Hysterical beeping

luckat · 16-12-2007 5:12am #1

Why have drivers - well, some - started to think it's all right to react hysterically to others' driving, beating on the car horn, making rude gestures and shouting? What *is* this?

I was driving the other day and came to a point where two cars were parked across from each other on a narrow road. I paused to let the oncoming stream of traffic come through and the driver behind me whaled on the horn.

It's not even a good way of getting results. Of course, when you do this, the driver you've been so rude to will then drive r e a l l y s l o w l y for a while so you're trapped behind, fuming and raging and having your tantrum.

mikemac · 16-12-2007 8:45am

luckat wrote: »

It's not even a good way of getting results. Of course, when you do this, the driver you've been so rude to will then drive r e a l l y s l o w l y for a while so you're trapped behind, fuming and raging and having your tantrum.

Very childish tbh, drive as normal and not to annoy the driver behind you.
If this thread was tailgating I'd understand but you are overreacting for something simple like being beeped. Being beeped at is not dangerous but getting someone to overtake you in a city is.

In your example maybe you arrived at the narrow street first so the oncoming traffic should have stopped for you. Misplaced courtesy? I can't say as only you know what happened

Duckjob · 16-12-2007 9:16am

micmclo wrote: »

Very childish tbh, drive as normal and not to annoy the driver behind you.
If this thread was tailgating I'd understand but you are overreacting for something simple like being beeped. Being beeped at is not dangerous but getting someone to overtake you in a city is.

In your example maybe you arrived at the narrow street first so the oncoming traffic should have stopped for you. Misplaced courtesy? I can't say as only you know what happened

Wonderfully polilitically correct answer there. Fighting the good fight for road safety and all that.

We're humans not robots. the OPs reaction was perfectly understandable. The driver behind was being an asshole, and if he was so frazzled so as sit on the horn over what *he* perceived as misplaced courtesy then he is the problem and should be off the road.

luckat · 16-12-2007 10:21am

Not saying I did it, mate, I'm saying that this is the usual reaction of people who are assaulted by enraged beeping.

Which are you saying is childish, by the way, tantrum beeping or reacting to it by driving slowly?

mikemac · 16-12-2007 11:02am

I fully agree that agressive beeping is annoying and very common.
Especially common in Dublin, the Dubs must be all stressed
Learn to relax like your country cousins

I was referring to driving slowly to piss people off.
I can fully understand if someone is tailgating you but it's needless if someone is beeping at you.
You can beeped in the city for not reacting like Fernando Alonso to a green light, it doesn't take much to annoy drivers.
No point worrying about it or slowing down as you suggest

Hell, I drive a 50cc scooter so I'm well used to people beeping at me as I slice through traffic!

luckat · 16-12-2007 12:19pm

micmclo wrote: »

No point worrying about it or slowing down as you suggest

I didn't suggest it; I said that's what people normally do when others rage and rave and honk at them.

In my own case, by the way, there were two streams of traffic coming along the road and two cars parked opposite each other. One stream had to give way - there was no clear right-of-way. The stream coming towards me was coming faster and would reach the cars earlier, so I stopped, and the driver behind me proceeded to have a conniption, poor soul.

I've noticed in the last few years that this kind of shaming ill manners is more and more common. People are losing any sense of grace and dignity in their behaviour towards others.

Sandwich · 16-12-2007 12:24pm

Hysterical beeping?

Its called coprolalia - related to Tourette syndrome.

luckat · 16-12-2007 12:48pm

I see the VHI has an article about it here:

http://www2.vhi.ie/topic/roadrage

where it says:

The majority of aggressive drivers, according to the AAA foundation report, are relatively young, poorly educated men between 16 and 26 who have a history of crime or violence and who also have problems with drugs or alcohol.

wet-paint · 16-12-2007 12:52pm

After a visit to New York, I'd say we're not so bad on the horn. They beep at EVERYTHING. I was crossing the road down outside a pub in the village about four am one night. A cab was coming at me maybe one hundred yards away, going maybe twenty miles an hour, yet he flashed the lights, and beeped.

mike65 · 16-12-2007 1:16pm

Wow, I'm surprised the VHI got away with that sentence above, in this day and age.

Mike

Stark · 16-12-2007 1:25pm

Sure Gaybo's allowed say that young men are "diseased". I knew that woman who beeped and flashed me for not moving forward an inch at red lights when the car in front of me did last week had problems, but I didn't know she was actually a young, poorly educated, drug addicted male. Poor girl.

Stark · 16-12-2007 1:31pm

I like the advice for "avoiding the wrath of bullies". Like not driving with your mains on. Yes, those mean people who get pissed off at you blinding them are "bullies".

Wishbone Ash · 16-12-2007 1:37pm

wet-paint wrote: »

After a visit to New York, I'd say we're not so bad on the horn. They beep at EVERYTHING

It's even worse in India. New Delhi/Calcutta/Bombay taxi drivers continually sound the horn when there's absolutely no reason to. After six weeks there I found Dublin streets to be extremely quiet (in the true sense of the word).

In saying that, it couldn't really be described as aggressive behaviour as it is normal and everyone seems to be at it - unlike here.

Sandwich · 16-12-2007 6:44pm

mike65 wrote: »

Wow, I'm surprised the VHI got away with that sentence above, in this day and age.
Mike

Why surprised? If they have the research to back it up then of course they should state it.

luckat · 18-12-2007 8:52pm

Fascinating news stories - apparently several *different* Starbucks across the US witnessed the same behaviour.

A tantrum-beeper was honking and shouting at someone who was queuing to buy a snack, and the buyer said "I'll pay for the coffee of the guy behind me" - and the tant***** then bought coffed for the person behind him, and so on in a "chain of goodwill" all day.

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2006/12/13/news/doc457f321ddf68f848510458.txt
http://www.knbc.com/news/14856317/detail.html

(Edit: weird: why "tant*****" should be ***ed out I
don't know)

(Ahem. Edit again: why "tant rumm er" should be edit ed out...)

pa990 · 18-12-2007 10:49pm

irish people don't like being beeped at in any circumstance, even if it is warranted.

Beeping is interpreted as a hostile act, even though it may be completely justified

Tea drinker · 18-12-2007 11:12pm

luckat wrote: »

I see the VHI has an article about it here:

http://www2.vhi.ie/topic/roadrage

where it says:

The majority of aggressive drivers, according to the AAA foundation report, are relatively young, poorly educated men between 16 and 26 who have a history of crime or violence and who also have problems with drugs or alcohol.

Jesus, imagine if you had pimped your car with an LCD screen that flashed that message when someone beeped at ya!

luckat · 19-12-2007 4:36am

Tea drinker wrote: »

Jesus, imagine if you had pimped your car with an LCD screen that flashed that message when someone beeped at ya!

Heh! Now there's an attractive thought!

keefg · 19-12-2007 8:14am

A Spanish girl I used to work with gave me a lift to work a couple of times when my car was sick. We used to sit in terrible traffic but it was just the norm......but this one used to sit in stationary traffic beeping her horn every minute or so.

I asked her why she was beeping her horn and she said "So people know I want to drive faster and not sit in traffic"

I explained that no amount of beeping would make the rush hour traffic move any quicker, she just shrugged her shoulders and said "It's the Spanish way"

PauloMN · 19-12-2007 9:40am

micmclo wrote: »

Being beeped at is not dangerous but getting someone to overtake you in a city is.

A safety lesson from someone who "slices through traffic" on a Honda 50. :rolleyes:

High&Low · 19-12-2007 10:49am

OP - it is important to remember that if you are being curtious and letting other cars past in a narrow street or letting cars pull out in front of you, you are being discurtious to the cars behind you and holding them up, they may be in a bigger hurry than you and take issue with it.

blastman · 19-12-2007 1:23pm

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

It's even worse in India. New Delhi/Calcutta/Bombay taxi drivers continually sound the horn when there's absolutely no reason to. After six weeks there I found Dublin streets to be extremely quiet (in the true sense of the word).

In saying that, it couldn't really be described as aggressive behaviour as it is normal and everyone seems to be at it - unlike here.

Exactly. When I was in Saigon, which has mental traffic, people beep constantly, but it's just the done thing. The roads are almost a free-for-all, so the constant beeping is to let people know you're there.

Here in Ireland, beeping is taken as a personal insult to your entire family, even if you are blatantly driving like a tit. :rolleyes:

Niall1234 · 19-12-2007 2:21pm

Got beebed once for not break a yellow light just about to turn to red. Got out of the car and took a look at yer one. Quitened down fairly fast.

manti452 · 19-12-2007 4:57pm

High&Low wrote: »

OP - it is important to remember that if you are being curtious and letting other cars past in a narrow street or letting cars pull out in front of you, you are being discurtious to the cars behind you and holding them up, they may be in a bigger hurry than you and take issue with it.

Would you not like someone somewhere someday to stop and let you out / merge or park? or would u rather we all beeped to let you know you are not treating us with respect

let's all race for yellow lights, corners partking spots and every conceivable "opportunity" we see.. and not be considerate of anyone other road users.

This is the kinda thinking that I think needs to change..

Like the OP said

In my own case, by the way, there were two streams of traffic coming along the road and two cars parked opposite each other. One stream had to give way - there was no clear right-of-way. The stream coming towards me was coming faster and would reach the cars earlier, so I stopped

So he makes a safe decision and tries not to force a situation without a clear right of way and he's not respecting the person behind him.. the guy behind him can't reliably see enough to make a call on the speed of the oncoming traffic, the position of all cars and then judge there's room for him and the guy in front to get thru.

Well done on a good call op.. let the beepers beep.. they'll get theirssomeday I'm sure

DonJose · 19-12-2007 8:50pm

If the w@nkers in this country learned how to drive you wouldn't get hysterical beeping. Everyday I come across dozens of fukking idiots who don't know how to indicate, worse is at busy crossroads. Learn to drive W@NKERS [/RANT]

luckat · 19-12-2007 11:36pm

What do the new rules of the road have to say about use of the horn?

manti452 · 20-12-2007 8:36am

DonJose wrote: »

If the w@nkers in this country learned how to drive you wouldn't get hysterical beeping. Everyday I come across dozens of fukking idiots who don't know how to indicate, worse is at busy crossroads. Learn to drive W@NKERS [/RANT]

we're all aware of the people who don't use indicators.. and they do P**s off the drivers who do make an effort. But your rant doesn't excuse the behaviour of the driver behind the OP. This was neither situation you've described (involving indicators or at a crossroads) and this guy went off on one cos someone decided to excercise judgement.. not cut someone up or pull off a roundabout with no indicator

Tea drinker · 20-12-2007 9:14am

manti452 wrote: »

.... and this guy went off on one cos someone decided to excercise judgement.. not cut someone up or pull off a roundabout with no indicator

Absolutely. This is what it comes down to lads:
If you can't handle the stress of driving without your OCD for beeping cutting in, find yourself loosing it at the slightest infraction or infringement of your rights - leave the driving to those that can.

We all need a little more patience.. come on it's Christmas everyone!

luckat · 20-12-2007 11:09am

Answering my own question about the Rules of the Road and use of the horn, here are two references:

(page 53) Using a Horn

Only use a horn to

* Warn other road users of on-coming danger, or
* make them aware of your presence for safety reasons when reasonably necessary.

Remember, the horn does not give you the right of way.

Do not use a horn in a built-up area between 23.30hrs and 07.00hrs unless there is a traffic emergency.

(I assume a "traffic emergency" means something like a crash on a bend where oncoming traffic needs to be warned that there's an obstruction.)

and

(page 138) Road rage and aggressive driving

If you display road rage as a driver, it means you have uncontrolled anger that results in intimidation or violence against another driver.

Aggressive driving is inconsiderate, stupid driving. It can involve speeding, tailgating (driving too close behind another vehicle), failing to use an indicator for lane changes, recklessly weaving in and out of traffic and over-use of a horn or flashing headlights.

The Rules of the Road also recommend reporting road rage to the local Garda station or contacting Traffic Watch on Lo-Call 1890-205-805.

Hysterical beeping

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