a person engrossed in a phone conversation that a traffic light had turned green or a phone user who was wandering into my lane.

The original horns for the LS400 I bought in 1990 are out in my garage in a box. The original gen 1 LS400 horns were so wimpy and ineffective that owners complained and Lexus replaced thousands of them at no cost. I waited too long and paid for the replacement myself only after I was run off an Interstate highway by a lane changing school bus driver who obviously could not hear my horn.

If my wife hadn't sold my wonderful Hella Super Tone horns at a garage sale in 1999, maybe I'd put them on my 00 LS. I still have the Italian air horns and electric air compressor I had on my Triumph Spitfire back in the 1960's. Maybe I should rig that up on the LS!

When we travel in Florida we are usualy in the Space Coast-Cape Canaveral area of Brevard County and Melbourne, Fl. Our visits are in January and February seeing our kids. When you walk through the grocery store you would swear your in New York City from the mix of accents. Do New Yorker's honk a lot?

[1990LS400]

When we travel in Florida we are usualy in the Space Coast-Cape Canaveral area of Brevard County and Melbourne, Fl. Our visits are in January and February seeing our kids. When you walk through the grocery store you would swear your in New York City from the mix of accents. Do New Yorker's honk a lot?

Take a look (with your volume turned up!) at this New York City Times Square web cam: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=lennon_hd

During the few minutes I watched/listened I heard quite a bit of honking but at least half the vehicles I saw were taxi cabs. As I said earlier, it's been a loooong time (decades) since I rode with an American born cab driver and, IMO, immigrant cab drivers seem quick to use their horns.

New York City is an aberration. I've driven in other parts of New York on business (i.e. Albany) and pleasure trips and have never heard the kind of honking that is typical in NYC.

[pj8708]

When we travel in Florida we are usualy in the Space Coast-Cape Canaveral area of Brevard County and Melbourne, Fl. Our visits are in January and February seeing our kids. When you walk through the grocery store you would swear your in New York City from the mix of accents. Do New Yorker's honk a lot?

Take a look (with your volume turned up!) at this New York City Times Square web cam: http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/?cam=lennon_hd

During the few minutes I watched/listened I heard quite a bit of honking but at least half the vehicles I saw were taxi cabs. As I said earlier, it's been a loooong time (decades) since I rode with an American born cab driver and, IMO, immigrant cab drivers seem quick to use their horns.

New York City is an aberration. I've driven in other parts of New York on business (i.e. Albany) and pleasure trips and have never heard the kind of honking that is typical in NYC.

Well...it dosen't take to long to get your point about the taxi honking. The web-cam feed sounds like an ad for "Horns are Us".

Paul

[intakerGS]

As I said earlier, it's been a loooong time (decades) since I rode with an American born cab driver and, IMO, immigrant cab drivers seem quick to use their horns.

Although at smaller scale, the same goes for Amsterdam and other capital cities @ NL. Cab business is largely taken over by immigrants, introducing aggressive/illegal driving, molesting customers, refusing short trips and honking for nothing.

Can't even let my lady take a cab, as she's frequently been offered alcohol, narcotics and other 'invitations'. Lately, government and police are much more aware of this situation, introducing continuous checking for cab-license and/or criminal records, plus forced membership to cab-companies (so they are better traceable).

At summer, cities are real quiet, as most of them leave to their countries for hollidays.

[TX1911fan]

The author of that article is an idiot. He lives in NY and wants to say we are a "Nation" of horn honkers? I live in Austin, TX, not exactly a small place, and can go for weeks without hearing anyone use a horn, including in very heavy traffic. If there is a horn used, it is usually a short bleep to tell the guy zoning out in front of you that the light is green. In NY, however, you can't walk half a block without hearing them. This is typical of dorks who live in NY and LA, thinking that they know what the rest of the USA is like.

[pj8708]

The author of that article is an idiot. He lives in NY and wants to say we are a "Nation" of horn honkers? I live in Austin, TX, not exactly a small place, and can go for weeks without hearing anyone use a horn, including in very heavy traffic. If there is a horn used, it is usually a short bleep to tell the guy zoning out in front of you that the light is green. In NY, however, you can't walk half a block without hearing them. This is typical of dorks who live in NY and LA, thinking that they know what the rest of the USA is like.

Come on, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel! LOL

Paul

[denslexusgx470]

I think the use of horns would reduce the amount of accidents on the road (then again it can cause some too with people getting surprised by the loud sound).

I come from the Philippines and it will be to your disadvantage if you do not have a working horn in your car. The horn should be used to warn other drivers if there may be a possible accident or to notify people in blind areas or corners that a car is coming. Honestly that's what I practice and I may be the only person in the west coast who actually gives my horn a good exercise compared to other cars, but I use it for safety. In parking lots where theres a wall that covers the view of cars that are coming from the right side, I honk at least once to give a warning sound that I'm coming through and hopefully no one will cut the corner or whatever.

I also use the horn when someone is cutting into my lane and I'm in their blind spot. It all depends on the scenario. It should be utilized but in a way that would benefit people and avoid accidents. (The horn on my Honda is actually so soft, I ordered an OEM horn from Honda in the Philippines which is louder than the Honda horns in America. The other cars we own have decent horns already)