Misuse of car horn? Lambasted by passenger.

Ahhhh for forks sake!

I was driving through a small back road in the town I live in. It's a small enough semi-rural area. The road has a very sharp turn to the left with a road going straight ahead too. The straight ahead road is a minor road.

There is a stop sign. I stopped at the stop sign as there is no line on the road. I then proceeded to drive and gently beeped the horn in short blasts (sometimes there are people who tare around like a bat out of hell).

My passenger screamed at me and said I was abusing the horn .. she said that the horn is only for emergencies. I pointed out that the specific legislation says "horns may not be used in built up areas between 11PM and 7AM.

This implies that you CAN use the horn outside of these circumferences, ie, in built up areas outside of these times and at all times outside of built up areas.

Do you beep the horn on dangerous corners? Is it normal or OK to do so or is it poor driving?

Please see diagram. Apologies for the shiit drawing.

Cantona's Collars

If it keeps someone from ploughing into you then beep away, it's not as if you are driving through housing estates doing it. I know several people that do it on country lanes with blind bends as you never know what's coming around them.

Samuel T. Cogley

Stop the car and tell them to walk.

PCeeeee

If a passenger made a habit of screaming at me then they would not be my passenger long.

colm_mcm

How many beeps do you reckon you did? Have you ever heard a beep from a car coming towards you which you hadn’t already seen?

tcawley29

I was told to do something similar in a defensive driving course, however he said to keep my hand on the horn rather than short blasts

the_syco

Maurice Riordan wrote: »

My passenger screamed at me and said I was abusing the horn

Wonder how much she'd scream at you for not seeing someone around a blind bend?

Toyotafanboi

Yeah the only problem I see is that anyone thick enough to blast around a corner like that is probably too thick to be aware of what hearing a car horn might mean to them.

Ahhhh for forks sake!

colm_mcm wrote: »

How many beeps do you reckon you did? Have you ever heard a beep from a car coming towards you which you hadn’t already seen?

Just 4 or 5 until I'm around the bend. The speed limit is 50 km/h (but you'd struggle to navigate that bend at 50 km/h).

People often take the road like a madman.

Lantus

I was taught to do this when I did my advanced driving course so what you are doing is appropriate for the road and smart.

Alun

Back in the 70's in the UK I was taught by my ex-Police Advanced Driving Instructor to do this on narrow roads with very bad visibility on bends or hump-backed bridges.

Mc Love

Really? I never beep going around a tight bend near where I live. There is a house just on the bend, and I live close enough and I always hear people beeping at the corner. The people that live on top of it must go nuts.

I just take my time driving around really slowly, I doubt I'd hear the beep in my car anyway.

07Lapierre

Maurice Riordan wrote: »

I was driving through a small back road in the town I live in. It's a small enough semi-rural area. The road has a very sharp turn to the left with a road going straight ahead too. The straight ahead road is a minor road.

There is a stop sign. I stopped at the stop sign as there is no line on the road. I then proceeded to drive and gently beeped the horn in short blasts (sometimes there are people who tare around like a bat out of hell).



Do you beep the horn on dangerous corners? Is it normal or OK to do so or is it poor driving?

Please see diagram. Apologies for the shiit drawing.

What are the chances that they would hear your Horn anyway??
The only people that would hear it are pedestrians and maybe cyclists?

Mickeroo

Can't say I've ever heard of a horn being used in that manner before and don't think it would actually achieve what you want it to in reality.

bucketybuck

Maybe its legal but it seems like it would also be totally useless, you be far better served concentrating on accelerating out of the dangerous zone then on hitting the horn 5 times.

biko

Never used nor heard cars beeping on dangerous bends.
Make sure your lights are on so you are more easily spotted, or if it is a bit dark they will shine onto the corner alerting people to your presence.

kirving

Can't see the benefit of it really, you'd be better off opening a window and slowing down to listen out for other cars.

I've been in cars a few times in Ireland (and dozens of times in Asian countries) where the driver beeps, but makes absolutely zero effort beyond that to account for other cars nearby.

MetzgerMeister

Postman Pat does it at almost every bend, corner and junction he comes across so it has to be the right way of doing things!

JoeyJJ

The council need to fix that road if it is like you drew.

_Brian

Tell your passenger to keep their opinions to themselves or walk !

Isambard

the horn is there to warn of your approach. Seems to me that's what you were doing

doolox

The exit at the bottom of the hill out on to the lower road between Chapelizod and Lucan just on the North bank of the Liffey used to be like that until the council installed speed bumps on it 10-12 yrs ago.
A person entering the lower road could get hit by speeding cars if they didn't stop fully and wind down their window to listen for traffic, then beep loudly before going out. The trick was to get out fast and get away from the corner, chances were high you would have a test pilot up your ass, some would get startled and slow down, others would flash lights and get angry. There was little any one could do until the speed bumps were installed.

mikeecho

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Postman Pat does it at almost every bend, corner and junction he comes across so it has to be the right way of doing things!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=la89WX6_DW4

grogi

Maurice Riordan wrote: »

Do you beep the horn on dangerous corners? Is it normal or OK to do so or is it poor driving?

Yes.

BrokenArrows

I wouldnt beep but wouldnt care if you did.

You must be part italian. They love to beep to let people know that they are there.

dogmatix

Yes certainly. There are a number of steep humpbacked bridges over railways and the grand canal in Kildare where you would be insane not to use you car horn before proceeding.

biko

If you drive slow enough you should be able to stop when you see a car approaching.
To rely on someone hearing a beep and slowing down seems like an accident to happen.

badtoro

Passenger

---

> Pedestrian.

If they have a bicycle, buy them a bell for their birthday.

dudara

It's funny, I haven't heard of this practice in years. It's semi-common at home (deep rural area) where there are some particularly nasty blind bends on back roads.

Kenny Logins

Your passenger is wrong. ...and would be walking home if I was driving.

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

http://www.rsa.ie/en/RSA/Learner-Drivers/Safe-Driving1/Rules-of-the-Road/

SpitfireIV

An area I drive through frequently enough has a hump back bridge with a tight bend on it, only wide enough for one car to pass at a time. Something I picked up off the auld fella, when I approach the bridge I always slow to a crawl, give a couple of good beep and still cautiously make my way around the bridge, but even still I tend to meet people half way that are totally oblivious to the fact that there just might be something coming from the opposite direction, a case of 'if I cant see a vehicle then there cant be one!' :rolleyes:

At night time a few flashes of the high beam tends to suffice.

Alun

SpitfireIV wrote: »

An area I drive through frequently enough has a hump back bridge with a tight bend on it, only wide enough for one car to pass at a time.

I regularly drive this road ...

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.1823149,-6.1743461,3a,75y,141.96h,90.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM2lK7fPXLbdxAVttWg0dlg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

The council have helpfully put two Yield signs on the road in such a position that if you stopped at either of them you couldn't actually see if another car was coming anyway, so are pretty pointless. I get as close as I can to committing driving over it and give a good long blast first before proceeding cautiously over it. Still get people barrelling through without a worry in the world though.

SpitfireIV

Alun wrote: »

I regularly drive this road ...

https://www.google.ie/maps/@53.1823149,-6.1743461,3a,75y,141.96h,90.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sM2lK7fPXLbdxAVttWg0dlg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

The council have helpfully put two Yield signs on the road in such a position that if you stopped at either of them you couldn't actually see if another car was coming anyway, so are pretty pointless. I get as close as I can to committing driving over it and give a good long blast first before proceeding cautiously over it. Still get people barrelling through without a worry in the world though.

Try this :P Obviously the height of the Google cam gives a better view...

https://www.google.ie/maps/@52.7817706,-6.9663995,3a,75y,76.27h,84.46t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szpnw0CjkoBF-tm3sTaAvUw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

Riskymove

biko wrote: »

If you drive slow enough you should be able to stop when you see a car approaching.
To rely on someone hearing a beep and slowing down seems like an accident to happen.

the issue is the speed the car coming form the other side is doing

the bridges are competely blind until very late if meeting a car

TheChizler

I've been in cars where the driver seemed to think beeping while going round a blind bend fast and taking a short-corner gave them absolute right of way. Not saying you're like that but I'd be wary that over time it could lead to a false sense of security.

extra-ordinary_

Some strange answers on this thread tbh.
A car horn is to be used to advise other road users of your presence in case they either can't see you or have failed to notice you. If you don't sound your horn going round blind bends when or for what reason do you ever use your horn??

DaveyDave

extra-ordinary_ wrote: »

Some strange answers on this thread tbh.
A car horn is to be used to advise other road users of your presence in case they either can't see you or have failed to notice you. If you don't sound your horn going round blind bends when or for what reason do you ever use your horn??

Some people on here lose the plot If you use the horn when not in an emergency. Feck it, if someone is veering into my lane I'll let them know. Same as when the light is green and they don't move for ages.

GM228

I wonder how many realise that you are legally required to (whenever necessary) give audible and sufficient warning of the approach or position of your vehicle by sounding the horn in a public place?

What constitutes "whenever necessary" is anyones guess.

TheAnalyst_

Utterly pointless habit used by nervous boggers. My mate did it once as a passenger in my car and I was embarrassed for him.

Concentrate on your driving and awareness.

Alun

SpitfireIV wrote: »

Try this :P Obviously the height of the Google cam gives a better view...

Yes, the Street view camera is mounted quite high on the roof so makes it look not as bad as it is in real life. I'm often in an MX-5 there and you can't see a thing until you're practically on the bridge.