On Horns: Are We Better Off Without Them?

"That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms" (thatbastardkurtis5)
12/13/2018 at 20:14 • Filed to: None

The other day I screwed up, and the aftermath made me think…would cars be safer without horns?

You may or may not know I drive a lumber truck for work. Its a Freightliner 114SD with a Princeton Piggyback lift on the back, and it has a GVW of 64,000lbs. The whole rig basically looks like this, albeit a Freightliner.

Anyway, I was passing a slow moving line of vehicles on the left and the road was going down to one lane. I thought I had passed the last vehicle, my passing speed should have ensured I passed him easily, but apparently he sped up so he was right next to me as my lane was ending.

Not only was he next to me, he was in my truck’s fairly massive blind spot. Also, I don’t know if you know this, but trucks like mine are fairly loud inside…so it was something of a miracle I heard his horn at all. I was doing a thing where I was listening to all of David Lee Roth’s Van Halen albums that day, so if this was during Panama I wouldn’t have heard him. Anyway.

I heard the horn and I’m frantically searching my mirrors for this vehicle, I can’t see it, so I hit my brakes hard and he squeaks by me on my right just before my lane ends. Initially I was relieved I had avoided the collision, but it got me thinking. Why did he hit the horn?

He’s driving a 3000lb Toyota Camry. I’m driving, again, a 64000lb truck. There’s no dimension in which my truck moves better than his car. He could have accelerated and passed me easily. He could have braked and got behind me easily…I don’t drive a trailer truck, the thing is about 3 car lengths long, he’d have been behind me in a second. But he did what all stupid people do, he hit the horn.

In other words, he did the one thing he could do that wouldn’t actually stop an accident from happening. And I feel like that’s what people always do, they hit the horn instead of actually taking an action. I mean I could have killed that guy with this truck, and he took as near to no action to save his own life as makes no difference.

So I’ve been thinking we might be better off without horns, or at least we need to teach people the right way to use them. If you hit your horn before you hit your brakes, you’re doing it wrong.

DISCUSSION (23)

wafflesnfalafel > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:19

it’s a tool, (which can be used for good or evil!)

ranwhenparked > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:21

How else are you supposed to get the attention of the person in front of you that’s watching YouTube videos in their lap instead of paying attention to the turn arrow that just turned green?

Spanfeller is a twat > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:22

The horn is a “HEY” to people around you, trucks or otherwise, I find it very helpful both as the emitting end and the recieving end.

RPM esq. > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:22

Horns are fine, that guy just used it wrong. It’s not really that different from blinkers, although of course situations where you use your blinkers are more frequent —if you put your left blinker on and then turn right, it’s probably more dangerous than not using them at all! But using them correctly is a lot safer than not having them.

NKato > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:26

Here, a hot, painful take: you could’ve let him eat shit. Insurance would gouge him for all he’s worth. And your truck would only be mildly inconvenienced by a shitty unibody. He would have been forced to brake... Or go off the road.

Simply put, this is why you install dash cameras.

CRider > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:26

Kinja'd!!!

Personally, I think more cars should have horns.

jimz > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:27

Initially I was relieved I had avoided the collision, but it got me thinking. Why did he hi t the horn?

because he’s an asshole?

Chuckles > ranwhenparked
12/13/2018 at 20:29

This happened to me in my Saturn SC2, and my horn refused to work. It was infuriating just sitting there and not being able to get his attention.

Maxima Speed > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:33

Agreed.

bob and john > NKato
12/13/2018 at 20:37

I dont normally agree with Nkato, but this.

his fault. let him find out who well 3000lbs of camry holds up to 64,000lbs of fuck you, I aint moving

beardsbynelly - Rikerbeard > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:46

should we get rid of horns? no
should we rely on them? no

I ride a motrobike, whenever I’m getting merged on the horn seems to exist at a frequency unable to be heard by anyone except myself and dogs. A boot to the door or a fist to their mirror is more effective but not as effective as taking emergency action on my part.

XJDano > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:49

So that’s 64,000 lbs loaded?

TrickJos > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 20:51

I agree that horns should be a last resort. Drivers should take action to avoid problems before using their horn.

I used to drive a similarly large, although not as heavy truck. Lots of drivers have no appreciation for the limited vision and hearing in the cab of a large truck. It has been years since I drove that truck but I clearly remember hearing almost nothing but d iesel engine and wind noise.

NKato > NKato
12/13/2018 at 20:51

Addendum: it's illegal to pass on the right. When lanes are merging, it is generally inadvisable for anyone in a bippy little shitbox to try and pass a vehicle ten times their weight.

NKato > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 21:04

On the topic of horns, I'm considering installing a small air compressor in the trunk and running the hose to a train horn in the front grille. One problem: do I risk turning the grille into a claymore?

Urambo Tauro > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 21:04

Horns are too useful to get rid of, but it sure is frustrating how primitive a form of communication they are. Sounding a horn is basically yelling “HEY!” and you have to figure the context out for yourself. Paying attention to the duration and rhythm can be somewhat helpful, but you still have to decode who it’s meant for half the time.

I don’t use mine as much as I used to, mainly because I found out that it’s actually illegal to use the horn for non-emergency purposes in my state . It can only be used “ to insure [sic] safe operation ”, which ( if interpreted as “ensure”) means there basically has to be an imminent collision about to happen. But having to look it up in the first place suggests that hardly anybody knows how to use the horn properly, so the me aning behind each honk still requires some level of translation.

glemon > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 21:09

Counterpoint, last week it snows and the side streets turn to ice. I am approaching a residential intersection on a steepish hill (me going downhill) and the car will not stop even though I am going all of 5mph or so when I hit the brakes. So I am sliding down the hill at night knowing I can’t stop, I see light approaching the intersection from the left, so I lay on the horn, quick blasts non stop. The other drive approaching the intersection gets it and stops and I slide across the intersection.

See also: person a head of you checking their phone at the light and not going when it turns green.

P.S. regardless of who was in the right or wrong or could have avoided problems, you guys were apparently headed for each other and you didn’t know he was there? Then he hit the horn and you were. Isn’t that what a horn is for?

OPPOsaurus WRX > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 21:19

He could have braked and got behind me easily

i lol’d at that. Theres no fuckin way anyone can get behind another person.

XJDano > NKato
12/13/2018 at 21:50

Do it. I got one on my metro for a bit, no compressor though and my tank would leak out after a day.

Harbor Freaght has some, I may try one of those cheapies.

Why would the grill be a claymore?

BigBlock440 > glemon
12/13/2018 at 21:56

P.S. regardless of who was in the right or wrong or could have avoided problems, you guys were apparently headed for each other and you didn’t know he was there? Then he hit the horn and you were.

No, the guy hit the horn so he knew he was somewhere, just no idea exactly where . Not really helpful to say “hey, don’t hit me” when the other guy can’t see where you are to not hit.

Svart Smart, traded in his Smart > That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms
12/13/2018 at 22:21

I only use my horn during/after other corrective action. Usually a full-ABS panic stop.

winterlegacy, here 'till the end > Chuckles
12/14/2018 at 00:40

You know what really sucks?

You whack on your horn, it works for a second, then pitifully dies and sounds like an elongated fart.

Long_Voyager, Now With More Caravanny Goodness > OPPOsaurus WRX
12/14/2018 at 07:32

Especially when that person’s vehicle is multiple times their size.