The joy of the beep !

BrianD3

Sometimes the horn will prevent a collision when braking/steering on its own won't. Horn has saved me a few times usually when someone hasn't checked their mirror or blindspot and decides to pull into my lane when I'm very close or alongside eg while overtaking on a Mway

I can only recall one incident when I gave someone a long blast out of anger. Driving on a straight N road at 100 km/h with no hard shoulders, Kangoo van pulls out of a side entrance when I'm very close, I slam on the brakes and slow down in time then give him a good 5 second horn blast. He starts gesturing out of the window with wanker and "slow down" gestures. Raging, I give him another long blast. Now he pulls over into an entrance on the other side of the road and as I pass him on the left he roars abuse out the window telling me to get out and fight and how he'll knock my f*ckin head off, I shout some abuse back at him (but keep going )

Twas Not

No Pants wrote: »

Took action, flashed, manoeuvre was cancelled and lane cleared. In my mind that was better than beeping and distracting multiple motorists at speed.

Jaysus man what has you so spooked of the horn??!

Zubeneschamali

I only ever use the horn to bip someone asleep as the lights go green. I think it's ok to beep someone to let them know you're there if they appear not to have seen you, but I don't remember this ever happening to me.

Other people rarely beep me, the last couple of times were when they tried to pull some aggressive lane change and I didn't give way.

whomitconcerns

BrianD3 wrote: »

Sometimes the horn will prevent a collision when braking/steering on its own won't. Horn has saved me a few times usually when someone hasn't checked their mirror or blindspot and decides to pull into my lane when I'm very close or alongside eg while overtaking on a Mway

I can only recall one incident when I gave someone a long blast out of anger. Driving on a straight N road at 100 km/h with no hard shoulders, Kangoo van pulls out of a side entrance when I'm very close, I slam on the brakes and slow down in time then give him a good 5 second horn blast. He starts gesturing out of the window with wanker and "slow down" gestures. Raging, I give him another long blast. Now he pulls over into an entrance on the other side of the road and as I pass him on the left he roars abuse out the window telling me to get out and fight and how he'll knock my f*ckin head off, I shout some abuse back at him (but keep going )

and this is the sad reaction of a lot of drivers...i had this in the city centre on amien street one night...they closed left lane and the guy driving in there in fairly heavy traffic noticed the road closure at last minute and was indicating left, then he just locks to the right, in front of the signs, nearly takes my front end off...I beep and he stops the car, gets out bangs on my window to get out..i didnt...then he shouted and roared..got back in and drove off...

razorblunt

I only ever beep when it comes, to lane indiscipline or someone turning onto my road and cutting across the stop line.

I've seen someone do the "beep to say hello" at traffic lights before, he was 3rd back, poor woman up front almost had a heart attack, went to go and stalled, thankfully as the light was still red.

dr.fuzzenstein

No Pants wrote: »

I have already spotted what was happening and taken action before flashing. There was no longer any danger.

If it worked for you, that's ok.
I was picturing a side by side scenario where the car pulls out without looking, as has happened to me once. In that case horn,saved me.

miss no stars

blastman wrote: »

Most Irish people would be dead within ten minutes of trying to drive in e.g. Saigon. Horns are constantly used to alert people of your presence and are not taken as a personal insult. How we developed this attitude to using car horns, I don't know, but it's pretty ridiculous.

That says more about the driving in Saigon than it does about attitudes here.

I think people need to untwist their knickers on this one. I've beeped and been beeped at. The two times I can think of being beeped at:

1. Stopped just behind the line at an unfamiliar junction with 3 filter lights. One of those lights with 1 red but green arrows in 3 directions. I was looking at the one ahead of me, the one beside me was difficult to see because of the coaming around it but I could still see it if I did a kinda pigeon neck manouevre. Waiting on light to go green for my lane I get bipped more so than beeped at, still showing red ahead, check the one beside me and it's green. Lights not working, grand, look around to make sure that all conflicting traffic has stopped and off I go. Wave at them behind to apologise for holding them up. If that's the worst I ever do on the road then happy days.

2. Coming up to a T junction to turn left onto main road. There's a bus stop marginally to the left of the junction on the opposite side of the road and a bus is stopped at it. It's also a very blind junction and accordingly has a stop sign. You literallly can't see left until you're right on the line. Car was overtaking bus and beeped because he could obviously see the front of my car before I could see around the corner. Now, I wasn't going to just pull out. I do actually stop at stop signs, but it was a sensible preventative measure because some people do just approach that junction at speed while looking right and slam on the brakes at the last minute if traffic is coming from the right, without ever looking to the left. So the car overtaking knew there was a chance that I would pull out not expecting to see traffic on the wrong side of the road coming at me (I wouldn't but how would he know that?) and made his presence known early through using the horn. That's sensible, yet I'm sure some people would take offence.

Also, I don't buy the argument that using the horn is distracting and dangerous, particularly on motorways. It's a very fast way of focusing everyone's attention on what's happening around them and I believe it's the safest way. So take an example: car in outside lane on 4 lane stretch of motorway. Someone from lane 3 tries to pull out in front of them, they simultaneously beep and brake. Car changing lanes stops their manouevre and pulls back into their lane. This is not distracting. The cars behind in all lanes SHOULD already be aware of the situation developing in front of them, they know the beep isn't about them. If they haven't seen it developing it alerts them that they may need to brake or manoeuvre fast. So say car in lane 3 swerves back into their lane aggressively and overcompensates and ends up encroaching into lane 2. Beeping means that the car in lane 2 has been alerted to what's going on and will be able to react in time. The cars ahead should be scanning their mirrors regularly anyway and should notice that the car behind them has just tried to pull out, a quick glance in their right side mirror (if they haven't already) will confirm to them that their following car didn't have enough space to do so and is who the beep was for. It's not like people hear a beep on a motorway and all throw their hands up in panic and start braking/accelerating/changing lanes indiscriminately. They'll either already be aware of what's going on or they'll glance in their mirror and figure it out fast.

Jesus.

Djimi you are such a Drama Queen!

No Pants

Twas Not wrote: »

Jaysus man what has you so spooked of the horn??!

Nothing has me spooked, I just didn't see a reason to use it. However, some points have been made on this thread that will make me reconsider in future.

dr.fuzzenstein

Embarrassed by girly sounding horn? Get this thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0DxoED_3kA

This will get anyone's attention.

blastman

miss no stars wrote: »

That says more about the driving in Saigon than it does about attitudes here.

It's different, completely different. People still need to be less precious here, though.

I've blown the horn at people who tried to change lane on the motorway when I was overtaking i.e. beside/almost in front of them. THe reaction was like someone waking up with a start! People drive on autopilot a lot of the time and need a wake-up every now and again, especially if they do something dangerous.

Jesus.

blastman wrote: »

It's different, completely different. People still need to be less precious here, though.

And more relaxed and considerate...

Esel

miss no stars wrote: »

Stopped just behind the line at an unfamiliar junction with 3 filter lights. One of those lights with 1 red but green arrows in 3 directions.

So, the red light was for u-turns or what? :)

OP still has not answered my question about how their horn echoes under their bridge, though....

moc moc a moc

I firmly believe that anyone operating their horn for more than approx. .2 of a second (i.e. using it for anything but the purposes of alerting nearby motorists of some form of emergency) should be fined €20 or so for each tenth of a second above the excusable .2 seconds of operation.

Most taxi drivers would be driven out of business in their first week, thus alleviating not only one, but two major problems plaguing the roads of our major cities in one fell swoop.

toastedpickles

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

Embarrassed by girly sounding horn? Get this thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0DxoED_3kA

This will get anyone's attention.

I see your puny horn (lul) and raise you this :pac:

Twas Not

moc moc a moc wrote: »

I firmly believe that anyone operating their horn for more than approx. .2 of a second (i.e. using it for anything but the purposes of alerting nearby motorists of some form of emergency) should be fined €20 or so for each tenth of a second above the excusable .2 seconds of operation.

Most taxi drivers would be driven out of business in their first week, thus alleviating not only one, but two major problems plaguing the roads of our major cities in one fell swoop.

Unworkable nonsensical idea

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Dangel4x4

Twas Not wrote: »

Is there anything more satisfying that a good blast of the horn in the direction of wrong doers in the road. Both as a warning and a punishment of shame.

Dunno if it's a Cork thing but it's a waste of time blowing a wrongdoer out of it down here as they start blowing back at you to express their displeasure at you expressing your displeasure with them.

They're the worst drivers in the country anyway - if I took the time to blow every eejit out of it, I'd need to wear earplugs going around...

blastman

After an incident driving home yesterday evening, I've decided to attach my horn (fnarr!) to a roof-mounted rocket-propelled grenade launcher....

Gazzmonkey

I would say most tractor drivers in Wicklow are now deaf thanks to my horn :pac:

keithclancy

I like the difference between country and beeping

Ireland:
Bip - Hey the lights green
Bip Bip (Followed by a wave) - Hey tony hows it goin !!
Beep beep - Come on get out of the house were going to be late
Beeeeeeeeep - GTFO of the way
beeeeeep beep beep beep - Príck ! You cut me off

Netherlands
Bip - gtfo of the way
bip bip - gtfo of the way
and so on

dr.fuzzenstein

Actually, forget the horn, what I want is a version of this installed in my car:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2518177/RF-Safe-Stop-disables-vehicles-engine-remotely-using-radio-beams.html



If you have this, you won't need a horn!:D

Muscles Schultz

Twas Not wrote: »

It is satisfying to correct wrongdoing. How couldn't it be? So there is nothing wrong with feeling a level of satisfaction after blasting someone off the road.

I favour 2 or 3 long beeps maybe 20 or 25 seconds followed up by a series of short pippy beeps - maybe as many as 40 or 60 depending on the situation.

I’d agree to a point but that’s excessive beeping

colm_mcm

Muscles Schultz wrote: »

I’d agree to a point but that’s excessive beeping

I’m sure it’s all water under the bridge 6 years on.