An occasional update on items from Motordom – the world of auto dominance
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A HISTORY OF HONKING
Waaay more than you ever wanted to know about something so obnoxious. But Mike Riggs, in Atlantic Cities, wonders about The Future of Honking in the coming age of the driverless car. But most of the article is about honking present and past, and what to do about excessive noise. He even includes a possible solution: “a device called Bleep, which turns on an annoying dashboard light every time the driver hits the horn. The driver then has to lean over and turn the light off. The device’s manufacturers claim that Bleep reduced honking by 61 percent.”
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TRAFFIC FLOW UBER ALLES
From Scot Bathgate: Don’t block traffic on a freeway… even if you’re a firefighter saving someone.
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NINE REASONS FOR MOTORDOM IN AMERICA
As opposed to Europe. No big surprises here – 9 Reasons the U.S. Ended Up So Much More Car-Dependent Than Europe – but a good summary.
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Just back from India, where honking is a courtesy to indicate you’re about to be run over.
At its root, honking is a means of communication.
There are short courtesy honks (giving someone the right of way, i.e. on narrow residential streets) and long angry honks (no left turn means no left turn! Don’t hold up 10 cars behind you!)
There are instances, however, where I’ve taken to not honking anymore. i.e. in the past, you may have given a jaywalking pedestrian a courtesy honk to signal your presence as you approach. But nowadays, you’re just apt to get the finger. So I typically don’t bother with some of those courtesy honks anymore.