I don’t recall anyone saying that the horn should never be used. And your example isn’t even in the same ballpark as the ones that have been discussed in this thread. Honking once to let a person know that the light has turned and that they should pay attention to what’s going on around them while in a car is quite different from tailgating, flashing and honking a driver who happens to be going more slowly than you would like.
Now why don’t you put your straw man behind the wheel and send him for a drive.
True enough, I probably should have just stopped completely and waited for him to pass. Although there is that small fear that he will take my stopping as a challenge and stop as well, looking for a fight.
About there not being a turn-off… There wasn’t a turn-off for the 3-4 minutes that this encounter lasted for. There are definitely little shoulder patches and such along the road, but not at short intervals or anything. And who knows, what with all the honking and shiny lights, I mght have missed one of those little dirt shoulder patches.
Was your concern of enraging him honestly the reason you didn’t stop? That doesn’t make a lot of sense, because what you did do obviously enraged him much, much more than stopping possibly could have.
So I’m still not following you. What exactly was the reason you couldn’t have pulled off onto one of those shoulder patches and stopped to let the guy pass? Is there a difference between what you are calling a “turn-off” and a “shoulder patch”, or are they the same thing?
Now hold on. This thing lasted for three or four minutes? I’m sitting here thinking that you obstructed the guy for half an hour or something. Never mind my comments above. You shouldn’t have slowed down to antagonize the guy, but he was clearly a major asshole. I’ll usually follow someone for ten minutes or so before getting concerned. And that’s after they’ve passed several turn-outs and ignored them.
In all seriousness, I agree with what the majority of you are saying, it may have come across as argumentative, but I was really just curious to get tlw’s take on that particular situation, since her post was so vehemently anti-honking.
I have to ask if they live in deer country. You do NOT drive fast on dark country roads at night in deer country unless you a) want a new car or b) hate life.
I don’t drive at night often because my vision is shit and headlights blind me. Especially halogen or mirrored headlights. I won’t go into those because I don’t want the hamsters to catch fire. On the rare occasions when I do have to drive at night, I do drive a bit slower than the posted speed limit (about 5 miles). When people tailgate me I slow down because I can’t fucking see! Even when I flip my rearview up (conveniently giving the tailgater a taste of their own lights), I’ve still got some serious glare going on. You bet your ass I’m going to slow down in that situation.
When driving at night, I follow the memo of Jackmanii.
And if anyone ever honks at me to warn me that they’re passing on a two-lane road, I will know that they’re just being a lawful Ohioan and not an idiot. Of course, no one has ever honked at me in this circumstance. Which just proves that the state is full of lawbreakers, I guess.
Um, like, uh, you and Lezlers are, like, er, fucking idiots. The post was unclear. So I like to clarify things before I go and rag on someone for not pulling over. Here’s the post again:
There wasn’t a turn-off. There are little shoulder patches, but not at short intervals.
Does that mean there weren’t turn-offs, BUT there were shoulder patches? Or does it mean there were neither? Or are they both the same thing? How far is a “short interval”? It’s not clear at all.
Oh, wait a minute. I just realized I said I wasn’t responding to you in another thread. Apparently you are now going to follow me around the SDMB taking potshots at me.
