SOMEHOW, road rage incidents — including getting out of one’s vehicle and approaching another with the brandishing of weapons (including a hammer for the headlights of an offending road-cutter, like a motorcycle) and shouted threats — are presaged by prolonged car horn blowing. Some of these incidents are posted with videos on social media, so the incident can be embarrassing, if not criminal.
What was designed as an alerting device for pedestrians crossing outside the zebra line or a gentle reminder for parkers (Miss, I saw this empty slot first) has now become almost an invitation for physical combat.
Advanced societies pride themselves on the ability to minimize, if not eliminate, the use of the car horn. (Do driverless vehicles even have car horns?) Horn-blowing in civilized countries is considered a traffic violation. Be-cause their motorists slavishly follow traffic rules and courtesies on, say, approved ways of turn-taking by multiple lanes at a roundabout, there are few occasions for motorists to use the horn as a form of road rage.
Even when in front of one’s driveway, there is little need to toot for anyone to open the gate. There is often no gate anyway. If garage doors need opening for mansions atop a hill, this is done by a remote-control gadget from the car that emits a short beep — almost as inaudible as an infant’s dispelling of gas.
Is our attachment to the car horn an indicator of a chaotic traffic situation? As one social post puts it… If you want to spend more time with your family, bring them in a car to EDSA.
When getting a new car, one of the first things we do is check the horn. If the car is European, chances are the car horn will sound timid. Maybe, it’s too expensive to replace a car horn with a louder one just to scare the flower vendors in the street? Even a timid horn can be weaponized.
What are usual occasions for leaning on the car horn? We mark them with length and intensity on a scale of 1 to 4, the highest number signifying a full bodily push on the car horn for maximum blast and duration. Here is a par-tial list of situations:
For the short beep (#1): Signaling your arrival home after a nice day at the office to cue the maid to open the gate; or warning off a cat that has crossed the car’s path.
A double short (#2): Reminding the maid to drop the dish washing as the master of the house needs to pee badly.
A still friendly but long horn (#3): In a stalled three-lane bumper-to-bumper line, alerting the driver of a 20-year-old heap inching its way to a narrowing lane that he is perilously close to clipping your side mirror and to please give you some driving room. The object of the warning misunderstands and thinks the horn blower is calling for the guy in the cart selling boiled corn.
Nasty prolonged multiple blasts (#4) — the old heap slams into a side door — as the offender drives away. The horn is accompanied by an open window and screaming genealogical remarks regarding the other driver’s doubtful parentage.
The car horn can be a war cry. It is a warning and a threat.
And nothing demonstrates this more clearly than a siren, the mother of all car horns. How often do we encounter these big shots who feel they should not need to line up in traffic, blasting away obstacles with a chorus of blaring motorcycles with disco lights flashing? Now, they can use the bus lane and just deal with traffic enforcers. (What is your favorite charity, young man?)
Ambulances are of course allowed to wail. Even when empty of any patient being rushed to a hospital? Sir, we are going to pick up a person in need of emergency care. One simply slows down to one side and lets the wailing vehicle pass.
What is the lowly car horn blower to do when confronted by superior force? Maybe a stainless-steel jeepney with no windows and a sticker against banning guns, driven by a pot-bellied dark man swerving into different lanes? Discretion then may be the better part of valor. Have a nice day, Sir. (No, I wasn’t shouting po.)
It is a sign of civility and good manners to forego the horn alternative in traffic even on a hot day… unless, of course, it’s necessary.
Tony Samson is chairman and CEO of TOUCH xda
