[mooza]

Yes, I guess it's the noisy nature in our culture, which leads to this honking riot.

Continuing on some of the unusual and creative suggestions, maybe the horn circuit should be linked to the brakes as well

I am scouting around for neat stickers to fix on the rear of my cars, which say "HORN NOT OK PLEASE", in contrast to the several stickers (found especially on LCVs and trucks), which say "HORN OK"

Maybe some stickers should be added to the existing package of TBHP stickers, to read something like :

"Live to drive, NOT HONK"
HehHeh

[aargee]

Few days ago, I was planning to put a sticker on back of my car that should read like this...
"One who knows to honk, does not know how to drive; the one who knows to drive does not honk". But I dismissed the idea because there're so many such writings to be put up & my car will contain only such slogans; besides I cannot go correcting all of them.

[GTO]

Here's two related threads for those interested in the subject:

Driving in Bombay without a horn

No horn please

[download2live]

In narrow overcrowded lanes you have to honk. Or else people wont move. I have even seen them ignoring the horn and walking blissfully. I have lost count of the number of times I had to stop and watch people walk in front of my car when they could have easily used the left hand side of the road to walk.

Horns may lead to noise pollution but they are an important factor in keeping pedestrian casualties low.

[aargee]

My take is only one...

Originally Posted by HvKumar

But unless you use horn in crowded places, you may end up in jail, having knocked down someone who refused to look in your direction.

101% true. And to drive without honking requires two things...
1. Drive early morning before 6 AM or drive after 12:00 PM
2. If not, have a Himalayan patience like appuchan; like, if I need to reach a place by 11:00 AM, I start by 8:00 AM & the distance being 15 Kms

[somu_john]

Originally Posted by mooza

3. A short, polite, decent jab, more like a request (once in a minute, perhaps). This is bearable, at least.

I belong to this category, and expect others to be the same. But in vain.

[Sandeep_K_Ram]

Doesn't matter to me anymore these days - whosoever it is who has his a44 on fire - if he wants to go and get himself killed - I gladly give way to him.

[MX6]

I rarely honk. Friends who come with me in my car have called me a maniac. The best comment I've heard was from some one who said "MX6 never honks. If the other guy is run over, he prays instead".
Ofcourse many of those comments have come with a tinge of sarcasm.
One time I felt very happy was when Ranjith.Rajaram praised me for not honking even once during our drive from pune to big wheels and back.
In the last 31K kms, I'd have honked 10 times.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by MX6

In the last 31K kms, I'd have honked 10 times.

Cool! You might have picked up the habit from your stay here right ?
Apart from that many people stop honking when they get a visual cue like a hand signal indicating that you are looking into the issue for which you got honked in the first place.
During my last visit, I read the DMV rule here and it was written and still written in the rule books that you have to indicate to the car you are passing with a audible signal. When I read that I implemented that while overtaking an SUV full of Mexicans and believe you me when I say there was not a soul in the the SUV which did not look at me with wide eyes. I was just lucky no one pulled out a 12 mm from their trousers.
When I came to office and narrated the incident to my american boss, he said it is extremely rude to honk and you honk only when you are super pissed on the guy driving in front. Strange rules!

[DoNotHorn]

MX6

I belong to the same category. You can make out from my ID.
I hate to honk unnecessarily and hate people who do it unnecessarily.

I drive thru the heart of the city everyday each way 14 kms. I can say I honk probably twice a week.
My mom and friends call me a Maniac too. But thats OK.
Have seen people honking on a empty road at 11 pm, cause they are addicted, many people have one finger permanenetly on the horn.

My son stands in front of our scooter occassionaly. My wife tells, Don't honk, Appa will scold you.

Somebody said we have a noisy culture. I agree, Even in high end hotels people just make noise without a care for others as if its their birthright.

Regards

[MX6]

I have never liked to honk and find it extremely rude. I rarely used the horn in my old fiat which I used to drive from 1992.
It's not a conscious effort not to honk. I find that it's more like the way I drive. 6 months after I bought our Ikon home, my wife one day asked non-chalantly, "how does our horn sound?"
I burst out laughing and honked so that she could hear it first time!

[amohit]

OT: Just wanted to know what you guys do in the ghat section? Do you honk at the blind curves (and not so blind curves)?
How are such situations handled in western, more developed countries?

I personally hate to spoil the peace of the place, but do give a type 3 honk once in a while. On not so blind curves, I generally slow down considerably and pray that if there is a anyone coming from the opposite side, will honk. So far I have been lucky.



Regards,

[rjstyles69]

I do honk and scare the living daylights out of people when they refuse to move and give way with that 1st honk. Usually I try and avoid such situations , but driving in Bangalore without a horn is next to impossible these days.

This morning I was having a casual chat with my cab driver who honks at every possible instance. This chap seriously has some unknown affinity towards to his cab's horn.

- Simply honk even when there are no vehicles ahead of us.
- Honk at the signal when it turns green even though we are in the front.
- Honk at the sight of a speed breaker.

The last one was heights and I couldn't control my laughter. I went on to ask him why did he do that and he never had an answer, he simply smiled.
The dude says, I wouldn't drive in Bangalore without the horns working.

[aargee]

31K & 10 times? You must be kidding unless you're driving during midnights & early mornings OR you're driving out of Pune. Can't really believe this.

I honk when people make mistakes are stand on my way. The most irritable ones are the cabbies, who honk for no reason; I witnessed several times that cabbies honk even when there're no one on the road & I go burst in laughing as why they're honking. Guess that's integral part of their driving.

[DoNotHorn]

amohit

Its Ok to honk in ghat scetion if you really can't see beyond the curve.
In Los Angeles when you drive up or down to go near the HOLLYWOOD sign they had put sigboards to sound horn, as the curves were very sharp and one could not see the other vehicle.

If anybody drives behind me and is honking for no reason, I will make sure i frustrate them even more by slowing up(especially if they are in the left hand side and honk to overtake me from the left) - I enjoy it when I frustrate someone who is honking for no reason(Its not good as I don't know who is behind the wheels- some rowdy)

Also when people drive on main road they sound horn at every cross road they see, just slowing down a bit helps - no need to honk.