[Closed] Why do cars have horns?

whilst driving round the inside of a roundabout the other day to turn right the car which was on my left began to drift out of the central lane and dangerously close to my car. I sounded the horn and the driver jumped out of his skin as he obviously hadn't noticed that there was a car right next to him 😯 Had I not used the horn he would've just crunched obliviously into the side of my car. Some people are blind and cannot see very well so sound helps to let them know when they've wandered off into danger without realising.

Kev

therefore the onus is on the drivers to slow down and take care.

[b]HA HA HA[/b] HA HA HA ha ha ha ha! Ha [i]haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa[/i]! ha ha.

Good one, v funny. Such naivety.

Persoanlly, I think they should not bother fitting indicators, no-one uses them anyway.

whilst driving round the inside of a roundabout the other day to turn right the car which was on my left began to drift out of the central lane and dangerously close to my car. I sounded the horn and the driver jumped out of his skin as he obviously hadn't noticed that there was a car right next to him Had I not used the horn he would've just crunched obliviously into the side of my car. Some people are blind and cannot see very well so sound helps to let them know when they've wandered off into danger without realising.

Kev

I'd say that was correct use of horn - To "let other road users know you are there" IIRC 🙂

I tend to find that cars use their horns to let you know they are coming through at speed and that you should move out the way.

The horn is there to alert people to your presence. If you're in the wrong place and don't have right of way, it's to tell you to move out of the way. If not they're using the horn illegally. Like all the ****ing morons that beep at friends on the street outside my flat, or all the morons that sit and beep at cars stalled at lights. Or all the morons that beep on carpark catchphrase on R1.

Some-one post up a picture of Boss Hog's Caddy...That's a set of horns...

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It's something you do as you leave having spent a few days with mates. You do a big goodbye at the door, then more goodbyes as you get in the car. Then as you reverse out and just as you start to finally leave, a quick toot on the horn, more waves and smiles. Jeebus knows why, but I do it every time.

The same reason that they have pedals and a steering wheel. Technology could eliminate all these opportunities for humans to create accidents but we like that feeling of control.

Maybe the horn should be made so it only sounds for half a second on each press. So you don't get assholes who sit on the horn to try and intimidate people, or make a point.

Horns are for letting the person at the front at a filter lane know that the light has gone green. They'd never know otherwise.

Horns are for letting the person at the front at a filter lane know that the light has gone green

Are you the sort of person who sounds your horn 1/1000th of a second after the light has turned green if someone hasn't moved yet?

They'd never know otherwise.

I'm sure if I added up the number of seconds I waited behind people at green lights it probably would actually add up to hours in a year, one near my work seems to catch everyone out!

Horns are for my next neighbours so that they can alert the people in the house that they are inside without having to get out of the car and knocking on the door!

PITA when it is late at night.

PITA when it is late at night.

Illegal too after 11:30 IIRC, and I wouldn't hesitate to report it myself.

Round my way they seem to be used mostly as a friendly beep if you've let a car get past on a country lane, or as friendly beep before a blind corner as an ill-conceived substitute for slowing down 😉

I'm sure if I added up the number of seconds I waited behind people at green lights it probably would actually add up to hours in a year, one near my work seems to catch everyone out!

It's usually the other way round where I live. People are so eager to get going, they shoot off as soon as they see an amber light without realising that it's actually a left filter. Then they use their horn aggressively at people legitimately pulling from the road on the left, who they think have cut the lights.

Last week I was sitting next to someone who did it when they were in front of a police car. The copper stuck on his lights and chased him down the road.

Persoanlly, I think they should not bother fitting indicators, no-one uses them anyway.

They don't work on modern cars anyway.

Particularly silver ones.

horn 1/1000th of a second after the light has turned green if someone hasn't moved yet?

Used correctly and legally, a horn can be a valuable feature I wouldn't like to be without.

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Amazing creation.

i love my horn. It's got a really good thurp sound, not a silly parp sound!

Those Air Zounds are great. Startles the bejesus out of motorists!

I was almost sideswiped last week by someone charging up a motorway slip road and trying to move into the middle lane (where I at the time) whilst failing to look properly. Only an instinctive blast of the horn stopped quite a messy accident happening - and the guilty driver in the little white van gave me the most apologetic look and wave I think I've even seen on the roads.

A damn big horn on a bike would be useful for exactly the same reason, when you're hidden in a blindspot and a car tries to drive over you because they're not looking carefully enough.

so private hire drivers* can maintain their laziness to fatgut ratio

*being careful not to confuse with black cab driver they are far too busy to use any controls other than random moves of the steering wheel

They make undertaking safer.

Horns are great if you ask your friend to look into your grill then blow the horn at them. 🙂

here they beep to tell you they are coming through and move out of the way. They drift across lanes, and other cars suddenly brake to let them in.
Actually, come to think of it, they police are inept at traffic law... just me, having a gripe

At our local Tescos the other week the horns were used to alert all the boy racers sat in the car park that the police were coming, I was fuelling up and heard lots of horn blowing, next minute a police car drives in to the car park as a steady stream of vehicles with blacked out windows, gobhole exhausts, spoiler kits etc trundled out of the car park

I was in Cairo late last year, and over there the horn seems to mean I've seen a gap nearly wide enough for a car and I'm going for it. The traffic really has to be seen to be believed, cars six abreast on a three lane road, no lane discipline whatsoever, you'd never complain about driving over here again.