[Fillmore]

My 2cents...

A horn is required in India, but only to be used in the following scenarios.

When its Ok to horn (just a short 1 second beep)
--------------------
- Approaching a blind turn in a narrow road
- You are driving on a narrow road and you see 2-3 people walking on the road ahead with their backs facing you occupying half the road
- The cyclist in front doing a zig zag, you never know when he might decide to turn right in your path
- 2 people busy chatting and anticipating to cross the road, You are never sure if they saw your car approaching.

When its NOT Ok to horn
-----------------------
- Signal turns green you are the 5th in line, you just keep honking for no reason.
- Signal is still Red , and the guy in front of you is following the rules, but you just want to cut the signal cause traffic is less so you honk
- Driving on a straight road and honking for no reason at regular intervals
-

[GTO - Touring]

Originally Posted by Fillmore

A horn is required in India, but only to be used in the following scenarios.

When its Ok to horn (just a short 1 second beep)
--------------------
- Approaching a blind turn in a narrow road
- You are driving on a narrow road and you see 2-3 people walking on the road ahead with their backs facing you occupying half the road
- The cyclist in front doing a zig zag, you never know when he might decide to turn right in your path
- 2 people busy chatting and anticipating to cross the road, You are never sure if they saw your car approaching.
-

To add to your list : Always honk when overtaking another vehicle on the highway. CV's either don't have ORVMs or don't use them altogether. A short honk when overtaking a truck will let them know of your presence.

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by GTO - Touring

To add to your list : Always honk when overtaking another vehicle on the highway. CV's either don't have ORVMs or don't use them altogether. A short honk when overtaking a truck will let them know of your presence.

This is very important, have saved myself too many times doing this.

[finneyp]

A friend of mine started a blog on Honking menace, please feel free to contribute if you share the sentiment.

STOP Honking Bangalore

[muralisk]

The most annoying thing that happens in Bangalore. This morning around 6:50 am on a relatively empty road, one Corolla taxi fella was honking even when all the lanes are occupied. I was quite pissed and let him pass me and then honked the hell out of him.

[supremeBaleno]

Well, all our cities could do with "no honking" or atleast "reduced honking".

When driving my car, I honk when the occasion demands it (eg. 3 bikers riding on the centre of each of the 3 lanes of the IT corridor at 40kmph, not allowing anyone to drive past them).

But I don't honk at all when riding my bike. Well, the horn is not working for years and I just got used to it that way.

[appuchan]

I already practice completely horn-less driving for more than two years in Bangalore. See my thread on this earlier...

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street...rn-please.html

[spadival]

Well.. We need to first convince people not to put in POWER HORNS into their vehicle, forget about Not honking !!

BTW, There is a thread somewhere on POWER HORNS and which model can perforate your ear drums the most.

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by muralisk

The most annoying thing that happens in Bangalore. This morning around 6:50 am on a relatively empty road, one Corolla taxi fella was honking even when all the lanes are occupied. I was quite pissed and let him pass me and then honked the hell out of him.

Well, I must say that this is one of the reasons why honking actually increases - out of frustration. Same is the case with rash driving, cutting across lanes etc. I see this happening everyday on my way back home at the evening on Hosur road.

Once we learn to control ourselves, things will fall in place. I used to be a bad driver with my mood on tender hooks all the time. Even a rashly driven vehicle going in the opposite side used to trigger me. The moment I learned to ignore such pranksters, I feel a lot better and now driving in Bangalore is a pleasure .

[appuchan]

I dont use horn absolutely when driving in the city, where everybody knows there are vehicles around. But on highways, it may be required at times, like near villages, while overtaking etc.

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Friends,

For some reason the horn of my S10 has given away completely(Actually, the horn started to 'fade' away -- in a sense the sound started becoming faint and then more faint till it finally gave away) and I have been forced to drive in peak hour Bangalore traffic without honking.

After driving without a horn more than a week, I thought of sharing my experiences/observations here.

My driving style is quite spirited and I do accelerate & brake hard(I would prefer enjoying my drive rather than worry about FE). However, at the same time, I am NOT a rash driver and I respect fellow road users also. I do use the horn pretty often -- mostly as a 'beep-beep' to just let the person in front, pedestrians know of my presence.

• In day time, I had no option so had to wait till that auto, bus, car and at times even pedestrians would move. However, i realized that even if my horn would have been working and I had honked even then the person, the car, the auto would not have moved and it would take them same time to move if I honk or not.

• In night time, I used to toggle between High/Low beam and in nearly 7 out of 10 cases it worked -- believe me, it worked even for auto's , cars etc. However, it was a different case altogether with pedestrians as the high/low beam toggle didn't work at all with them.

• I found myself to be more 'focused' while driving without altering my driving style. I was more aware of everything on the road -- the pedestrians, the vegetable vendors, that parked bus and watching for some kid/person to suddenly appear from behind it, that auto cyclists, practically everything. It was like my 'scope' of vision had improved and I was becoming aware of aspects that I would have ignored in the past.

• There were hilarious moments also where at few traffic junctions I found myself blocked by a 'single pedastrian' who had wandered into the middle of the junction waiting for a bus. The expression on his face and that of fellow people was of amazement -- of 'why wasn't I honking'? and I could only manage a smile.

• Even though I knew that my horn wasn't working, I found myself still pressing the horn at times -- hoping that it would work and that moron would move.

In short, I have found that neither did it take me any longer to reach my destination nor did my driving style alter. At the same time, I am missing my horn and the instantaneous 'reflex action' of honking

Khan..you just wrote what exactly I too felt when I stopped using horn. Your first point is actually very true. Nothing changes in most circumstances, even if you honk loud and persistent, while driving in a city. I got used to it now and I do sometimes find myself towing behind a pedestrian or a cyclist for a bit longer than one would like to! But its fun

[santhosh_kumard]

I never use my horn when I am on my bike and honk only when necessary when in my cars ( as a matter of fact, i dont drive car inside city , so that casualty never comes ).

I get really frustruated when cars/sumos start honking at signals. What the hell are they thinking about their horn?... is it some kind of beam to make the vehicle ahead vanish??..

I support this movement wholeheartedly

[Torqy]

I rarely honk...but when i honk i REALLY HONK the hell out of that idiot who made me honk.

I used to take the company transport earlier. The driver turned out to be one with the most irritating driving style i've ever seen. The moron used to just honk for no reason...on empty roads, at potholes, at humps, at dividers and what not. He was a timer device which sets off the horn at regular intervals irrespective of what's happening outside. I used to get this urge to walk up to him and kick the @#%$ out of him. Finally i could not stand it any more and opted out of company transport.

[shankar.balan]

Honking is considered a highly impolite activity in the developed world. Which is why probably the first thing that hits you when you land in India after a trip, is the noise level which is like a slap in the face.

But we can rant and rave all we like, we are like this only and it happens only in india!
much better to take it easy, put up the windows, listen to some calming music and sit in your powered oasis while the chaos mills around you.

else, you will end up with BP, Hypertension and all the attendant maladies!

[appuchan]

Originally Posted by Torqy

I rarely honk...but when i honk i REALLY HONK the hell out of that idiot who made me honk.

I used to take the company transport earlier. The driver turned out to be one with the most irritating driving style i've ever seen. The moron used to just honk for no reason...on empty roads, at potholes, at humps, at dividers and what not. He was a timer device which sets off the horn at regular intervals irrespective of what's happening outside. I used to get this urge to walk up to him and kick the @#%$ out of him. Finally i could not stand it any more and opted out of company transport.

Put up a challenge to him and say that if he drives without using horn on one full trip, he will get Rs50. My car driver was like that when he joined us. I told him that I will give him a "bonus" if he drives without using horn and he did improve tremendously, at least for the sake of money.