[chandrda]

Originally Posted by Zed

I found that I was considerable less stressed but not considerably slower than colleagues, chauffeurs & friends that treated the road like a battlefield.

With my BP increasing by day and with Doctor, mother, father, wife and all the souls with mouth on earth advising me to take care of BP, I did.

The first thing I did was not to treat the road as battlefield, the mantra was

"keep the egos for the boardroom and hormones for the bedroom"

Invariably my honking has come down drastically without even me noticing.

Now I am relaxed, but not slow or timid, its just that if I run over some one they will not hear any honking

Regards

[raycers_honda]

People who drive without honking at all have some patience.But in a city like Mumbai its not possible to drive without honking.I have tried to do so but then i loose patience.Its not like i honk all the time its only when needed.
I mean for instance, on our roads in the city you have some careless jay walkers who look at the opposite side while crossing the road.Its as if they walk in a garden day dreaming about getting killed.
And offcourse to get their attention to come back to reality ive got to honk.
The other thing i have noticed is many people dart across just when the signal for traffic turns green.U dont want to stop behind a signal for long now do you ?
I have also witnessed people walking three or sometimes four in a line not on the foothpath but on the road.Keep in mind that sometimes there is a perfect foothpath.But these brainy people choose to walk three in a row with their backs facing oncoming traffic.Now if a person does not honk in this situation its bound to be a recipe for disaster.The best part is those brainy people give bad stares at you.
India definately needs a subject in school or college about pedestrian safety.

[joslicx]

I once drove for about 6 months without a working horn in my Alto! After service the horn was not working! I didnt complain and took it up as a challenge to drive without horn. Really enjoyed it. At times I had to drive behind scooterwalas and even rickshaws. I was in Noida then.

Sadly Maruti service restored the horn during the next scheduled service (without even me asking for it). But this experience has served me well. I rarely ever use the horn nowdays too.

[normally_crazy]

I still try and avoid using the horns and high beams in the city.

But there are idiots who drive with one or both of the menace's engaged.

So what do I do ?

If the guy is honking away to glory, I let him go ahead and then stick right behind him and honk away till he gets a fit !

If the guy is in driving with high beams engaged, I allow him ahead and then blind him with my high beams till he understands or till I reach home.

[Bigzero]

This happens so often:

I wait at the signal - its a busy junction and there are multiple lanes of vehicles waiting for the light to turn green. I look at the red light and the counter next to it. The countdown progresses steadily, and as the number approaches single digits, many two wheelers and some cars in the front row have already taken off. Most dont ( thankfully ) and wait for the green light to come on.

I glance at my rear view mirror. I can see him at the wheel. A normal looking gent, with wife in his next seat, and couple of others in the back seat. Somehow I get a feel that this is one of them. I look at the counter again. 3..2..1.. and as the green light come on at 0, I hear a sharp toot from behind. And then another immediately after.. Yes he has done it. Exactly when the green light came on. Not a microsecond later.

I am sure his thumb was on the steering wheel, sweat dripping down his temples, eyes fixed on the light as the countdown was in progress. Years of practice has perfected his timing.

I have already moved my car forward by now and I glance at the gentleman again. He is still just about getting a move on, and as I picked p speed, once again my guess was proved right - he was in no great hurry to tear past me.

I finally continue my journey, and my friend meanwhile is approaching the next signal, lining up behind the next unsuspecting victim , waiting for the light to go green...

[tharian]

Had a chance to ride to work , probably for the first time without my horn working. The fuse had blown on my Bullet and I did not have a spare one, so decided to let it be.

I reduced my avg speed and overtakings due to the lack of horn.
Although it gave a rest to my thumb, I realized in a city like Banagalore, I really need it and not because of me, but because of two wheelers especially and few 4 wheelers who do not use the rear veiw mirrors or does not have one at all.

There were a couple of instances in which a two wheeler & cycle just moved to the side when I was right next to them and I had to move equally to avoid contact. A horn would have helped.

A horn is for sure a neccisity, but we in India cannot or never use it sparingly because of the chaos.

[Fiest@DuraTec]

I, for myself term honk as 'Repeatedly, unneccesarry blowing the horn'. This is valid when you know that signal is red and the person behind is creating a nuisance by keeping his hand on the horn(may be just out of his habit). I personally never had a habit of honking repeatedly, or for longer intervals. If I had to, it would be a quick 1-2 sec press of the horn.

With this I might be able to raise a few eyebrows, but I strongly support giving a little signal with the horn while overtaking someone, EVERYTIME !! Again, its not honk, just a press of the horn, to notify the person that I am overtaking.

[taranonline]

Originally Posted by Bigzero

This happens so often:

I wait at the signal - its a busy junction and there are multiple lanes of vehicles waiting for the light to turn green. I look at the red light and the counter next to it. The countdown progresses steadily, and as the number approaches single digits, many two wheelers and some cars in the front row have already taken off. Most dont ( thankfully ) and wait for the green light to come on.

I glance at my rear view mirror. I can see him at the wheel. A normal looking gent, with wife in his next seat, and couple of others in the back seat. Somehow I get a feel that this is one of them. I look at the counter again. 3..2..1.. and as the green light come on at 0, I hear a sharp toot from behind. And then another immediately after.. Yes he has done it. Exactly when the green light came on. Not a microsecond later.

I am sure his thumb was on the steering wheel, sweat dripping down his temples, eyes fixed on the light as the countdown was in progress. Years of practice has perfected his timing.

OMG, You are so funny. This happens to me all the time. People just don't have patience here unlike other countries. I lived in AU for two years and never heard unnecessary honking.

[SupratikDebnath]

We should coax our doctor friends to certify a new disease, called Compulsive Honking Disorder.

I have started to laugh (internally) at those guys who honk unnecessarily!

And it is true that there are scenarios where one might need to honk, but it can be maneuvered if we instill patience. But slowing down for other morons will only mean invitation of another show of Compulsive Honking by the one following us! :-)

[sumeethaldankar]

I had read up on this article in Mumbai mirror on this guy, who is a driver for a lady part of some NGO, who does not use his horn on his Indica at all.
The article mention's that when a person uses his horn continously/incessantly it means that he or she is not in control of his or her vehicle.I started thinking now how is that correct.I mean i like to be in control of my car all the time, won't you like it that way too?

I started to think why do i honk , mind you before i had a style where i would sound horn like in short controlled burst mode :-).I found that i would use the horn when someone would get in way, or someone is cutting me or off or if some other vehicle is dangerously coming closer to my vehicle etc etc.I started to change my driving style where i do not have to use the horn at all.If some dude gets in my way i would slow down and let him/her pass first.
If some vehicle is trying to cut me off , i would slow down and let it through.Also i would try to keep distance from vehicles which would need me to sound horn to make them give way.

Most of the time, I am proud to say that i have resorted to not using a horn.I have noticed when we sound horn all the time , it JUSTS SIGNIFIES THAT WE ARE IMPATIENT.I have managed to reduce my horn usage by 98% by following patient driving.In city like mumbai i know being a patient driver is diffcult but it's possible.I would urge Bhpians to be a patient driver and reduce the usage of the horn button.Think of it as something which would reduce your points in a game every time you use the horn.You don't want to lose too many points in a game now do you.The Indica driver from Mumbai mirror can do it, even i can do it and so can you.I notice in my endeavour to minimise horn usage my drives have become less stressfull and feel more in control of my car.

[gabrielthomas]

I used to have this habit of honking until I started driving in Canada where no one honks except to abuse someone who is not driving properly. Well yeah I have got about one honk till now This kind of driving has influenced me so much in India that I rarely honk now (except passing) and on a few occasion when I feel I should.

[luvDriving]

Now this is a different type of honking that I am ranting about but it is honking all the same and even more irritating and annoying than that which we hear in traffic.

This is done by wannabe hero type drivers. They drive in fast and furious mode (be it a 2-wheeler or a 4-wheeler) with one finger on the horn continuously pressed, honking away to glory. Especially during the night hours, this is observed more frequently.

Seinfeld had something to say in one of his stand up acts about honking done by men to attract the attention of women which was hilarious. Here it is :

Seinfeld on honking

[braindead]

I don't find any improvement in my average speed if I honk a lot. No one is going to jump out of your way if you keep making noise behind them.

As a rule I only honk for two reasons: If the other person is unknowingly creating an unsafe situation, or if I have the right of way, eg at a green light and others are breaking the red light and making it unsafe for me.

Jeremy Clarkson in one of his articles suggested that the horn is the one thing that we can do without in a car. That most of the times it is used AFTER the dangerous situation has passed and we are only expressing our displeasure. hence it has no real use.
I don't completely agree with him, but he does have a point.

[Poloprasad]

I horn only if there is a real necessity. I find most of the people horn for no reason. I think they are used to it and they can't drive without horn usage. Like people giving way for ambulance sound, I also give way to people who frequently horn for my peaceful journey. I personally feel that horn usage like when, where & how to be taught to every individual before issuing the driving license.

[hangover]

I think auto designers have not focused any attention on horn design.

We need a dynamic intensity horn. A soft touch should produce a light sound. A harder press should produce the full output.

The soft touch setting is needed to wake up your building watchman to open the gate at say 3am or if you are just warning a mobile phone using street crosser to jolly well hurry up.
The full intensity is needed for occasional occasions.

Same with turn indicators. It should have 3 options in either direction.

A light touch to just flicker 2-3 times while changing lanes. A normal one. A 3rd very useful one as a deeper stalk position to show U turns.

If the auto designers are reading this, I would also like a a train type horn focused on rear traffic. When someone honks incessantly behind you just cough on your train horn.