I’ve enjoyed NYC every time I’ve visited, though one thing really stood out to me compared to everywhere else I’ve been (in the US) — the amount of car honking involved in what appeared to be a normal day of traffic. I’ve certainly used my horn when driving on occasion, but usually just to let a specific driver directly ahead of me know that s/he just did something boneheaded (according to me).
So why all the honking, New Yorker?
A. Do you find that it actually has an effect on the traffic?
B. Is it just a way to relieve frustration of not moving?
C. Neither A or B. That’s just the local driving style. Nonstop honking is de rigueur.
D. We don’t honk that much. You clearly witnessed or imagined a rare traffic situation in your visits that doesn’t represent typical NYC driving.
I’m sorry, but I don’t agree. I love New York, but I can’t imagine spending a day in the city and not hearing any honking. In fact, I can, by contrast, spend many days walking around Seattle and never hear one. It’s part of the driving culture in New York (frequently, but not always, cab drivers).
I’ve never understood the need some people feel to bitch and moan via their horn. If the person at the front of the line and/or directly in front of you hasn’t noticed that the light has changed, one quick honk is all it takes. If your place in the line of cars that isn’t moving is anything higher than 2, keep your damn hands off the horn. It’s not going to do a damn bit of good.
Because NYC is so crowded, the rules of etiquette are loosened. You cut someone off in NYC? Par for the course. You do it in upstate NY, you are going to have some very butt hurt drivers. So it is different in NYC. You have full license to cut folks off. The honks are sometimes just a little message…like saying, “I’m about to cut you off mighty close. No offense.” Or, 'Move over a smidge, coming through" that sort of thing.
During college, I drove a delivery van in Manhattan. I kept one thumb poised on the horn at all times. Traffic is tight, fast and crowded, especially in midtown. Short honks were constantly needed to prevent collisions and to let absent-minded pedestrians know that they were about to be run over.
The people who honk as soon as a light turns green or out of frustration because traffic is backed-up are just garden-variety asshats.
Yeah, you can’t be offended by the NYC horn, or the horn in Delhi or Bombay. The horn in upstate NY usually means “Hey asshole, you almost killed me!” In NYC or Delhi (ESPECIALLY old Delhi) it means “Coming through, watch out.” There are myriads of intersections in India that have no stop signs or yield - you just sound your horn as you drive up and through. In NYC the horn is more just a chatty sort of news that I AM HERE.
LOL. I once visitied Columbia and was trying to figure out the traffic rules (I wasn’t driving thank Og).
It seemed to be that whoever was biggest and/or had the crappiest car had the right of way. Busses were Kings of the road. I asked someone who works for our company about this and he said, in all seriousness, that I had it right.
I’d like to say I didn’t see many accidents…but that wasn’t the truth. Cars got batted frequently…it’s just that noone stopped when it happened/no one seemed to care.
It was INSANE!
And the HONKING. My Og, just stop, ok? Noone cares.
We’re simply observing the strict New York City Vehicle Horn Code, under which it is illegal to honk your horn except to communicate one of the following emergency messages:
When I was in India, and we were visiting Chandni Chowk, a historic and famous part of Old Delhi, people would lean out of their cars and say “Are jaane do yaar” (Come on, dude, let me in). It was hilarious and scary. Mortorcycles would tap on the hood of your car with their knuckles to let you know they were squeezing into the tiny space between your car and the next.
I almost never saw any accidents. That’s even with the cows and pigs and whatnot roaming the streets and people obeying only two laws, and those sometimes: red lights, and…hmm. I can’t think of any other law they obey, to be honest!
I can’t really speak to areas outside of North America, but I’ve travelled pretty widely within the continent and New York does seem especially bad. My theory is that the practice is sort of a taxi communication system and as there are so many cabs in Manhattan, there’s a lot more of honking. This is based on zero data.
NYC drivers honk their horns a lot because it’s usually too hot, or cold, or smelly, or bullety to open the window, stick your head out and scream multilingual obsceneties. So they improvise.
I haven’t found the level of honkage too out of the ordinary when I’ve been in New York City. There’s a lot of cars so you’ll hear honking more often then when you’re in White Haven PA but not in a way that has seemed extreme to me. Maybe that’s because there’s signs all over Manhattan promising a hefty $350 (IIRC) fine for (presumably unnecessary) honking. Clearly not everyone in NYC thinks that honking to your heart’s desire is interesting *couleur locale *that must be preserved because it makes the city so special.
I originally learned to drive in NYC, and quickly learned that there are many valid reasons to use the horn there, purely for the survival of myself and others. Since then I’ve relocated, and one of the first aspects of culture shock was learning not to use the horn so much . . . and there’s actually little reason to here.
I used to live around the corner from a Trader Joe’s with a tiny parking lot. During peak hours, there was always a line backed up in the street, both directions, made of cars trying to turn into the parking lot. You’d occasionally hear someone leaning on their horn for whole minutes at a time, like that would magically free up a parking space and get the line moving. Madness.
I do that once in a while: yesterday, on the Southern State, a van scared the shit out of me by turning (no signal) at about 70 MPH into my lane, just jockeying for position on a three-lane highway, probably saving himself two or three seconds on his entire trip, and my heart jumped into my mouth, I hit my brakes to avoid barreling into his ass, and then I leaned on my horn for a few seconds, just to say, “That was NOT cool, you stupid motherfucker.” I hope he interpreted it that way, anyway.
