[Prowler]

Horn Menace varies from city to city in India. I usually use short taps on the horn like a cardiac monitor so it alerts the right parties and at the same time it is not menacing to others. I noticed that when I drive through cities like Cochin and Goa, people glare at me for using the horn whereas in Madras, people go about their business with everyone honking.
Horns are not designed for continuous duty. They will die if you continue to use them at one long stretch.

[SN88]

A lot of drivers especially bikers have just gotten used to pressing the horn with their thumbs. It is like a software glitch!!

I did notice a couple of times bike riders honking when there is absolutely nobody in front of them, maybe they are anticipating something to come

Honestly i did ask this one man who was pressing down the throat of his horn on his bike when i met him at the signal and rolled my window down and asked him who is he actually trying to warn in front of him, we both had a good laugh as he really did not know just said "aadat se majboor"

[FrodoOfTheShire]

I wonder what the situation would be like few years down the line when EVs become commonplace. With no engine noise to warn other road users of the oncoming vehicle, drivers of EVs may have to resort to higher horn usage than they would be doing currently. Maybe existing EV owners can shed more light on this.

[MadinMumbai]

Hahaha! The joke is really on us. Look at the argument guys defending honking are making.
1. Indian roads are crowded/littered with idiots.
2. Horns are a safety device.
3. I honk in an emergency situation.
4. Pedestrians and cyclists need to be warned.
5. Others honk too much but I only honk at idiots on the road.

And here we are. All well-meaning and good guys but a complete mess on the roads. Everyone who uses the horn under the garb of safety contributes to the nuisance. You are part of the problem. You are not above the problem looking down from some magical higher plane.

And for all making the safety arguments - We have the maximum number of road accidents in the world. Fat lot of good your honking is doing.

[WorkingGuru]

I managed happily with a disconnected car horn for 2+ years of driving in Bangalore city. Only reason I reconnected it was when I lent my car to a cousin for a fortnight. It's been connected for 6 months now, and I have found it impossible to completely avoid honking.

IMO in these times when words can escalate to heated arguments on the road, a horn is anyday harmless.

I'm against any honk-shaming as Indian conditions are different from those abroad. I wouldn't agree with people being guilted into not using it because of some statistic.

[RGK]

Let me narrate an experience I had 20 years back when I travelled in Conti Travels from Coimbatore to Chennai.

When the bus was going through the local roads of Kallakurichi (a town near Salem) around 1 am, a noisy flock of people were coming out of the local theatre and the driver was negotiating slowly just by dipping the headlights. I asked him why don't you use the horn?. He replied, "Sir all are sleeping inside and we are not authorised to use horns during the night unless absolutely necessary".

Honking is required at times but should be used wisely.

[Radar]

Originally Posted by MadinMumbai

Since then the roads and horns have only become more chaotic. We have gotten stupider as a whole. Horns aren't even the most stupid thing about our driving anymore. But still horns hurt. This morning at 6 o'clock, when the roads in Mumbai are empty, I heard a brand new Creta, driven by an obvious cretin, honk with a particularly loud horn, that seems to be a Creta special. I was running on the opposite side of the road and I doubt he was worried about me. We live in a world that's driven to distraction by mindless honking on the roads. It's so bad that studies are suggesting that large swaths of the population will have, if they don't already have it, hearing loss.

Interesting thread indeed MadinMumbai. I currently reside in Mumbai but learned my driving skills down South. In Kerala to be precise.

I had this observation and realisation when I started driving in Mumbai on a daily basis which is different from what I was used to in that almost all 2 wheelers and some four-wheelers turn in from smaller roads into the junctions or even main roads without looking right. They couldn't be bothered to look up or look right and you had to brake hard to avoid them. But what makes them stop is if you honk to let them know you are coming down the road. This would mean that they wait till the honking vehicle goes by or they stick a bit to the side though they still don't bother to look right. This at least is what I have observed and adapted to.

In the same way in Mumbai on some interior roads that are crowded out by people on the roads, I expected the people to give way when a vehicle comes down the road but I was told by people who are familiar with driving here that you got to honk for them to move out of the way. Else they will not bother to even if they are walking on the road.

After driving for 5 years in the ME it took me a while to adapt to honking again when driving in Mumbai but realise it's some sort of signaling that people expect on the roads here to give way or make way. I don't think Mumbai can go without it now.

[ashtrix]

Very apt thread and hats off to OP for bringing this topic for discussion. Honking may be useful, necessary but its certainly a nuisance. Even I used to think if horns could come with some kind of honking meter or could it be linked to fuel consumption so that the more you honk the more fuel you burn. But I think at least one thing can be done. That the horns in a vehicle should come with dual horn speakers i.e. one outlet for the road and another for the inside just above the driver's head so that when the driver honks he also gets the same decibel sound as people on the road. Hopefully this will make the drivers more sensitive about horns and its usage.

[BhaskarG]

Originally Posted by MadinMumbai

Hahaha! The joke is really on us. Look at the argument guys defending honking are making.
1. Indian roads are crowded/littered with idiots.
2. Horns are a safety device.
3. I honk in an emergency situation.
4. Pedestrians and cyclists need to be warned.
5. Others honk too much but I only honk at idiots on the road.

And here we are. All well-meaning and good guys but a complete mess on the roads. Everyone who uses the horn under the garb of safety contributes to the nuisance. You are part of the problem. You are not above the problem looking down from some magical higher plane.

And for dolts making the safety arguments - We have the maximum number of road accidents in the world. Fat lot of good your honking is doing.

Let me tell my story. While I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly a few years back, now I have wised up. Till some years back, I hated honking and used it to the bare minimum. I always slowed down behind unaware pedestrians, and stopped for 2 wheelers who pushed their way into the main road from the connecting by-lanes. My wife always told me to honk fearing any mishap, but I was so confident of my sedate driving that I didn't bother to honk frequently.

However, this style of driving sets in your muscle memory and has its downsides in some parts of India. If you honk less in my region, you are literally DEAD. Either someone will hit you, or you will hit someone. I met with 2 accidents: one where my car overturned while saving a 2 wheeler guy, and the other where someone actually ran in front of my car. Fortunately, no one died. I learned my lesson well and good. I have now trained my muscle memory to honk at pedestrians waiting to cross, 2 wheelers slowing down, and at by-lanes. I am happy to contribute to noise pollution as long as nobody gets killed. Wife is happy now.

Originally Posted by Radar

I had this observation and realisation when I started driving in Mumbai on a daily basis which is different from what I was used to in that almost all 2 wheelers and some four-wheelers turn in from smaller roads into the junctions or even main roads without looking right. They couldn't be bothered to look up or look right and you had to brake hard to avoid them. But what makes them stop is if you honk to let them know you are coming down the road. This would mean that they wait till the honking vehicle goes by or they stick a bit to the side though they still don't bother to look right.

What I am saying might be little OT, but interesting: Actually, I had tried to get behind this psychology of 2 wheeler riders, and to know why they are doing what they are doing. So over a period of time, I asked some of them why they come out of smaller roads without bothering to look right. The most common answers were: "Drivers will see me coming", "Nothing will happen, doing this for years". We can definitely tackle these situations without honking in slow speeds, but if this habit sets in, might invite disaster in rural highways. Cannot expect civic sense from 2 wheeler riders who do not wear helmets and remove the rear view mirrors.

[vishwasvr]

I was an avid Horn-y kinda guy when I was younger (Only pun intended ) but then I guess age is catching up slowly and I'm a lot more patient and sedated most times on road. Even if the vehicle ahead of me at a traffic light is not moving for whatever reason, I let the ones behind do the honking for me!

I feel lighter when I don't honk when not needed. But having said that, I think it is an important part because of blind curves, bad roads etc and it can be a life saver.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by MadinMumbai

Hahaha! The joke is really on us. Look at the argument guys defending honking are making.
1. Indian roads are crowded/littered with idiots.
2. Horns are a safety device.
3. I honk in an emergency situation.
4. Pedestrians and cyclists need to be warned.
5. Others honk too much but I only honk at idiots on the road.

And here we are. All well-meaning and good guys but a complete mess on the roads. Everyone who uses the horn under the garb of safety contributes to the nuisance. You are part of the problem. You are not above the problem looking down from some magical higher plane.

And for all making the safety arguments - We have the maximum number of road accidents in the world. Fat lot of good your honking is doing.

Ignorance is not bliss on the road, Horns save lives else they would have been banned outright everywhere.

We have one of the largest road networks in the world, I think its the second largest and coupled with population numbers, we will top many metrics for the sake of MSM headlines, but they are nothing new.

Now for your academic purpose.

Horn is a safety device - CMVR mandates it as a safety device, the output should be between 93 and 112 dB, yep, loud horn. If you drive without a working horn, its an offence.

As per the Motor vehicle driving regulations of India it specifies that the driver use the horn when there is danger to himself or any other road user. The driver must use horn when there is a horn sign as well.

[Added_flavor]

I came across this DIY video of improving vocabulary of the standard horn. I think it's a fantastic idea and this is what horns should've been.

https://youtu.be/lv8wqnk_TsA

[jkrishnakj]

There was a time that my horn in my Tata Safari had ceased to work and I had to continue driving this for several months. Somehow, I always used to miss attending to this during the service intervals.

This was way back in 2013. I don't have the safari anymore, but the habit of not honking has stuck on with me. I guess its more muscle memory.

[atnyia]

Originally Posted by Rajiv0909

Honking in Delhi is 20x more than Pune and Chennai ( I have lived in these cities hence the comparison). I have observed motorists constantly honking even without an obstruction

This is absolutely true. Paradoxically, in Delhi, you could manage with less honking than Pune (or Bangalore). The reason is wide roads and two-wheelers 'respecting' the four-wheelers.

My horn usage was higher in Pune as two-wheeler dominate the roads and lane awareness is relatively less.

[SS-Traveller]

Saying "Indians are honking way too much" is unfair without analysing why we honk. It isn't just about indiscipline, or habit, or chaotic traffic. It is largely about a combination of these factors, compounded by both a lack of driving etiquette as well as frustrations related to work and life. So we find minimal honking in smaller cities that have a lower population and a laid-back attitude, compared to the metros.

As traffic enforcement improves and people feel less frustrated due to indisciplined driving, their honking and aggressive driving behaviour get better too. Here's a video from Kolkata many years ago:

https://youtu.be/AjvbsespRZw

10 years later, when I visit the city once or twice each year, I've found that the traffic has improved, and the honking has certainly reduced.

Cities in the North-East of India don't have the culture of honking. Places like Vadodara and Jamnagar hardly honked 20-25 years ago, but a recent trip to Vadodara made me realise that both chaotic traffic and honking have risen exponentially there.

The solution to reduce honking is far more complex than not providing horns or a myriad of other innovative solutions such as charging money. Get the driver to relax, address his frustrations, teach him to drive well, and the honking will stop too.