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Self regulation and Self discipline are the order of the day in developed parts of the world along with consideration for others. In general they are more retrained with emotions. Here it is a free for all with each man for himself. Hence the mad honking to announce general presence, to indicate happiness, affection, love, lust or JLT!

Check out the scene in Italy especially Southern Italy and you will find it is not very much different from us in India! Emotions and passions run very high, just like they do here!
Looks like the warmer the country and environs the more exuberant the people!

Yes same with me for the pedestrians. Except i slow down to a crawling pace and move behind them. If they realise well and good for them. If not i count till 20 and then redline my engine. Believe me That scares the ghosts out of them more than a honk would do. Please make sure your feet are on the brakes and your gear is in neutral for extra caution.

I hate it when bicyclers and some pedestrians listen to their pods and keep coming onto the middle lane. I dont care to honk for these idiots. I bicycle too but on the left most lane and walk on the footpath.

In general i tend to slow down at every cross road and according to traffic manipulate my vehicle's speed. Honking really irritates me and within seconds my bp rises which isnt good for my health.

Since my car doesnt have a reversing horn, i need to use it while reversing especially when in streets at night as those rx100s keep zipping up and down the street.

And i follow the "Use Dipper at Night" principle when i need to overtake vehicles on the road unless the situation demands honking e.g if the person in front is talking on the cell while driving and he doesnt notice me flashing.

If people in US and northern Europe can avoid honking, why cant we? We all are humans yet we are so different from each other. Here people like to break laws whereas there people tend to abide by laws. I cant tolerate honking at all. And have you noticed some bikes having those wailing siren type horns? God!!

P.s traffic hardly follows any rules in Italy though. Atleast thats what ive noticed in various news channels and other television shows. Recent example being Top Gear first episode of this season.
Never been there though. So just my opinion.

It's been almost a year since I've started driving in US and I have honked just TWICE. This is true.

What makes driving different in US is that here people follow rules and you expect others to follow rules. US has better, bigger roads and infrastructure which helps people to follow rules.

Thanks,
Jose.

Hooking in north america is a stupid act and person doing it will feel ashamed.
I did it with the trainer beside, but that was the first and last time.

In india its a rule, 'HORN PLEASE', just like its vibrancy, like it or not.

We, a country of billion people, couldve easily had the best infrastructure in the world, but what to say, our great leaders are busy in putting all the tax money in their wallets that we are stuck with potholed roads and worst infrastructure than any developing country.

Its not the fault of leaders, its our fault. We, indians, are a class of Chalta Hai people. And whenever possible we try to bribe someone to get things done in our favor. This under table habit only helps to breed more corruption.

Tell me after all the drama that Anna Hazare generated and so many "I dont pay bribes" campaigns; how many of us have really stopped bribing in order to get things done? Everyone has to stop. Not just us common men, but industrialists, businessmen, software giants everyone.

Imagine if you were in the US would you think of bribing an official to get things done? From what ive heard, if youve the right documents; your work gets done on time. We cannot say the US was like us before and later its infra improved. We, 5 generations after independence, havent been able to stop our bad habits; I really doubt if we will ever stop unless a revolution happens.

Lol rather its "Horn OK Please". Louder the horn, the higher chances of others allowing you to overtake them.

Most of my honking is precautionary.

I honk on highways, when I overtake vehicles, especially trucks and two/three wheelers. I've been trained to trust none of them to be checking their mirrors.

When I reach a blind curve, I honk loud to let anyone approaching from the other side know that I'm there - so that they will make an effort to keep to their side of the road.

I try my best not to honk in city traffic.

It's like Kamal Hassan's character (father) says in the "Indian" movie. In India you need to bribe to get legal work done even if you have all the documents. In US, you bribe only to get illegal stuff done.

I avoid honking as much as possible and try to control using the speed and good timing. Moreover, whenever behind a car or anyother vehicle, I prefer to maintain some gap and not tailgate the vehicle like a moron. But although, as everyone here says, as a biker, I had to honk to let the car drivers know of my existence behind them or they simply will squeeze a Innova in a gap, sufficient only for a bike and wouldnt mind to look in their mirrors before changing lanes.

Well, how can one forget the great Autos and cabbies? Either honk and escape death otherwise get crushed.

OT: You walk on the foot path in INDIA??:Shockked: Please put some pictures of that beautiful engineering creation(The Footpath!) from your city. Although, I am used to it in my current location, but as long as I was in India, it used to be a rare spotting for me, just like spotting an exotic car. For your information, I am from chennai, and we used to have good foot paths. Other than our East coast road(along the Marina beach) there is hardly any footpath left in the city. Thanks to encroachments and all govt. departments for their never ending digging/repair works.

P.S: Take my words, driving in Italy is not different than driving in India. But not everywhere though. I have been there, done it lol:. One feels a huge change in attitude and road manners when driving from Germany into Italy. Things change completely upside down.

Atleast in Bangalore its there even though people dont feel like using it and wander onto the road. Ill put up some pics as soon as i get back :)

Speaking of Italy were you the one who put up the Maranello travelogue? :thumbsup

Have to say at least in Bangalore it has become mandatory to honk just to over ride the blaring horns of all those cabbies and private buses. This menace is becoming worse by the day especially in the IT corridor where it becomes hard to live a peaceful surrounding even as early as 7 AM.

IMO honking is the basic safety feature provided in the cars to allow the drivers to navigate through the traffic which unfortunately consists more of morons rather than sensible drivers.

I have tried using the dipper as a sign of request for overtaking, half of the driving population seriously dont know what that means:Frustrati. So what do I do, I use the horns. Puts the age old saying that light travels faster than sound to shame. In fact its the other way round in the concrete environment atleast. Sometimes a small beep does bring back the "lost in thoughts" driver to senses and some times its the big beep to inform the driver ahead that he is in the wrong lane.

We in India treat Honking as our basic right. I have seen few of our cab drivers honking even when the road is empty. When asked, Why? They dont have reason. It has become a habit for them.
Same goes with driving in high beam.

Another worst part, even when the signal is On (Red), people like to honk. They do not understand that the front vehicle cannot move anywhere. It is as stuck as others are.

Also, do not understand why people use horn in residential area in night hours when everyone has slept. Flashing light will do the job.
Two things annoy the most at this hour,
1. Horn
2. Reverse parking music :Frustrati
I am not considering all those after-mart exhaust

I'd have to disagree with you there that it is "mandatory" to honk just because others are! It is not at all mandatory, you have to option to drive on silently and that also works pretty well here.

Bangalore has one of the best behaved traffic in India. I've been driving here for almost 3 years and I rarely ever resort to honking (sometimes even once or twice in months or like that!) Of course lotsa times people creep in spaces in front and also cut across but its not like honking is going to deter them. I find it more stress-free to just give way to whosoever is in hurry or in want and just drive at my own pace, listening to some good music instead of others blaring horns. Maybe I reach home a few mins late but thats O.K. by me.

To be frank, I've never really understood what honking achieves really!!!

For some people honking becomes involuntary function of body where they inadvertently press the horn button at every few seconds irrespective of road conditions and time. (When I see these guys they remind me of Charlie Chaplin in modern times....) Even they do not realise this while they do it.

Few others are irritated souls who perpetually hate being on Indian roads and they show their displeasure by honking.

There is also a type who believe that the road belongs only to them and everyone else traveling is trespassing. They drive at their own pace and keep reminding others to get out of their way by honking.

Personally, I honk at the following occasions:

1. Approaching dead corner where because of high compound walls you can not see people approaching from other sides.

2. When I see a person speaking on mobile phone while driving/ riding/ crossing road without looking right or left.

3. Where there is a sign which asks you to sound horn and then approach.

Please tell me if I am wrong and I will correct my behavior.

Kind of a tricky issue for me. Honking while driving in India has become as important to me as other core aspects of driving. My friends who have observed this on more than one occasion have been pleasantly surprised when they saw me driving abroad without honking at all. While I've been thinking about this "weakness" of mine, I end up rationalizing as below:
1) In Bangalore where I drive the most, most of the other road users seem less aware of others around. With the density on road, I feel a need to "let others know" for my sake and theirs too.
2) A lot of drivers are otherwise engaged - cell phones, chatting with passengers, listening to music and hence may not see you when you are close and they end up making a quick avoidance maneuver.
3) On highways, as indicated by others before, I do think that honking is the best way (daytime) of announcing yourself at blind turns, during overtaking or busy small towns.
4) I rarely honk to express anger or frustration (something I've tamed significantly)
5) I also try and respect local behaviors ... e.g. in small towns where people are used to a slow, lazy pace, I don't honk to push them out of the way nor do I honk on residential streets where people are on the road (they do have a right of use) nor do I honk if someone seems to have a genuine issue causing them to block me.

But how much ever I rationalize, my wife absolutely detests it which should just be enough reason for me to stop altogether but then I've not figured out how to tackle the "unaware" on our roads.

I am actively trying to improve further and any best practices from the forum can be of immense help. I do wish for a technology that helps to "direct" the horn at specific folks instead of causing noise for all around.

I do not honk to get the gates opened. I stop a kilometer earlier, give a call.

Cases when no one answers the phone, I manually open the gates.

On highways, I use the horn liberally for pedestrians, cyclists, 2 wheelers. Others usually give way by sounding a small *beep*

Compared to hills (where you do not need to honk) I do honk in corners (in plains, a small beep) & approach cautiously.

Wish had something like this though :D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXcq52v8mEw