In Response to Car Horns, Readers Sound Off

April 26, 2010, 4:55 pm

By EMILY S. RUEB
P. C. Vey
It can be a satisfying experience to lay on your car’s horn. Some people do it so frequently, they may believe the sound will part the cars ahead, or maybe even get that old lady to cross the street a little faster. But the cacophony can drive pedestrians and residents to distraction.
“A honking horn is not just a noise ordinance violation; it’s a direct assault on the health of those exposed to it,” wrote Elisabeth Grace in this Sunday’s Complaint Box in the Metropolitan section.
Ms. Grace felt that there were not enough measures in place to silence the offending drivers.
“In Los Angeles, where I once lived, idling engines and crawling vehicles are a fact of life, but unlike New Yorkers, Angelenos seem to realize that no good can come from hitting a horn in standstill traffic,” she wrote. “That, and the fact that some years ago it was demonstrated that you could get shot for honking, cutting off a driver on the freeway or any other automotive act of aggression. Talk about an effective deterrent!”
Many readers shared their suggestions for keeping peace on the streets: a honking tax, a honking meter, a bumper sticker that reads “Every time you honk at me, I put the brake on and count to 20. Slowly. Try me.”
But as others pointed out, it’s not just drivers who are tangling up the streets. Streets are often jammed with headphone-wearing pedestrians and cyclists who tempt even-keel drivers into a fit of road rage.
For some, the cacophony of the city is a lullaby. But, if you can’t stand the noise, maybe it’s time to get out of the city.
Here, unedited, are four comments we especially liked:
Honk Meter
Simple solution, which has been discussed by Transportation Alternatives:
Install a Honk meter in cabs. Every time a cabbie honks, the meter takes a record of it. Cabbies can be rewarded for low honking rates, and penalized for high rates. Everybody wins!
and yes, in Egypt, cars honk constantly at each other as a way of signaling that they are going to pass. Cultural difference.
— jagarch
Pedestrian Traffic
A few weeks ago, in Brooklyn Heights, I was trying to make a right turn but could not. Why? Because a woman, with children at her side and in a stroller, was standing smack in the middle of the street having a conversation with a friend who had the sense to stay on the sidewalk. I gently pressed the horn and she ignored me (and everyone else waiting behind me). When I pressed the horn again, more aggressively, she became annoyed.
I admit that many drivers are “horn happy”. However, many pedestrians are irritatingly distracted, and need to wake up. Life is too sweet to get run over.
— David
Noise Pollution
If CA can dictate the anti-pollution features it requires on autos sold in that state, NY could probably do likewise. If horn-honking is a pollutant, petition state officials to demand that manufacturers install an anti-honking device in new vehicles introduced for sale in NY. This could be in the form of a decibel limiting device, installation of an euphonious sounding system, and/or a computer controlled horn activated recording and display capability which can be used as evidence that a horn was blown. NY state inspection criteria could be revised to require that horns be disconnected, especially in cabs. Hope that out-of-state drivers are more courteous than home-grown ones.
— Ron G
Collective Action
Horns were intended for emergencies and urgent warnings. Change will take substantial collective action if the city’s not going to enforce it. If someone (everyone) who is subjected to a non-emergency horn blast purposefully slows down for the horn’s implicit warning… (works with tailgaters).
or, better yet… taxi passengers can complain about excessive non-emergency horn use to the TLC…
— Jen BQE