Drivers and their horns...

[Joshua Howard]

I was sitting there in the left turn lane minding my own business waiting for the light to change, not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention.

The cars began to go, and I was taking my sweet time; by the time I shifted into gear, the vehicle in front of me was probably between two and three car lengths ahead.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and I was happy... until this woman driving a big pickup truck behind me started laying on the horn. I looked at her in my rearview mirror. She appeared to be making irritated hand gestures and talking rapidly to a man sitting on the passenger side.

At that moment, my primal instincts kicked in and, instead of laying my foot on the gas, I eased it into third and cruised on out at a nice, slow pace, taking special care to ensure that I was going slower than normal. There was nothing she could do about it, and having exacted my revenge, I felt happy once more.

Such lends me to open a discussion regarding drivers that have a way of getting under the skin of even the most patient people, and to my point about horns; USE ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*

*Or to get the attention of somebody you know.

 

[RoJoHen]

*sits and waits for Trekker*

 

[Emher]

I only use my horn when someones done something REALLY stupid. Like almost run into me or someone else. I actually support your action here.

 

[John Clark]

I can't even remember the last time I used my horn.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I usually get around town on by bicycle and that honking sometimes pisses me off so much - "I can't go farther to the right without getting a door in my face you fucking dick and besides I'm riding at 35 km/h anyway and the traffic light is red!".

Making an obscene hand gesture, calmly staying in the lane and overtaking the fatass in his ugly fat SUV at the next intersection feels good in such situations though.

 

[Trekker4747]

I was sitting there in the left turn lane minding my own business waiting for the light to change, not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention.

The cars began to go, and I was taking my sweet time; by the time I shifted into gear, the vehicle in front of me was probably between two and three car lengths ahead.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and I was happy... until this woman driving a big pickup truck behind me started laying on the horn. I looked at her in my rearview mirror. She appeared to be making irritated hand gestures and talking rapidly to a man sitting on the passenger side.

At that moment, my primal instincts kicked in and, instead of laying my foot on the gas, I eased it into third and cruised on out at a nice, slow pace, taking special care to ensure that I was going slower than normal. There was nothing she could do about it, and having exacted my revenge, I felt happy once more.

Such lends me to open a discussion regarding drivers that have a way of getting under the skin of even the most patient people, and to my point about horns; USE ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*

*Or to get the attention of somebody you know.

You were sitting at a light and taking your sweet-assed time to move when the light changed. You deserved the horn. The light is only green for a short time, you take your time to move -to the point where there were several car lengths between you and the car in front of you- fewer people get through before the light changes back to red. This will cause congestion.

The light changes. You move.

That simple.

When she honked the horn you acted like an ass and moved slower and were happy about this, again delaying people and causing more congestion. Either learn to drive or take the bus.

 

[KiraDax]

I've been known to use my horn. Generally it's when someone does something truly irritating and/or stupid...like say flying around me when there's barely a car length ahead for them to squeeze into, or pulling out in front of me instead of waiting for me to pass when I'm the only other car on the friggin road, or turning off directly ahead of me without using a turn signal (or worse, pulling out in front of me in hurry and then turning off ahead of me without a blinker less than 500 feet down the road). Or, yes, when someone in front of me is going at least 20 mph slower than any other car on the road and creating a traffic jam in our lane.

Part of it could just be my gratitude at finally having a working horn, though. In my old car, you had to literally throw your body weight on it to get so much as a 'meep'.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I was sitting there in the left turn lane minding my own business waiting for the light to change, not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention.

The cars began to go, and I was taking my sweet time; by the time I shifted into gear, the vehicle in front of me was probably between two and three car lengths ahead.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and I was happy... until this woman driving a big pickup truck behind me started laying on the horn. I looked at her in my rearview mirror. She appeared to be making irritated hand gestures and talking rapidly to a man sitting on the passenger side.

At that moment, my primal instincts kicked in and, instead of laying my foot on the gas, I eased it into third and cruised on out at a nice, slow pace, taking special care to ensure that I was going slower than normal. There was nothing she could do about it, and having exacted my revenge, I felt happy once more.

Such lends me to open a discussion regarding drivers that have a way of getting under the skin of even the most patient people, and to my point about horns; USE ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*

*Or to get the attention of somebody you know.

If you pulled that shit in New Jersey, it's likely someone would shoot you.

 

[sidious618]

I was sitting there in the left turn lane minding my own business waiting for the light to change, not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention.

The cars began to go, and I was taking my sweet time; by the time I shifted into gear, the vehicle in front of me was probably between two and three car lengths ahead.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and I was happy... until this woman driving a big pickup truck behind me started laying on the horn. I looked at her in my rearview mirror. She appeared to be making irritated hand gestures and talking rapidly to a man sitting on the passenger side.

At that moment, my primal instincts kicked in and, instead of laying my foot on the gas, I eased it into third and cruised on out at a nice, slow pace, taking special care to ensure that I was going slower than normal. There was nothing she could do about it, and having exacted my revenge, I felt happy once more.

Such lends me to open a discussion regarding drivers that have a way of getting under the skin of even the most patient people, and to my point about horns; USE ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*

*Or to get the attention of somebody you know.

If you pulled that shit in New Jersey, it's likely someone would shoot you.

In NY it's a certainty.

 

[TGTheodore]

Generally the horn is only legally used in California to warn of an imminent problem (collision, oncoming car, pedestrian about to be hit, etc.)

As for the OP problem ... not only did he delay people who did NOT honk at him, the sensor for the traffic light reads the gap he left and assumes there are no more cars and turns red sooner.

Don't daydream when you're driving. The same reason you don't use your cell phone, read a newspaper, do your nails, fluff your hair, change your clothes, etc...

You're there to pay attention and drive. The car is the last place for multi-tasking. The other stuff waits until you're off the road.

--Ted

 

[Joshua Howard]

As for the OP problem ... not only did he delay people who did NOT honk at him, the sensor for the traffic light reads the gap he left and assumes there are no more cars and turns red sooner.

Your point is a tangible and valid one. For what it is worth, I accept a few thumbs down for being - for all technical purposes - an idiot. The logical action under any circumstance is to avoid formulating an emotional response to human behavior.

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this thread, I am going to use up just a few more idiot points by jumping to the immediate defense of myself as a defendant - not in the "I didn't do anything wrong." sort of way, as much as in the "I'm not sorry." sort.

Exhibit A: I was slow to engage, but not completely ignorant of the signal change. In other words, if you're going to honk, at least wait two or three seconds first.

Exhibit B: I was not deeply offended by the honk. I was deeply offended by the apparent exhibition of anger on the part of the driver behind me. Waving hands and swear-like mouth movements make me want to smack, not drive.

Exhibit C: Being naturally patient and generally opposed to inappropriate horn usage, I have a non-honking policy. I treat it like the prime directive. As an act of courtesy, I will choose to allow a driver ahead of me to sit through a light cycle rather than honk, as will (I have witnessed) many other polite drivers.

Conclusively, if there is one thing that I won't allow, it is anger to be rewarded with result. Over the years I have discovered that there is nothing more opponant-defusing and self-empowering than not giving angry people the result that they desire to accomplish through rage.

Bottom line: It comes down to the fact that if you are the kind of person who thinks a shove will make me move out of your way, you can be darn sure that I will stand in your way like a rock wall until you stand down.

And on the post-it-note: There's this rumor floating around that we all are in a massive hurry to get places because we have to be there, and we don't actually have time to wait for pedestrians, or lights, or each other. The rumor is that it is because we are so darn important that the world will end if we are 5 minutes later than expected. That is a bunch of hogwash. I know this, because as a teenager I spent 10 hours a day working, 2 hours a day commuting by bicycle, and also did the family grocery shopping by bicycle on top of it. I survived.

 

[Kestra]

I understand your response, because I often get like that. If people get angry, I often simply become more stubborn and feel like doing the opposite.

The thing is, that's not really a helpful response and it's not appropriate on the road. The person behind you may have been rude but the appropriate response would probably have been to simply ignore the person and continue through the intersection in a quick, safe fashion. Slowing down someone like that doesn't really improve the situation. People like that generally aren't going to sit there, analyze their own behaviour and think, "Did I do something wrong here? Maybe I should be more patient next time instead of being so quick to anger." Nothing's really accomplished beyond a feeling of self-satisfaction on your part. Which in all honesty I'm not sure you should have. You did admit to being slow for no real reason.

I'm not saying it's a huge deal and zomg you should be punished. But it's also not anyone else's responsibility to make you want to drive. If you're in a car and on the road, it's your responsibility to be a sensible driver and follow the rules and etiquette of the road.

On a side note, I do think people are often in a hurry when they could probably take the time to slow down. But in terms of traffic on the road ... you really don't know how valuable five minutes is to someone. It might be a doctor trying to get to the hospital faster. It might be a mother trying to get to the store to get medicine for her son before the pharmacy closes. It might be someone like me, who has a very short window of time on Tuesdays to get from class to the train. Five minutes can change everything for me and sometimes an extra five minutes means an extra hour or hour and a half in the station, followed by another hour and a half on the train and not arriving at home till midnight.

Not the end of the world, true. But occasionally that five minutes is important in someone's life and it's something I try to keep in mind.

Edit: Sorry, I've been lecturing again! It's really not that big a deal, just do try to be considerate and don't meet anger by taking offense yourself. Easier said than done, but still worth trying!

 

[Miss Chicken]

On a side note, I do think people are often in a hurry when they could probably take the time to slow down. But in terms of traffic on the road ... you really don't know how valuable five minutes is to someone. It might be a doctor trying to get to the hospital faster. It might be a mother trying to get to the store to get medicine for her son before the pharmacy closes. It might be someone like me, who has a very short window of time on Tuesdays to get from class to the train. Five minutes can change everything for me and sometimes an extra five minutes means an extra hour or hour and a half in the station, followed by another hour and a half on the train and not arriving at home till midnight.

Couldn't you just asked your teacher if you could leave five or ten minutes minutes early? That is what i did when I had an evening class, I explained that if I missed the bus I would have a 80 minute wait for the next one. The teacher was fine with it, and made sure that I had details of assignments before I left.

 

[Kestra]

I tried and it was a no-go. I didn't want to push it too much and offend her, since she's to be my faculty mentor as well.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I tried and it was a no-go. I didn't want to push it too much and offend her, since she's to be my faculty mentor as well.

I obviously had a nicer teacher than you have.

I had another teacher that didn't mind that I arrived a few minutes late for a class because he knew I had to drop my son off at school and that I wasn't allowed to drop my son off before 8.15am (my class started at 8.30). The same teacher was quite annoyed when another person in the class continously was late without a reasonable excuse.

 

[Joshua Howard]

Kestra, you are of course right; no ifs or buts are applicable. If I were having this conversation with Spock, he would no doubt do that little shrug that he does with his eyebrows and give me a small speech about logic. I would be embarassed, because usually I am the one trying to give that speech to other people.

I used up my idiot points, made my rant, and provided my case - which albiet wouldn't hold up in a Vulcan court of law - and am now willing to accept the cumulative hand slap of this body.

I suppose this thread is, as good as any, an example of the poorly evolved human tendency to rub salt in an enemy's wounds and then share the event with everybody else.

 

[Yoda]

Not sure if you deserved the honk or not, but you drive in a completely retarded fashion.

In general I don't honk, and I've missed lights because of it, and it's frustrating. I have honked before when I could clearly see the person in front of me is not paying any attention whatsoever and won't notice the light for a really long time. I give a little 'mini-honk' to let 'em know it's not too personal, but they need to get moving.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

The slowing down thing, I've done that. I'll be going 5 miles over the limit, and some jackass will be riding my ass, honking, shouting and beating on his steering wheel. I'll slow down to the actual speed limit just to piss him off even more.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

I was sitting there in the left turn lane minding my own business waiting for the light to change, not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention.

The cars began to go, and I was taking my sweet time; by the time I shifted into gear, the vehicle in front of me was probably between two and three car lengths ahead.

It was a nice sunny afternoon and I was happy... until this woman driving a big pickup truck behind me started laying on the horn. I looked at her in my rearview mirror. She appeared to be making irritated hand gestures and talking rapidly to a man sitting on the passenger side.

At that moment, my primal instincts kicked in and, instead of laying my foot on the gas, I eased it into third and cruised on out at a nice, slow pace, taking special care to ensure that I was going slower than normal. There was nothing she could do about it, and having exacted my revenge, I felt happy once more.

Such lends me to open a discussion regarding drivers that have a way of getting under the skin of even the most patient people, and to my point about horns; USE ONLY IN CASE OF EMERGENCY*

*Or to get the attention of somebody you know.

You were sitting at a light and taking your sweet-assed time to move when the light changed. You deserved the horn. The light is only green for a short time, you take your time to move -to the point where there were several car lengths between you and the car in front of you- fewer people get through before the light changes back to red. This will cause congestion.

The light changes. You move.

That simple.

When she honked the horn you acted like an ass and moved slower and were happy about this, again delaying people and causing more congestion. Either learn to drive or take the bus.

I agree with this. Your actions here makes you an ass.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Weird, I was just going to start a thread on a topic like this. Today I was sitting at a red light with my girlfriend when the light went green. The dude in front of us took his sweet ass time to get his car into gear (he must be new to manual transmissions or something) leaving a huge gap between him and the cars in front of him. My girlfriend honked and got really upset, which I totally understand...here we are trying to get home to her sick mother who may die any second and this guy is twiddling his thumbs at the red light. To make things worse, he continues to just mosey along at a snails pace. I'm not sure but I think I saw a really douchebag-y smirk on his face in the rear view mirror. Makes me wish we had battering rams on your cars sometimes.