[GTO]

In a nutshell, a button installed on your dashboard beeps & blinks each time you honk. You have to press it to switch the sound off! The video says it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzBmc3yjpoc

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Related Threads:

Honking Menace

Driving without a Horn

Horn OK Please

Why Honk?

[vnabhi]

Nice post. While I agree that it is a good move to reduce noise pollution, I must confess that I'm guilty on honking, though not excessively. It is my habit to beep once whenever I pass a mobike, two wheeler or auto rickshaw on the road, as those guys are quite prone to changing their lane at the drop of a hat.

I even remember once when I did not, and almost banged into a mobike. When questioned, the biker asked 'why did you not honk?'. Unfortunately, it has almost become an unwritten norm among many such wayward road users that it it their birth right to zig and zag, and that they would fall in line only when someone behind honks.

But anyway, let us hope for the better.

[carzone]

Atleast in India, honking has become necessary for a drive in cites in the interest to keep our and others lives safe.
The auto wallas and the bikers who are famous for keeping their RVMs for show purposes, it is necessary to honk at them to let them know about your presence.

I have a habit to honk to truckers while overtaking on the highways during day. During night, I prefer a couple of flashes. Also, honking on blind corners do work here as we have people who think overtaking on blind corners is normal.

[wantarangerover]

This is extensively discussed a topic. I remember getting irritated when my father used to honk, and always used to tell him to cut down. When I started driving, I used the horn sparingly. But after seeing the horrific driving styles of auto rickshaws, bikes, I unknowingly started honking more. As vnabhi pointed out, it has become a habit to honk when passing someone.

But many motorists use the horn when there is absolutely no reason to. Like on a redlight. Or a traffic jam when they know honking isnt going to help. It has become a medium of venting one's frustration and anger. And I believe excessive honking provokes road rage as well.

This seems to be a good attempt at curbing the disease, but then the people who honk excessively will not be inclined to use these I suppose.

[hellmet]

I get incredibly stressed out with honking and I rarely ever use my horn unless someone does something stupid. Using a horn to go faster than average traffic speed has become a nuisance and a norm.

[phamilyman]

Firstly, awesome video.

Secondly, its a matter of personal choice. e.g I would rather offend everyone i pass by at any intersection on a highway (even if no one is immediately in sight) because I'd rather be safe than sorry. I mean - even Indian trains honk while passing a locked down intersection, no? Then - we Indians love our phones. I have intuitive experience that there's always some moron in the traffic jam texting away when his car should've been moving, wasting precious seconds of the people behind. Horns are instant "wakeup" feedback for such thoughtful folks!

Why it worked in this case is because it made honking far more painful than it otherwise would have been. So people gave up honking because it was better to take chances or slow down for half a second than honk (I would argue this system is distracting and hence unsafe!!). Take away the annoying feedback and junta would honk again

-- honestly, horns are still a safety feature. I would pray to God that atleast NCR-walas stop their stupid habit of "me first, i will block traffic till i get to pass" seen at every damned intersection.

[stormerider]

Honking is a menace, but it is going to stay in our country. As already pointed out by many, autorickshaws, bikes, buses change lanes without looking, as if its their birth right.
But what we forget is that ours is a chaotic world, and almost everyone's to blame. No one follows lanes and moves in a zig zag pattern. Everyone has the right to stop when they see someone acquainted or to buy samosas!
Also driving licenses are given without testing these basics. Honking has now become a means of indication from the person from behind rather than the person in front using his indicators and signaling what he wants to do!
But we can only discuss, without any solution. The solution I have adopted is that I will move correctly and will teach every one younger to me to do so, also the elders who are ready to listen. Hoping someday we all will give our kids a better road!
Cheers

[akshay4587]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Firstly, awesome video.

Secondly, its a matter of personal choice. e.g I would rather offend everyone i pass by at any intersection on a highway (even if no one is immediately in sight) because I'd rather be safe than sorry. I mean - even Indian trains honk while passing a locked down intersection, no? Then - we Indians love our phones. I have intuitive experience that there's always some moron in the traffic jam texting away when his car should've been moving, wasting precious seconds of the people behind. Horns are instant "wakeup" feedback for such thoughtful folks!

Why it worked in this case is because it made honking far more painful than it otherwise would have been. So people gave up honking because it was better to take chances or slow down for half a second than honk (I would argue this system is distracting and hence unsafe!!). Take away the annoying feedback and junta would honk again

-- honestly, horns are still a safety feature. I would pray to God that atleast NCR-walas stop their stupid habit of "me first, i will block traffic till i get to pass" seen at every damned intersection.

I agree with you.
We still have a long way to go before we can say no honking.
If not for a horn,how will you warn the odd moron going ahead of you,who is busy talking to his wife or texting his GF in the middle of the highway

[Captain Slow]

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Nice post. While I agree that it is a good move to reduce noise pollution, I must confess that I'm guilty on honking, though not excessively. It is my habit to beep once whenever I pass a mobike, two wheeler or auto rickshaw on the road, as those guys are quite prone to changing their lane at the drop of a hat.

I even remember once when I did not, and almost banged into a mobike. When questioned, the biker asked 'why did you not honk?'. Unfortunately, it has almost become an unwritten norm among many such wayward road users that it it their birth right to zig and zag, and that they would fall in line only when someone behind honks.

But anyway, let us hope for the better.

Totally agree with you, We live in a society with a mindset "its your birth given right to walk right in the middle of the road"

I have seen cows/dogs and other animals move away when they see a vehicle approaching, or when a horn a bit, But no some humans want to pay a game.
A game called hit me if you can.

An Incident I will recall "A lady was driving her Alto inside the society complex well within the speed limit and was approaching a 90 degree turn. There are a bunch of kids playing here-> She slows down to take the turn honks a bit.
Few kids move and the moment she starts navigating the turn one them jumps in front of her car and gets injured (broken Leg for the Kid)

There is a huge commotion, angry parents and others blaming this lady and call her a "RASH DRIVER" The whole thing happened right in front of my eyes.

The kid was taken to the hospital and got treated.

Now had this poor lady honked enough the kids would have moved and stayed away??
But again we have some stupid rules that prevent us from Honking inside the society complex.
Who is to Blame for this ?

And If Honking is noise pollution then what about those dreaded 2 stroke autos without proper silencers! In any road this is the biggest contributor of noise pollution.

[Mnjdnght]

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

An Incident I will recall "A lady was driving her Alto inside the society complex well within the speed limit and was approaching a 90 degree turn. There are a bunch of kids playing here-> She slows down to take the turn honks a bit.
Few kids move and the moment she starts navigating the turn one them jumps in front of her car and gets injured (broken Leg for the Kid)

There is a huge commotion, angry parents and others blaming this lady and call her a "RASH DRIVER" The whole thing happened right in front of my eyes.
...

Now had this poor lady honked enough the kids would have moved and stayed away??
But again we have some stupid rules that prevent us from Honking inside the society complex.
Who is to Blame for this ?

In this instance I agree that honking may have helped avoid this mishap. But as a practice I belong to the "no honking within apartment complex" club. I have often seen from my balcony cars moving about within the complex (in between flats etc.) at dangerous speeds (relatively of course) and honking indiscriminately (almost as if, I am not going to slow down and it is your problem if you come under). I would advocate crawling speeds and giving preference to pedestrians in such complexes - at least it is a place where we can practice being more civil. Well, sound pollution is another story and I detest the ones with bollywood music as reverse horns more than the honks.

[abirnale]

A very nice video indeed. Honking is one such menace, that is a safety feature too in many situations than others. Although i personally hate honking and many a times think about removing it altogether from my car, I have not been able to decide on it. Every day when i commute to work, i start my day with extremely positive note that I will not honk, but even knowingly/ unknowingly it happens once or twice! Its very easy. Probably i carry my habit of driving from overseas where honking is considered as disrespect/ emergency and extremely rare to hear honk!

There is a great initiative started by Bangalore RTO/ Police - its called "No Honk Mondays". It had at least reduced the honking in some proportion. Its generally not possible to not honk at all and drive in India but if we all take our own pledge to honk less or zero, it would at least satisfying to yourself I feel happy when i have a day without honking when i am driving! Of course, you should be honest in taking pledge for not honking and sticking to it without having someone ask you to!

[DicKy]

Though am guilty of it, am not ashamed of honking at every opportunity., unless these suicidal bikers and pedestrians stay the same am forced to honk. Like everyone says each time i pass a biker or it seems that the car in front or side is not obvious to my existence i give a slight double press horn.

Dad replaced the weak OEM horn in our WagonR with the POM-POM horn found in Mercs and Skodas and said to me, 'do not hesitate to use it wherever you please', and he is the person who rarely uses the horn when driving in riyadh.

But another thing he told and i religiously follow is to flash the hi beam instead of horning when the sun sets, especially in residential and village areas where i flash twic before taking a corner. Of course in lit-up urban areas and when there is an uncle in an Alto/Dzire in front who doesn't know what hi-beam/low beams are for, am forced to use the horn regardless of daytime/nightime

[alpha1]

Every time I have decided not to honk, I have been cussed by people around me. Especially the pedestrians (walking like in a park with mobile phones) and two wheelers with both ear cavities plugged with thundering earphones snaking and meandering on the road like FIM racers. And of course how can I forget our beloved bugs on the road: Autorickshaws!

होरण नहीं है क्या? अंधे!

Though No horn policy is a noble gesture, it has not much application in our daily cut throat lives. (just like non-violence doesn't work anywhere). The might is always right, and the first step towards proclaiming your bellicose intentions is a war cry. The horn, is a means of this war cry! - Since my car horn is kaput, I know what it is to be on the receiving end (nicks, cuts, bruises).

Its like just any other thing in life: people will take advantage of you if you don't register a protest, or don't turn aggressive.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by alpha1

Though No horn policy is a noble gesture, it has not much application in our daily cut throat lives. (just like non-violence doesn't work anywhere).

Exactly, and thats the message in the video too!

Different thought, no pun intended - IMHO, honking isn't always required. I have done this exercise extensively - If I don't honk unless its extremely required and/ or there is desperation, all I will end up loosing is few extra minutes. When the commute is anyway 30 minutes, adding another 5 wouldn't cost me much. I never used to enjoy driving in the traffic but now i do. Because I whenever get chance, use that time window - of waiting for others to pass, to observe people and their behavior. Sometimes makes me realize something extraordinary about them or often makes me have a good laugh.

When we know we cant change much, we try changing ourself and if still that doesn't work, we only stop at changing ourself. I think its just the way how we sincere people react Or its the age that tells me, these are vey small things to react at. Someone must be in hurry to go loose... i want to live life and enjoy so why to invite trouble on the road? If it makes someone happy by overtaking me in the traffic, its good for them and me. I know what my car is capable of when I am on my beloved NH4/MH17 stretches at dusk or dawn! Do I always need to show the size of my engine by merely honking?

So moral of the story I would like to take away - Don't honk unless its critical. And life cant be critical all the time

[Satshan]

Great video, thanks GTO! I believe Honking restrictions/sign-boards are put-up on the road-sides especially in sensitive areas like hospitals/schools, however no one mostly pay heed to it.

One thing I had observed during my trip from Ooty to Kodaikanal which surprised me. We had hired an Indica taxi and did an overnight journey to kodaikanal and next day we returned back. During the whole trip, the taxi driver didnt even honk a single time. He drove very well and was cautious enough, but I wondered how he drove without even a single honk!

May be the car's horn was broken