4 ms·

Thing is, you don’t know whether the honk is for “you are slower than I like” or “your bumper is falling off”. Being honked at takes cycles to triage what’s ha

by mwint 5y ago

Thing is, you don’t know whether the honk is for “you are slower than I like” or “your bumper is falling off”. Being honked at takes cycles to triage what’s happening; in itself that lowers safety.

jjulius 5y ago
My suggestion would be for people to stop honking out of impatience. If there's an actual issue, honk. Someone not moving as quickly or dangerously as you'd like isn't an excuse to honk.
- asdff 5y ago
  I really only honk at people for screwing up. If they cut me off I will wail on the horn for a long time, just holding it, letting them know. I love embarrasing asshole drivers like this especially if they have some passenger. Whenever cars honk at me for using the crosswalk I actually enjoy it, because then I just stand in front of their car for the rest of the light cycle absolutely cussing them out and embarrasing them while they can do nothing because the walk sign is on. I love pointing to the walk sign and saying "What does that sign say? Drive? does that stick figure walking with a countdown say Drive to you?" as loud as possible. Other pedestrians have even fist bumped me. It is so cathartic!
  - tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
    > can do nothing because the walk sign is on This works until you do it to a driver who has had a really bad day and demonstrates that the walk sign isn't a force field. Yes, he'll probably go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, but that doesn't help you.
    - asdff 5y ago
      If they hit me at speed there's nothing I could do whether I argued or not, I'd be laid out before I knew what happened. If they stopped, then hit me, that wouldn't be a bad collision to take, they'd only get up to a few mph in the few feet in front of me even if they hammered the throttle. I'd slide off the hood and get their plates and then they'd be in jail and I would walk into the courtroom with a neck brace and get my payout.
      - jjulius 5y ago
        >I'd slide off the hood and get their plates and then they'd be in jail and I would walk into the courtroom with a neck brace and get my payout. And that constant neck pain, limited mobility and/or arthritis that creep their way into your neck as you get old as a result would be so worth it.
        asdff 5y ago
        I'd be getting that anyway when I get old, or I could be arthritic and also riding off the dividends of my massive settlement I had in my youth which I promptly would throw in the market.
    - caf 5y ago
      Yes, he'll probably go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, but that doesn't help you. Sounds like they'd be nobly sacrificing themselves to remove two people with anger issues from the general population!
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - jjulius 5y ago
    > If they cut me off I will wail on the horn for a long time, just holding it, letting them know. I love embarrasing asshole drivers like this... I can say confidently that I've never looked at any other driver doing this and thought anything but, "Jesus Christ, calm the fuck down." I've been that guy doing the honking as well, and I'm fully aware that nobody arounds me gives a shit and they just find me annoying. Hell, half the time most of them don't even know what happened; they just look over and see some overly-angry dude screaming at someone. >... especially if they have some passenger. Did you really embarrass them in front of the passenger, or yourself? What if the transgression you're honking at was a genuine mistake with a reason that actually makes sense? I've been the passenger in situations like this before and have found myself thinking, "Yeah, oops, but I don't totally fault my driver or the other driver for this and the chud doing the honking needs to chill out because clearly they don't understand the driver's perspective."
    - asdff 5y ago
      I don't think cutting me off without a turn signal has any logic other than "me me me to the red light first!" If I can get them to have a reaction like "jesus Christ, calm the fuck down" then I am a happy camper. Again there are honest mistakes, and clearly asshole illegal behavior that drivers do like speeding like crazy, cutting people off, weaving through the freeway like a snake, running reds, cutting into lanes and blocking traffic because you must get to the turn lane at the last possible moment before there is a barrier, and willfully ignoring signage like no turns on reds. I'm also not embarrassed about calling out drivers as a pedestrian. Why would I be? I do it when have right of way and they don't and they had the audacity to honk at me for walking when the walk sign is lit. It's fun to call out assholes. I love shouting at them, so satisfying.
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      - deleted 5y ago
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      - jjulius 5y ago
- judge2020 5y ago
  Go to some town with less than 100k population at least 50 miles away from a metro area and you'll see this sort of ideal world: everyone goes the speed limit or 1-5 MPH below it, honking is only if you haven't moved for at least 5 seconds after the light turns green, nobody's in a hurry at all.
throwaway0a5e 5y ago
> Thing is, you don’t know whether the honk is for “you are slower than I like” or “your bumper is falling off”. It's almost always immediately obvious what the transgression is if you're paying the slightest bit of attention. Even the people who are on their phones at a light and have to regain situational awareness from square one do a pretty good job figuring it out.
tomatotomato37 5y ago
From my experience honking is exclusively used for frustration over driving style, with vehicular faults more often reported by less aggressive means like flashing brights or shouting the info from an opened window.

by mwint 5y ago

jjulius 5y ago

My suggestion would be for people to stop honking out of impatience. If there's an actual issue, honk. Someone not moving as quickly or dangerously as you'd like isn't an excuse to honk.

asdff 5y ago
I really only honk at people for screwing up. If they cut me off I will wail on the horn for a long time, just holding it, letting them know. I love embarrasing asshole drivers like this especially if they have some passenger. Whenever cars honk at me for using the crosswalk I actually enjoy it, because then I just stand in front of their car for the rest of the light cycle absolutely cussing them out and embarrasing them while they can do nothing because the walk sign is on. I love pointing to the walk sign and saying "What does that sign say? Drive? does that stick figure walking with a countdown say Drive to you?" as loud as possible. Other pedestrians have even fist bumped me. It is so cathartic!
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y ago
  > can do nothing because the walk sign is on This works until you do it to a driver who has had a really bad day and demonstrates that the walk sign isn't a force field. Yes, he'll probably go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, but that doesn't help you.
  - asdff 5y ago
    If they hit me at speed there's nothing I could do whether I argued or not, I'd be laid out before I knew what happened. If they stopped, then hit me, that wouldn't be a bad collision to take, they'd only get up to a few mph in the few feet in front of me even if they hammered the throttle. I'd slide off the hood and get their plates and then they'd be in jail and I would walk into the courtroom with a neck brace and get my payout.
    - jjulius 5y ago
      >I'd slide off the hood and get their plates and then they'd be in jail and I would walk into the courtroom with a neck brace and get my payout. And that constant neck pain, limited mobility and/or arthritis that creep their way into your neck as you get old as a result would be so worth it.
      - asdff 5y ago
        I'd be getting that anyway when I get old, or I could be arthritic and also riding off the dividends of my massive settlement I had in my youth which I promptly would throw in the market.
  - caf 5y ago
    Yes, he'll probably go to jail for vehicular manslaughter, but that doesn't help you. Sounds like they'd be nobly sacrificing themselves to remove two people with anger issues from the general population!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jjulius 5y ago
  > If they cut me off I will wail on the horn for a long time, just holding it, letting them know. I love embarrasing asshole drivers like this... I can say confidently that I've never looked at any other driver doing this and thought anything but, "Jesus Christ, calm the fuck down." I've been that guy doing the honking as well, and I'm fully aware that nobody arounds me gives a shit and they just find me annoying. Hell, half the time most of them don't even know what happened; they just look over and see some overly-angry dude screaming at someone. >... especially if they have some passenger. Did you really embarrass them in front of the passenger, or yourself? What if the transgression you're honking at was a genuine mistake with a reason that actually makes sense? I've been the passenger in situations like this before and have found myself thinking, "Yeah, oops, but I don't totally fault my driver or the other driver for this and the chud doing the honking needs to chill out because clearly they don't understand the driver's perspective."
  - asdff 5y ago
    I don't think cutting me off without a turn signal has any logic other than "me me me to the red light first!" If I can get them to have a reaction like "jesus Christ, calm the fuck down" then I am a happy camper. Again there are honest mistakes, and clearly asshole illegal behavior that drivers do like speeding like crazy, cutting people off, weaving through the freeway like a snake, running reds, cutting into lanes and blocking traffic because you must get to the turn lane at the last possible moment before there is a barrier, and willfully ignoring signage like no turns on reds. I'm also not embarrassed about calling out drivers as a pedestrian. Why would I be? I do it when have right of way and they don't and they had the audacity to honk at me for walking when the walk sign is lit. It's fun to call out assholes. I love shouting at them, so satisfying.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - jjulius 5y ago
judge2020 5y ago
Go to some town with less than 100k population at least 50 miles away from a metro area and you'll see this sort of ideal world: everyone goes the speed limit or 1-5 MPH below it, honking is only if you haven't moved for at least 5 seconds after the light turns green, nobody's in a hurry at all.

throwaway0a5e 5y ago

> Thing is, you don’t know whether the honk is for “you are slower than I like” or “your bumper is falling off”. It's almost always immediately obvious what the transgression is if you're paying the slightest bit of attention. Even the people who are on their phones at a light and have to regain situational awareness from square one do a pretty good job figuring it out.

tomatotomato37 5y ago

From my experience honking is exclusively used for frustration over driving style, with vehicular faults more often reported by less aggressive means like flashing brights or shouting the info from an opened window.