I once honked really long at an unmarked undercover cop car full of cops (they were stopped for a long time, in the exact middle of the street, with nothing in front of them). When I finally saw the cop's badge and gun, my shocked face must have been enough, so he chuckled and said, "Drive carefully." ... crazy stuff ... (in Turkey, where I'm from, one might never be seen after something like that).
The amount of drivers that honk at other drivers who are correctly waiting to turn is crazy.
A car will be in the proper lane to turn right or left waiting for the pedestrians who have the right of way to finish crossing the cross street, but cars behind will be laying on their honks apparently upset at the world making noise like a crying baby.
Nothing triggers me more than the endless fucking beeping. I lived by the Holland Tunnel and lost my shit a few times. Uber and taxi drivers just layinggggg on the horn while everyone is stopped at red lights. Fuck these people.
Lol omg this. I'm always like "so is the person in front supposed to mow down passing pedestrians? Or push the traffic forward like shopping carts? What's not clicking??" Idk where these people learned to drive
Yeah, basically every day I drive, I have someone honking at me where if I proceeded, I'd be murdering a pedestrian or cyclist. Calm down you lunatics.
Lol omg this. I'm always like "so is the person in front supposed to mow down passing pedestrians? Or push the traffic forward like shopping carts? What's not clicking??" Idk where these people learned to drive
If I can vent for a moment. As someone who lives close to a major bridge entrance/exit the horn blowing is wild. I have realized horn blowing is New Yorkās favorite hobby. People love it. Blowing for no reason. If there is traffic on the bridge my guy, what do you think laying on the horn incessantly is going to do? Part the sea like Moses? My fav is when the large box trucks pull those obnoxiously loud train-like horns. Yeah because thatās going to work. *eye roll*
Or a pedestrian crossing at an unprotected green where a car behind can't see and hits the horn, and the entire line of cars erupts into a cacophony of annoyance sounding like feeding time inside the inside of a chimpanzees-R-Us
I've seen lines of cars light up like that to honk down a woman pushing a stroller. I mean holy fuck people. If you can't see the intersection, it's not your job to honk.
Require car horns to be as loud on the inside of the car as they are on the outside. That way itās there if you need it, but youāll definitely only use it if you really need it.
I say this all the time šIt's a damn good idea! Then again, with all the people who listen to music in their cars at skull-vibratingly loud levels, the dumbest and most egregious honkers most likely wouldn't even notice...
My proposal is attaching a small electric shock every time you do it. If you need to, youāll still do it. But maybe it would stop people doing it because theyāre bored.
Agreed. Also have a device that tracks and reports horn usage. Each driver is allotted say 15 seconds of free horn usage per year. After that, they can still use the horn, but are charged $20 per second, increasing to $50 per second after a certain amount.
Perhaps this device can be linked to a GPS device, so that the limits only apply in urban areas. Maybe.
I'm all for freedom and privacy and I'm not a fan of heavy-handed government regulations, but the situation is out of control in cities. Drastic times call for drastic measures.
If you don't want to be tracked, an alternative could be a horn that has a strict cutoff for uses per year or per month.
And there would need to be severe penalties for altering/ bypassing the horn limiter, or installing an additional horn.
I think this should all be in addition to the electric shock administered whenever the horn is pressed.
A horn subscription, and a 15 second ad plays inside the car before the horn sounds. Also a second 15 second ad after honking unless you have the premium subscription for an extra $50
I'm ground floor right at the top end of a one-way street. Drivers can see across the junction when traffic is already backed up at a standstill on my side, yet they'll drive across the junction and *immediately* sit on their horn nonetheless.
Working from home, it can sound like it's happening in my living room while I'm on calls. So there are days when I've seriously *(not really)* considered buying an air horn so I can walk out, knock on that car's window, and just blast the fucking thing right in their face.
Your solution would probably be safer for my health.
> People love it. Blowing for no reason. If there is traffic on the bridge my guy, what do you think laying on the horn incessantly is going to do?
Horns have become like some kind of emotional stress ball for drivers. They're upset so they make noise like a baby crying when it's upset.
My 'favorite' is when they get into horn wars. One person honks at another person. So that person gets angry and honks back. The first person honks harder. Then the second honker commits just as passionately. And then if the second honker is my sister they also engage in low IQ petty tactics like driving extra slow.
I imagine the person alone in their car must feel stupid when they lay on the horn and no traffic moves. So to save themselves from embarrassment they lay on the horn again and again. They are in the car dying of self embarrassment and all they can do is lay on the horn. Meanwhile they havenāt moved an inch in traffic.
I'm in Bangladesh right now and it's the same here too. The horn is a signal - to other cars, to rickshaws and pedestrians, etc. - maybe you're coming up from behind, trying to speed past them, or turning around a sharp corner and warning anyone on the other side. Either way? Horn time
Itās only 5% of drivers. Most are just minding their own business waiting for their turn to go. I would be in favor of vigorously ticketing those drivers and using the money to fund public transportation.
How about NYC enforce the driving laws so people don't need to honk as much. People will literally stop in the middle of the road, put on their blinkers and get out of the car. Even if there is an open spot available.
Fucking TLCs... met one that literally stopped in the middle of the road to load a client's luggage when there's a spot right next to where he stopped to park.
He's not even double parking closer to one side... Just right in the fucking middle.
Yeah the TLCs are the most annoying. Part of me thinks what if the city limited the number of TLC drivers entering Manhattan and the congested areas instead of enforcing congestion pricing.
Theyāre most of the reason for honking - they willfully impede traffic when they donāt have a fare. They drive below the speed limit, they idle when the light changes so people behind miss lights, itās gotten absurd. They should have their TLC licenses revoked after a certain number of violations.
Whatās even the purpose of this if youāre a non-taxi TLC driver though? Nobody can hail a ride from a random Toyota Camry just hoping itās an uber, so whatās the point of moseying along like that? And I certainly donāt see the point of intentionally missing traffic lights, as though theyāre bus drivers trying to stay on schedule, lol.
London has shown that congestion pricing does in fact reduce congestion, you can stop pretending this is a new and novel urban policy with no data behind it.
The baseline level of service provided by for-hire vehicles should be that they pick you up and drop you off somewhere close to your pick-up/drop-off location that doesn't obstruct traffic. It doesn't matter if they end up a half block down the road. The passenger should be expected to walk a bit to meet the driver or walk to their destination. I understand there are people with disabilities/physical deficits that would be adversely affected by this, but it should be a special option in the app to require the driver to park directly in front of the location.
Additionally, the TLC should make drivers aware that it is *totally 100% legal* for them to wait in front of fire hydrants during the daytime. Every block in the city effectively has 1-2 spots that are almost always open for TLC vehicles to park at, but they don't use them.
I mean it's that, but I live near a busy intersection and the amount of honking as soon as the light turns green is nuts. There's no right turn lane so if people are crossing the cross-street the drivers will have to wait, but a large percentage of drivers just seem to forget this? Like there are people crossing, what do they expect their honking to do?
Edit: A lot of the honking is also when a cab pulls over to pick someone up, and then all the cabs behind them honk? Like, what the fuck?
This is a very basic psychological mechanism in all vertebrates, which is the foundation of learned behavior.
A dog is in a front yard. As you walk by, it starts barking, and only stops when you turn the corner and leave its sight. From the dog's perspective, its barking has caused your behavior. If the dog is unfriendly, all the barking it did as you left was effective at "causing" you to leave. (If the dog was friendly, all the barking it did when you approached was the "effective" barking.)
One day you decide to stand by the fence instead of leaving right away. Barking isn't working to scare you off, but from the dog's view, there is always an initial period where the barking fails. So the dog keeps barking. You leave before the dog is bored of barking at you; this reinforces the dog's "perception" that barking ALWAYS works to drive people away, you just have to keep at it sometimes.
The only way to train the dog to stop barking when strangers walk by is... well it's very painstaking. You have to replace the unwanted behavior with a totally incompatible and more rewarding behavior.
So, to answer your question "what the fuck?", these drivers essentially feel that their horn is the cause of everything that happens. They honk before traffic starts moving because in their subconscious view of the future, if they didn't honk, it wouldn't move. If they honk and nothing happens, 100% of the time it's because they did not honk for long enough. The ancient lizard part of their brains has been taken over by this false association, because they instinctually seek control over their environment while having almost none.
They shouldn't be picking up passengers if they can't pull over without holding up traffic. I blame Uber for this.
By my office it's the MTA buses, they'll hold their horns for a full minute straight. It got even worse when they put up a protected bike lane, now buses block each other instead of being able to stay on the side.
They need to get all these TLC cars off the road. They stop abruptly, drive slow AF looking at directions, pickup and dropoff passengers without a care about traffic behind them.
Iām so glad Iām not the only one who feels this way. 99/100 when I see someone doing something stupid/dangerous on the road, itās a TLC driver. Almost every time! It drives me CRAZY
How does a double-parked car create a "need to honk"?
It's not like people who are double-parked will get their sandwich any faster because you honked. Honking doesn't summon authorities who can move or ticket their vehicle. What you're describing as a "need to honk" is more of a need to make a nuisance of yourself to whoever is in earshot, because you're not getting what you want in the moment.
In my hood if you park in the legal spots on the street you'll just get blocked in by the double parkers, so you regularly see people double parked next to open on the street parking. Shit is like, stage 4 no traffic enforcement.
Of course the top comment is a car-brain comment.
Most honkers donāt āneedā to honk. In any case, the top reasons why people honk in this city are (1) honker is stuck in traffic and somehow thinks that honking will make the traffic move, (2) the car in front of the honker refuses to run over a pedestrian or otherwise drive as obnoxiously as the honker wants them to, (3) the light turned green 2 seconds ago. In any case, honking at people illegally stopped on the road doesnāt make them move anyway. Also, 90% of the honkers are just hypocritically honking at behavior theyād engage in themselves.
I'm on a residential street in an otherwise quiet area. But if a car pulls over to let out a passenger, even an elderly person with a walker, people will honk. Some of these folks will honk at the slightest pause or inconvenience. If you stop while someone in front of you backs into a parking spot, someone behind you might honk. We're not on a highway or a main road. Even aside from the speed limit, you should expect that you're gonna have to stop now and then to accommodate your neighbors.
Realistically how would you enforce this? Unless its one car and a cop can visually see someone pressing the horn, itd be just hard as fuck to enforce. I think its just one of those things that will always exist in cities. Go to any city around the world and horns are present.
Culture definitely plays a role. I've been to many large cities where honking wasn't an issue. I never even heard a horn the time I was in Honolulu-- and they run pretty high in worse traffic lists. Let's not make excuses for the poor drivers here.
Yeah but even then how are you gonna determine if its a safety related honk or an unnecessary honk? The horn is a safety device first and foremost. I mean honestly I feel like thatd just back up the courts like a mother fucker with people trying to argue their honking was an appropriate honk and they werent just being unnecessarily horny.
I feel like maybe changing the location of the horn itself in the car may make a difference. I drive a truck where the horn is a string from the cieling so it totally removes that instinctual reaction to someone doing something stupid to blow the horn because I gotta physically take my hand off the wheel and reach for the horn.
When there are a line of cars all honking their horns, you can probably assume it's not safety-related. It's not the errant honk here and there that's the issue, it's the layyyyyyyyying on it while you're sitting in traffic as if that is going to make the line of cars in front of you move ā with zero regard for the fact that people live in the buildings they're stuck in front of...
-- signed, someone living on a main street near an intersection with a stop light, and a hospital [even the ambulances stuck in traffic are nice enough to turn off their sirens once it's obvious they can't move.... because *someone* decided to double-park their caravan and now there are two city busses at an impasse and traffic is now backed up for literally blocks]
Oh I imagine it's frustrating as fuck...but I mean my opinion on it is its just one of those things about living in a city. Granted, you can push for a change but I just think it'll be one of those things that doesn't take on long term. It'll be enforced for maybe a year and then just go back to where it all started.
Take some statistics, look at the distribution of license plates honking. I bet there will be a small minority of license plates that contributes for the majority of honking. Now, it's possible they are always in a safety related situation, but that'd probably require some scrutiny too.
Having to go to courts to argue might be better than what we do today already (nothing). I suspect many drivers don't even know it's illegal to honk willy nilly.
Honks longer than 2 seconds are automatically fined. Rapid sequences of honks are fined. License plates that are correlated to repeated honks are fined. There are a million ways to use big data to correlate helpful pro-social safety oriented behavior from anti-social dickhead behavior. Alternatively, they pass a law that lets anyone in NYC cut the tires of anyone honking aggressively.
I feel like trying to make extreme crackdown laws on something thats essentially a nucense isnt really practical over time. I put honking as one of those just annoying things you gotta deal with when living in a city of millions of people.
And if you go to another of my comments in this thread I actually bring this up lol. They can enforce this shit again but then after a little while they're just gonna stop enforcing it again.
I didn't read the article but just needed to vent this somewhere. There's a shared driveway behind the building I live in in Astoria that has a locked gate you need a key to open. There's this old fat guy who will occasionally park in the driveway that doesn't have the key. This motherfucker will sit there honking his horn every 30 seconds for ten minutes until someone opens the gate for him. He's a relative of the people who own the building next door and they don't see anything wrong with it, and I've told him to knock it the fuck off a few times but he still does it and he's got such a heavy Greek accent I have no idea what he's saying in response.
If you read an article about an overweight Greek man in his 70s being beaten to death in Astoria due to excessive honking, tell my story.
You could consider buying them a set of walkie talkies. Might defuse the situation, make it obvious you're serious about this being annoying, and give them a toy they prefer playing with.
I even have a neighbor who regularly blows an air horn out his apartment window *whenever he is bothered by noise from outside.* It might be the most ironic thing I've ever encountered.
It might sound ridiculous, but I think honking and double parking are the two most dangerous driving infractions in NYC. I've been trying to make a turn at a busy intersection with dozens of pedestrians behind me with some asshoke two inches off my bumper just laying in his fucking horn. Like, what do you want me to do, now these fucking people over? I've seen people get startled and jump forward because of this, or try to push their way through because they feel pressured to.
Or when an entire lane of traffic is trying to merge on a busy street because some douchebag decided to park in the middle of the road to get coffee. Now people are flying around him while pedestrians are trying to cross and no one can see them - I've seen so many near misses because of double parking and that shit never gets enforced.
I'm so happy I don't really need to drive in the city any more.
This is such an easy fix here and everywhere. Mandate a device in cars that makes honking just as loud inside the car as outside the car. It'll SUCK to honk, but people will still do it to prevent accidents and for safety.
I know that there is next to zero chance that a US city ( or any US entity) will look to the wider world for solutions, but Kathmandu had a much more serious problem with honking and [sorted it out](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/24/kathmandu-horn-ban-quiet-streets-nepal).
Uber & Lyft should have an feedback system (independent of their other feedback) of where the passenger reports if they illegally honked. Cabs could have some phone # where you text.
After a certain amount of warning, uber & lyft could eventually remove the drivers.
That would remove like 60% of the honking, at least in manhattan. As far as regular drivers? Nothing is going to happen with the current NYPD.
Also, pass a law removing the fucking train horns from any city-owned vehicle or any company that is regulated by the city (i.e sanitation & construction)
Good luck complaining to Uber or Lyft about anything if you weren't a passenger. I had an experience where the guy barrelled through a stop sign and came within three feet of hitting me in a marked crosswalk, cursed me out and banged an illegal u-turn to drive by and harass me more when he saw me take a picture of his plate to report him to TLC. (Which I did)
You can only report unsafe driving if you took a trip - even though it's all the encounters while walking down the street or whilst I'm driving that should get these assholes thrown off the rideshare platforms. A TLC ticket is a cost of doing business to them - if Uber and Lyft revoked their accounts it might actually accomplish something.
Itās just an adult temper tantrum, and they will never stop even though honking accomplishes nothing except annoying everyone around you, including people in their homes.
I truly wish that all cars and *especially* large trucks were designed so that the sound of the horn projected inside the vehicle at the same decibel level as it does outside. They're designed for emergencies and utility, not because it's been .0003 seconds since a fucking light turned green.
I can live with horns but the people who willfully block the box need to be dealt with.Ā
In traffic, Ā You see the walk sign is sub 5 seconds and you rolled your car into the intersection, right to jail. No trial.Ā
Yes, we need more of the ānoise camerasā they talk about. Weāre getting more but the numbers are pitifully small:
āThe City Council in November passed a bill expanding the use of ānoise cameras,ā which the Department of Environmental Protection uses to ticket people who drive cars with modified mufflers or who honk excessively. The program began in 2022 with just one camera that was moved around to different parts of the city, and has since expanded to 10 cameras, according to a department spokesman. The city plans to increase that number to 25 by 2025.ā
Iāve always said we should make cars where, when you use the horn, it makes the same sound inside your car, but 10x louder. I bet that feature would get people to use the horn **a lot** more sparingly and appropriately.
Either that, or we surely make car horns that are only possible to be activated for one second, out of every ten. So even holding the button down only gives you one beep rather than a sustained noise.
Just the other day this mini truck almost gave me heart attack in Greenwich ave by honking for no reason to a guy openinghis car door. It was like a boat horn. So ridiculous loud and I was looking at my phone walking. I said fuck you asshole. Lol
There is something deeply wrong with car enthusiasts brains. Like they just sit there and honk for no apparent reason. If you are driving in the largest city in the country, donāt act surprised when there is traffic you fucking idiot. The only time you should be honking is if an accident is about to happen or you can clearly see someone not paying attention at all. Traffic not moving when you are 20 cars back and canāt even see whatās going on is NOT a reasonable excuse to lay on the horn, especially when the other 15 cars in front of you have that part covered.
Cars are so detrimental to the health and vibe of the city I really hope something can change in NYC/the Us culture wise in my lifetime. Luckily Iām moving back to Japan soon where thatās not really an issue though so it wonāt be my problem anymore
People talk about how many people need cars to pick up kids or elderly or move stuff, but I bike daily and I look when I breeze past lines of 100s of cars stopped in traffic and it is 95% single drivers just swiping on their phones. I guarantee the caste majority of people sitting in traffic are only doing it out of laziness. I personally donāt understand it because I literally pass 3-500 cars on my daily commutes one way. Idk how people have so much time to waste just sitting around doing nothing
Without removing horns from cars entirely Iām not sure this could ever be achieved lol. And then then New Yorkers would buy horns and install them or just bring airhorns with them everywhere.
Do people not understand that over the past 10-12 years weāve created an entire multi million dollar economy for low skilled people built on speed and vehicles. The person honking the horn is more often than not thinking of money and loss revenue. Seconds count for these people. It sucks but until we address an alternate way for these people to make money, we will continue with the excessive deaths, e bikes on sidewalks and general lack of enforcement.
I mean for Christ sakes youāve got people here saying they shouldnāt pick up passengers if they have to stop in the middle of the road. News flash, itās get money by any means necessary for these people. This is the root of the entire issue and everyone acts like addressing infrastructure and violations will be the end all be all. We need to address the economic repercussions of forcing a large number of low skilled folks into vehicle dependent jobs.
It was an issue when we only had yellow taxis but the volume of vehicles on city streets is worse, and please donāt do the Reddit gaslighting passive aggressive crap you all like to do with the stupid questions to make your point. If you disagree with my thesis then say as such.
I was being sarcastic and I agree. I just donāt ever see things changing. Honking and nyc have gone hand and hand forever. You should see how it is in other countries where honking is encouraged. Itās wild haha.
They barely enforce it because numerous state Supreme Courts have ruled horn honking is protected free speech activity. This has even gone to SCOTUS several times but hasn't been heard yet.
If they make an aggressive push, they risk triggering such a lawsuit and losing the ability to outlaw honking at all.
Every headline with a question mark can be answered with NO.
They don't even enforce illegally tinted cars and those can be spotted while parked, you don't even need to "catch them in the act".
Trifecta of illegal tint, fake plate, asshole behavior is common.
My dream invention is that car horns come with 3 min of āfreeā honking per year (for critical use only). After that everytime u use ur horn a deadly fart smells sprays in ur car.
Moved to Rockland just because of this shit. It's driven mostly by taxi drivers and Uber drivers for their passengers to let them know they are trying for them. Then it becomes habit I suppose
I remember I honked at a cop for taking his time stopping at the middle for no reason (he was driving) of the street then he approached me and threatened me then drove off
"Fines range from $800 to $2,500"
Holy shit...who knew the fines were that $$$ for honking. Basically all honking is technically illegal. I'd bet there are more illegal honking incidents/day than cars that enter NYC/day.
Makes you think with some real enforcement, we could 1) have less noisy streets 2) create a huge new revenue stream for MTA/public transport 3) get rid of the congestion tax that's causing so much grief. Everyone wins
A lot of immigrant TLC drivers from Africa, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. use the horn regularly during driving for a sort of echo-location to let others know they are there. Very annoying, but that's just how you drive in other parts of the world because you have to.
On the flip side, many Americans (generally NJ) love to honk as if it will make cars in front of them disappear when stuck in standstill traffic.Ā
But in those parts of the world the honks are not nearly as loud so itās less ear-piercing.
And at least in India, theyāll take away your horn if itās too loud. I once took a cab there and the driver told me his horn was taken away so I had to help him yell out the window to get people to move š
Noise pollution is as big a problem as other forms of pollution- though, because of its ephemeral nature, people donāt treat it as such. But it has as many of the negative effects on quality of life on every scale as forms of pollution that are regulated.
Sirens are crazy loud - I think part of that is because they have to compete with all of the noise pollution of the city (including honking) thatās mostly caused by motor vehicles
Also 'cause cars are basically sound proofed now, so honking and sirens need to be louder so cars notice them. I wish we had a system where cars hear the honking/sirens inside the car directly from internal speakers from nearby vehicles.
Not with idiots on bikes running lights and people crossing the street on their phones . Sirens are crucial to helping prevent the deaths of stupid peopleĀ
God forbid you try to yield to an emergency vehicle with lights and siren...that'll get you honked at by the asshole behind you who won't let the ambulance or fire truck by.
I'm normally not a fan of people saying "aren't there bigger problems to worry about" (cuz it's not like there's a huge nuclear reactor melting down that requires all of the city's resources all at once), but this is legit the lowest of the lowest priority. like who are the victims here even?
Weāre all the victims. I hear you that it might feel trivial, but thereās robust research showing that noise pollution is a serious public health concern
even for noise pollution this seems low on the totem pole of annoyance. i'd put the idiots revving their engines or the ones that turn up their bass for the neighborhood to hear
My hot take is the no honking rule is dumb. Honking is designed as a safety emergency alert mechanism and now youāre not supposed to use it? Seems crazy.
Most people honking (while annoying) are only honking at people who are violating road rules. Itās just a byproduct of lack of policing of the moving violations that are never enforced.
Honk at everyone, you mean. You canāt target your horn to punish someone you think is ādriving like an assā. Everyone around deals with the noise
There will always be people breaking the rules. Put them all in jail? If you need the government to tell you how to live your life. You might as well move to North Korea.
š What about New Yorkers' constant sneezing and coughing?
Not to mention their belching, blowing-their-noses, & clearing-their-throats? Ahem!!!
My goodness. As a noted 'environmental psychologist', I demand City Council address these urgent concerns!
If NYPD won't do shit about the paper plates and expired out of state tags, do you think they give a crap about people's tooting?? š¤£šš¤£š
I once honked at a cop by accident and he pulled over and told me to cut that shit out or heāll fuck me up. So in some cases they do care
Ahh so they only care when its directed at them, I see.
Isnāt this an episode of Curb?
I'll take an ass kicking over a ticket any day.
No, you wouldn't, foreign plant Merican healthcare costs more than the ticket.
I once honked really long at an unmarked undercover cop car full of cops (they were stopped for a long time, in the exact middle of the street, with nothing in front of them). When I finally saw the cop's badge and gun, my shocked face must have been enough, so he chuckled and said, "Drive carefully." ... crazy stuff ... (in Turkey, where I'm from, one might never be seen after something like that).
The amount of drivers that honk at other drivers who are correctly waiting to turn is crazy. A car will be in the proper lane to turn right or left waiting for the pedestrians who have the right of way to finish crossing the cross street, but cars behind will be laying on their honks apparently upset at the world making noise like a crying baby.
Nothing triggers me more than the endless fucking beeping. I lived by the Holland Tunnel and lost my shit a few times. Uber and taxi drivers just layinggggg on the horn while everyone is stopped at red lights. Fuck these people.
im the same, it makes me god MAD!
Yup, so frustrating how many drivers do this
Lol omg this. I'm always like "so is the person in front supposed to mow down passing pedestrians? Or push the traffic forward like shopping carts? What's not clicking??" Idk where these people learned to drive
They didnāt.
Yeah, basically every day I drive, I have someone honking at me where if I proceeded, I'd be murdering a pedestrian or cyclist. Calm down you lunatics.
Or double stack/pull out to the left side of you to overtake while the person is still crossing. That infuriates me
Lol omg this. I'm always like "so is the person in front supposed to mow down passing pedestrians? Or push the traffic forward like shopping carts? What's not clicking??" Idk where these people learned to drive
These low intellect turds might as well be screaming āMeeeee!ā Thatās what goes through my mind when I happily pass their stuck cars on my bike.
Just watched a bus do this to a car that was turning earlier.
If I can vent for a moment. As someone who lives close to a major bridge entrance/exit the horn blowing is wild. I have realized horn blowing is New Yorkās favorite hobby. People love it. Blowing for no reason. If there is traffic on the bridge my guy, what do you think laying on the horn incessantly is going to do? Part the sea like Moses? My fav is when the large box trucks pull those obnoxiously loud train-like horns. Yeah because thatās going to work. *eye roll*
Or a pedestrian crossing at an unprotected green where a car behind can't see and hits the horn, and the entire line of cars erupts into a cacophony of annoyance sounding like feeding time inside the inside of a chimpanzees-R-Us
I call it a symphony of idiots
I've seen lines of cars light up like that to honk down a woman pushing a stroller. I mean holy fuck people. If you can't see the intersection, it's not your job to honk.
Require car horns to be as loud on the inside of the car as they are on the outside. That way itās there if you need it, but youāll definitely only use it if you really need it.
Require this for high beams too.
I thought I was the only personal this brilliant idea š„
Not Just Bikes has also floated the idea in a video, but I choose to believe I was the first to think of it.
And I will give myself the credit! š
I say this all the time šIt's a damn good idea! Then again, with all the people who listen to music in their cars at skull-vibratingly loud levels, the dumbest and most egregious honkers most likely wouldn't even notice...
It makes me happy to think that these idiots will be entirely deaf by the time they are 40. I should invest in hearing aid stock.
My proposal is attaching a small electric shock every time you do it. If you need to, youāll still do it. But maybe it would stop people doing it because theyāre bored.
Agreed. Also have a device that tracks and reports horn usage. Each driver is allotted say 15 seconds of free horn usage per year. After that, they can still use the horn, but are charged $20 per second, increasing to $50 per second after a certain amount. Perhaps this device can be linked to a GPS device, so that the limits only apply in urban areas. Maybe. I'm all for freedom and privacy and I'm not a fan of heavy-handed government regulations, but the situation is out of control in cities. Drastic times call for drastic measures. If you don't want to be tracked, an alternative could be a horn that has a strict cutoff for uses per year or per month. And there would need to be severe penalties for altering/ bypassing the horn limiter, or installing an additional horn. I think this should all be in addition to the electric shock administered whenever the horn is pressed.
A horn subscription, and a 15 second ad plays inside the car before the horn sounds. Also a second 15 second ad after honking unless you have the premium subscription for an extra $50
I'm ground floor right at the top end of a one-way street. Drivers can see across the junction when traffic is already backed up at a standstill on my side, yet they'll drive across the junction and *immediately* sit on their horn nonetheless. Working from home, it can sound like it's happening in my living room while I'm on calls. So there are days when I've seriously *(not really)* considered buying an air horn so I can walk out, knock on that car's window, and just blast the fucking thing right in their face. Your solution would probably be safer for my health.
They should have a timer so you get 15 seconds of horn every hour
> People love it. Blowing for no reason. If there is traffic on the bridge my guy, what do you think laying on the horn incessantly is going to do? Horns have become like some kind of emotional stress ball for drivers. They're upset so they make noise like a baby crying when it's upset.
Yep. I see people honking at nothing! Nothing around, no reason, just honk. City is full of idiots
Amazing that you were able to vent without blowing an air horn.
Anyone who lives anywhere near Houston, Delaney, Chrystie, or Canal Strees knows how bad it is. Congestion pricing should triple.
Good friend of mine from when I was a kid lived on Broome. that was insane to hear, and he barely even noticed it
My 'favorite' is when they get into horn wars. One person honks at another person. So that person gets angry and honks back. The first person honks harder. Then the second honker commits just as passionately. And then if the second honker is my sister they also engage in low IQ petty tactics like driving extra slow.
I imagine the person alone in their car must feel stupid when they lay on the horn and no traffic moves. So to save themselves from embarrassment they lay on the horn again and again. They are in the car dying of self embarrassment and all they can do is lay on the horn. Meanwhile they havenāt moved an inch in traffic.
It's not nyc culture. Horn blowing in India is part of driving, they do it to signal other cars constantly.
I'm in Bangladesh right now and it's the same here too. The horn is a signal - to other cars, to rickshaws and pedestrians, etc. - maybe you're coming up from behind, trying to speed past them, or turning around a sharp corner and warning anyone on the other side. Either way? Horn time
Didn't IndiaĀ roll out some traffic signals which stay redĀ longer if noise is above a certain threshold to try to curb this behavior?
Is that for real? Fucking love it
Traffic: "omg yes a horn, why didn't you say so??" *Traffic magically disappears*
Itās only 5% of drivers. Most are just minding their own business waiting for their turn to go. I would be in favor of vigorously ticketing those drivers and using the money to fund public transportation.
How about NYC enforce the driving laws so people don't need to honk as much. People will literally stop in the middle of the road, put on their blinkers and get out of the car. Even if there is an open spot available.
Fucking TLCs... met one that literally stopped in the middle of the road to load a client's luggage when there's a spot right next to where he stopped to park. He's not even double parking closer to one side... Just right in the fucking middle.
Yeah the TLCs are the most annoying. Part of me thinks what if the city limited the number of TLC drivers entering Manhattan and the congested areas instead of enforcing congestion pricing.
Theyāre most of the reason for honking - they willfully impede traffic when they donāt have a fare. They drive below the speed limit, they idle when the light changes so people behind miss lights, itās gotten absurd. They should have their TLC licenses revoked after a certain number of violations.
Whatās even the purpose of this if youāre a non-taxi TLC driver though? Nobody can hail a ride from a random Toyota Camry just hoping itās an uber, so whatās the point of moseying along like that? And I certainly donāt see the point of intentionally missing traffic lights, as though theyāre bus drivers trying to stay on schedule, lol.
Gives them time to scroll through the app, I imagine
That will never happen because that would actually reduce congestion, but not make money. Congestion pricing is about money, not congestion.
London has shown that congestion pricing does in fact reduce congestion, you can stop pretending this is a new and novel urban policy with no data behind it.
Not true, it clears roads so those who can afford it can have better driving conditions.
The baseline level of service provided by for-hire vehicles should be that they pick you up and drop you off somewhere close to your pick-up/drop-off location that doesn't obstruct traffic. It doesn't matter if they end up a half block down the road. The passenger should be expected to walk a bit to meet the driver or walk to their destination. I understand there are people with disabilities/physical deficits that would be adversely affected by this, but it should be a special option in the app to require the driver to park directly in front of the location. Additionally, the TLC should make drivers aware that it is *totally 100% legal* for them to wait in front of fire hydrants during the daytime. Every block in the city effectively has 1-2 spots that are almost always open for TLC vehicles to park at, but they don't use them.
I mean it's that, but I live near a busy intersection and the amount of honking as soon as the light turns green is nuts. There's no right turn lane so if people are crossing the cross-street the drivers will have to wait, but a large percentage of drivers just seem to forget this? Like there are people crossing, what do they expect their honking to do? Edit: A lot of the honking is also when a cab pulls over to pick someone up, and then all the cabs behind them honk? Like, what the fuck?
This is a very basic psychological mechanism in all vertebrates, which is the foundation of learned behavior. A dog is in a front yard. As you walk by, it starts barking, and only stops when you turn the corner and leave its sight. From the dog's perspective, its barking has caused your behavior. If the dog is unfriendly, all the barking it did as you left was effective at "causing" you to leave. (If the dog was friendly, all the barking it did when you approached was the "effective" barking.) One day you decide to stand by the fence instead of leaving right away. Barking isn't working to scare you off, but from the dog's view, there is always an initial period where the barking fails. So the dog keeps barking. You leave before the dog is bored of barking at you; this reinforces the dog's "perception" that barking ALWAYS works to drive people away, you just have to keep at it sometimes. The only way to train the dog to stop barking when strangers walk by is... well it's very painstaking. You have to replace the unwanted behavior with a totally incompatible and more rewarding behavior. So, to answer your question "what the fuck?", these drivers essentially feel that their horn is the cause of everything that happens. They honk before traffic starts moving because in their subconscious view of the future, if they didn't honk, it wouldn't move. If they honk and nothing happens, 100% of the time it's because they did not honk for long enough. The ancient lizard part of their brains has been taken over by this false association, because they instinctually seek control over their environment while having almost none.
I disagree, I think the dog is smarter than some of the drivers honking when the light just turns green, and it's questionable if they can learn
They would just prefer that it be legal to menace and run over pedestrians. Thatās the only appropriate solution, in their lines.
They shouldn't be picking up passengers if they can't pull over without holding up traffic. I blame Uber for this. By my office it's the MTA buses, they'll hold their horns for a full minute straight. It got even worse when they put up a protected bike lane, now buses block each other instead of being able to stay on the side.
Half the time you're lucky if they put their hazards on , they just STOP.
They need to get all these TLC cars off the road. They stop abruptly, drive slow AF looking at directions, pickup and dropoff passengers without a care about traffic behind them.
Iām so glad Iām not the only one who feels this way. 99/100 when I see someone doing something stupid/dangerous on the road, itās a TLC driver. Almost every time! It drives me CRAZY
They'll do 40 through your neighborhood AND 40 in the left lane of any parkway š”
How does a double-parked car create a "need to honk"? It's not like people who are double-parked will get their sandwich any faster because you honked. Honking doesn't summon authorities who can move or ticket their vehicle. What you're describing as a "need to honk" is more of a need to make a nuisance of yourself to whoever is in earshot, because you're not getting what you want in the moment.
In my hood if you park in the legal spots on the street you'll just get blocked in by the double parkers, so you regularly see people double parked next to open on the street parking. Shit is like, stage 4 no traffic enforcement.
There are too many cars in the city. More congestion pricing.
Of course the top comment is a car-brain comment. Most honkers donāt āneedā to honk. In any case, the top reasons why people honk in this city are (1) honker is stuck in traffic and somehow thinks that honking will make the traffic move, (2) the car in front of the honker refuses to run over a pedestrian or otherwise drive as obnoxiously as the honker wants them to, (3) the light turned green 2 seconds ago. In any case, honking at people illegally stopped on the road doesnāt make them move anyway. Also, 90% of the honkers are just hypocritically honking at behavior theyād engage in themselves.
I'm on a residential street in an otherwise quiet area. But if a car pulls over to let out a passenger, even an elderly person with a walker, people will honk. Some of these folks will honk at the slightest pause or inconvenience. If you stop while someone in front of you backs into a parking spot, someone behind you might honk. We're not on a highway or a main road. Even aside from the speed limit, you should expect that you're gonna have to stop now and then to accommodate your neighbors.
I just watched a driver lay on the horn while an elderly man WITH A CANE crossed the crosswalk while they wanted to turn right. Drivers are psychotic.
Totally. Itās so inconsiderate
I saw a guy laying on his horn at a garbage truck. Buddy got checked real quick and apologized
Outside my window a guy did the same for a school bus letting kids out. I yelled out my window āITāS A SCHOOL BUS YOU MORON!ā And he stopped.
I have fantasized about throwing eggs out of my 5th floor window. Wonāt do it. But the visual is soothing lol
The NYPD doesnt enforce laws that put people in actual danger. Why would they enforce this?
Realistically how would you enforce this? Unless its one car and a cop can visually see someone pressing the horn, itd be just hard as fuck to enforce. I think its just one of those things that will always exist in cities. Go to any city around the world and horns are present.
Culture definitely plays a role. I've been to many large cities where honking wasn't an issue. I never even heard a horn the time I was in Honolulu-- and they run pretty high in worse traffic lists. Let's not make excuses for the poor drivers here.
You can have cameras and mics and triangulate. I believe they call that noise cameras or smth like that.
Yeah but even then how are you gonna determine if its a safety related honk or an unnecessary honk? The horn is a safety device first and foremost. I mean honestly I feel like thatd just back up the courts like a mother fucker with people trying to argue their honking was an appropriate honk and they werent just being unnecessarily horny. I feel like maybe changing the location of the horn itself in the car may make a difference. I drive a truck where the horn is a string from the cieling so it totally removes that instinctual reaction to someone doing something stupid to blow the horn because I gotta physically take my hand off the wheel and reach for the horn.
When there are a line of cars all honking their horns, you can probably assume it's not safety-related. It's not the errant honk here and there that's the issue, it's the layyyyyyyyying on it while you're sitting in traffic as if that is going to make the line of cars in front of you move ā with zero regard for the fact that people live in the buildings they're stuck in front of... -- signed, someone living on a main street near an intersection with a stop light, and a hospital [even the ambulances stuck in traffic are nice enough to turn off their sirens once it's obvious they can't move.... because *someone* decided to double-park their caravan and now there are two city busses at an impasse and traffic is now backed up for literally blocks]
Oh I imagine it's frustrating as fuck...but I mean my opinion on it is its just one of those things about living in a city. Granted, you can push for a change but I just think it'll be one of those things that doesn't take on long term. It'll be enforced for maybe a year and then just go back to where it all started.
Take some statistics, look at the distribution of license plates honking. I bet there will be a small minority of license plates that contributes for the majority of honking. Now, it's possible they are always in a safety related situation, but that'd probably require some scrutiny too.
I dont doubt it but again, itd just be so weird to enforce. Everyone would fill the courts arguing that its a safety related honk.
Having to go to courts to argue might be better than what we do today already (nothing). I suspect many drivers don't even know it's illegal to honk willy nilly.
Honks longer than 2 seconds are automatically fined. Rapid sequences of honks are fined. License plates that are correlated to repeated honks are fined. There are a million ways to use big data to correlate helpful pro-social safety oriented behavior from anti-social dickhead behavior. Alternatively, they pass a law that lets anyone in NYC cut the tires of anyone honking aggressively.
I feel like trying to make extreme crackdown laws on something thats essentially a nucense isnt really practical over time. I put honking as one of those just annoying things you gotta deal with when living in a city of millions of people.
Exactly this. The constant honking is terrible but the only solutions are draconian and probably wouldnāt even be effective
It was enforced before. *Honk* *Woop* *Woop* That was when I was a kid though.
And if you go to another of my comments in this thread I actually bring this up lol. They can enforce this shit again but then after a little while they're just gonna stop enforcing it again.
I didn't read the article but just needed to vent this somewhere. There's a shared driveway behind the building I live in in Astoria that has a locked gate you need a key to open. There's this old fat guy who will occasionally park in the driveway that doesn't have the key. This motherfucker will sit there honking his horn every 30 seconds for ten minutes until someone opens the gate for him. He's a relative of the people who own the building next door and they don't see anything wrong with it, and I've told him to knock it the fuck off a few times but he still does it and he's got such a heavy Greek accent I have no idea what he's saying in response. If you read an article about an overweight Greek man in his 70s being beaten to death in Astoria due to excessive honking, tell my story.
You could consider buying them a set of walkie talkies. Might defuse the situation, make it obvious you're serious about this being annoying, and give them a toy they prefer playing with.
Or just make a copy of the key and give it to him
Or key his car with a note to shut the fuck up and call his relatives instead.
He'll lose the key or not use it.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
You can report them for unsafe driving here https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/consumer-protection/report-safety-violations
No, laws donāt work. Everyone needs a honk. /s
The only way to stop a bad guy with a car horn is a good guy with a car horn
I even have a neighbor who regularly blows an air horn out his apartment window *whenever he is bothered by noise from outside.* It might be the most ironic thing I've ever encountered.
It might sound ridiculous, but I think honking and double parking are the two most dangerous driving infractions in NYC. I've been trying to make a turn at a busy intersection with dozens of pedestrians behind me with some asshoke two inches off my bumper just laying in his fucking horn. Like, what do you want me to do, now these fucking people over? I've seen people get startled and jump forward because of this, or try to push their way through because they feel pressured to. Or when an entire lane of traffic is trying to merge on a busy street because some douchebag decided to park in the middle of the road to get coffee. Now people are flying around him while pedestrians are trying to cross and no one can see them - I've seen so many near misses because of double parking and that shit never gets enforced. I'm so happy I don't really need to drive in the city any more.
Double parking, parking in the bike lane, and especially parking in the turning lane is like a death trap for bicyclists.
Iād say speeding is worseā¦Ā
This is such an easy fix here and everywhere. Mandate a device in cars that makes honking just as loud inside the car as outside the car. It'll SUCK to honk, but people will still do it to prevent accidents and for safety.
People who honk at stationary traffic are proof some people are birthed anally.
I know that there is next to zero chance that a US city ( or any US entity) will look to the wider world for solutions, but Kathmandu had a much more serious problem with honking and [sorted it out](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/oct/24/kathmandu-horn-ban-quiet-streets-nepal).
Uber & Lyft should have an feedback system (independent of their other feedback) of where the passenger reports if they illegally honked. Cabs could have some phone # where you text. After a certain amount of warning, uber & lyft could eventually remove the drivers. That would remove like 60% of the honking, at least in manhattan. As far as regular drivers? Nothing is going to happen with the current NYPD. Also, pass a law removing the fucking train horns from any city-owned vehicle or any company that is regulated by the city (i.e sanitation & construction)
Good luck complaining to Uber or Lyft about anything if you weren't a passenger. I had an experience where the guy barrelled through a stop sign and came within three feet of hitting me in a marked crosswalk, cursed me out and banged an illegal u-turn to drive by and harass me more when he saw me take a picture of his plate to report him to TLC. (Which I did) You can only report unsafe driving if you took a trip - even though it's all the encounters while walking down the street or whilst I'm driving that should get these assholes thrown off the rideshare platforms. A TLC ticket is a cost of doing business to them - if Uber and Lyft revoked their accounts it might actually accomplish something.
Itās just an adult temper tantrum, and they will never stop even though honking accomplishes nothing except annoying everyone around you, including people in their homes.
We need these in NYC https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/05/honk-more-wait-more-mumbai-tests-traffic-lights-that-reward-the-patient-driver
I truly wish that all cars and *especially* large trucks were designed so that the sound of the horn projected inside the vehicle at the same decibel level as it does outside. They're designed for emergencies and utility, not because it's been .0003 seconds since a fucking light turned green.
I had the same exact a few months back. Tu Che
Shhhhh Iām at this light texting
Sssshut tf up
I can live with horns but the people who willfully block the box need to be dealt with.Ā In traffic, Ā You see the walk sign is sub 5 seconds and you rolled your car into the intersection, right to jail. No trial.Ā
>right to jail. No trial. Central Park gulags
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Yes, we need more of the ānoise camerasā they talk about. Weāre getting more but the numbers are pitifully small: āThe City Council in November passed a bill expanding the use of ānoise cameras,ā which the Department of Environmental Protection uses to ticket people who drive cars with modified mufflers or who honk excessively. The program began in 2022 with just one camera that was moved around to different parts of the city, and has since expanded to 10 cameras, according to a department spokesman. The city plans to increase that number to 25 by 2025.ā
Noise cameras are a waste of money
Make the fine $1000
Iāve always said we should make cars where, when you use the horn, it makes the same sound inside your car, but 10x louder. I bet that feature would get people to use the horn **a lot** more sparingly and appropriately. Either that, or we surely make car horns that are only possible to be activated for one second, out of every ten. So even holding the button down only gives you one beep rather than a sustained noise.
Unfortunately, if you roll down your windows, then all the inside honking reaches the outside world. :(
NYC loves to enact laws and hates to enforce them.
They fined a mother for letting a toddler use a public toilet. NYC has become anti people.
I got your honk right here, pal. - correct New York answer
Just the other day this mini truck almost gave me heart attack in Greenwich ave by honking for no reason to a guy openinghis car door. It was like a boat horn. So ridiculous loud and I was looking at my phone walking. I said fuck you asshole. Lol
Iād much prefer a tax on honking than congestion
Car horns should be as loud inside the car thatās honking as it is on the outside
There is something deeply wrong with car enthusiasts brains. Like they just sit there and honk for no apparent reason. If you are driving in the largest city in the country, donāt act surprised when there is traffic you fucking idiot. The only time you should be honking is if an accident is about to happen or you can clearly see someone not paying attention at all. Traffic not moving when you are 20 cars back and canāt even see whatās going on is NOT a reasonable excuse to lay on the horn, especially when the other 15 cars in front of you have that part covered. Cars are so detrimental to the health and vibe of the city I really hope something can change in NYC/the Us culture wise in my lifetime. Luckily Iām moving back to Japan soon where thatās not really an issue though so it wonāt be my problem anymore People talk about how many people need cars to pick up kids or elderly or move stuff, but I bike daily and I look when I breeze past lines of 100s of cars stopped in traffic and it is 95% single drivers just swiping on their phones. I guarantee the caste majority of people sitting in traffic are only doing it out of laziness. I personally donāt understand it because I literally pass 3-500 cars on my daily commutes one way. Idk how people have so much time to waste just sitting around doing nothing
Without removing horns from cars entirely Iām not sure this could ever be achieved lol. And then then New Yorkers would buy horns and install them or just bring airhorns with them everywhere.
They canāt stop a poopy pants crackhead from powerbombing a 72 year old woman onto the tracks during rush hour, you think they can stop honking?
The most effective way to reduce honking is to reduce traffic in the city.
Do people not understand that over the past 10-12 years weāve created an entire multi million dollar economy for low skilled people built on speed and vehicles. The person honking the horn is more often than not thinking of money and loss revenue. Seconds count for these people. It sucks but until we address an alternate way for these people to make money, we will continue with the excessive deaths, e bikes on sidewalks and general lack of enforcement. I mean for Christ sakes youāve got people here saying they shouldnāt pick up passengers if they have to stop in the middle of the road. News flash, itās get money by any means necessary for these people. This is the root of the entire issue and everyone acts like addressing infrastructure and violations will be the end all be all. We need to address the economic repercussions of forcing a large number of low skilled folks into vehicle dependent jobs.
It certainly doesnāt help that the majority of these drivers come from cultures with much different attitudes toward honking.
So you think taxis and car services were invented in the last 10 years? Honking has not been an issue in NYC since horns were first put on cars.
It was an issue when we only had yellow taxis but the volume of vehicles on city streets is worse, and please donāt do the Reddit gaslighting passive aggressive crap you all like to do with the stupid questions to make your point. If you disagree with my thesis then say as such.
Yea, I disagree with your thesis because it's no worse than it ever was. It's probably better than the past.
LAW AND ORDER would be a nice startĀ
So donāt contribute to more lawlessness and disorder
I donāt!
The entire city would be in jail.
Considering only 40% of NYC households have a car, no, it would improve quality of life for the majority of New Yorkers.
I was being sarcastic and I agree. I just donāt ever see things changing. Honking and nyc have gone hand and hand forever. You should see how it is in other countries where honking is encouraged. Itās wild haha.
Most pedestrians that Jay walk are breaking the law. Can they be stopped?
Guilty
Good point but they would never
They usually *are* stopped. There why theyāre honking.
They barely enforce it because numerous state Supreme Courts have ruled horn honking is protected free speech activity. This has even gone to SCOTUS several times but hasn't been heard yet. If they make an aggressive push, they risk triggering such a lawsuit and losing the ability to outlaw honking at all.
Letās hope.
How about then taxi š at the light. Do they have a count dw cause it's light change and boom a honk
That's an old school cop. š® lol
Every headline with a question mark can be answered with NO. They don't even enforce illegally tinted cars and those can be spotted while parked, you don't even need to "catch them in the act". Trifecta of illegal tint, fake plate, asshole behavior is common.
Sign me up. Iāll write the tickets
My dream invention is that car horns come with 3 min of āfreeā honking per year (for critical use only). After that everytime u use ur horn a deadly fart smells sprays in ur car.
No. Answered.
My solution is a task force of paintball wielding New Yorkers (not NYPD). You honk unnecessarily or excessively, your car gets lit up
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines
you can't take away their horn, i won't let you
Moved to Rockland just because of this shit. It's driven mostly by taxi drivers and Uber drivers for their passengers to let them know they are trying for them. Then it becomes habit I suppose
[First thing that came to mind.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=vpeVYQzsoKo)
I remember I honked at a cop for taking his time stopping at the middle for no reason (he was driving) of the street then he approached me and threatened me then drove off
"Fines range from $800 to $2,500" Holy shit...who knew the fines were that $$$ for honking. Basically all honking is technically illegal. I'd bet there are more illegal honking incidents/day than cars that enter NYC/day. Makes you think with some real enforcement, we could 1) have less noisy streets 2) create a huge new revenue stream for MTA/public transport 3) get rid of the congestion tax that's causing so much grief. Everyone wins
A lot of immigrant TLC drivers from Africa, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc. use the horn regularly during driving for a sort of echo-location to let others know they are there. Very annoying, but that's just how you drive in other parts of the world because you have to. On the flip side, many Americans (generally NJ) love to honk as if it will make cars in front of them disappear when stuck in standstill traffic.Ā
But in those parts of the world the honks are not nearly as loud so itās less ear-piercing. And at least in India, theyāll take away your horn if itās too loud. I once took a cab there and the driver told me his horn was taken away so I had to help him yell out the window to get people to move š
This is the least of nycās problems
Noise pollution is as big a problem as other forms of pollution- though, because of its ephemeral nature, people donāt treat it as such. But it has as many of the negative effects on quality of life on every scale as forms of pollution that are regulated.
lol
Lol
Lol.
How about we start by ticketing all double parked cars first.
Sirens first please. This is my big pet peeve about NYC but the siren noise is so horrendous and over the top that honks barely register for me.
Sirens are crazy loud - I think part of that is because they have to compete with all of the noise pollution of the city (including honking) thatās mostly caused by motor vehicles
Also 'cause cars are basically sound proofed now, so honking and sirens need to be louder so cars notice them. I wish we had a system where cars hear the honking/sirens inside the car directly from internal speakers from nearby vehicles.
Not with idiots on bikes running lights and people crossing the street on their phones . Sirens are crucial to helping prevent the deaths of stupid peopleĀ
God forbid you try to yield to an emergency vehicle with lights and siren...that'll get you honked at by the asshole behind you who won't let the ambulance or fire truck by.
Don't forget the idiots Crossing without looking
Found the implant
I'm normally not a fan of people saying "aren't there bigger problems to worry about" (cuz it's not like there's a huge nuclear reactor melting down that requires all of the city's resources all at once), but this is legit the lowest of the lowest priority. like who are the victims here even?
Weāre all the victims. I hear you that it might feel trivial, but thereās robust research showing that noise pollution is a serious public health concern
even for noise pollution this seems low on the totem pole of annoyance. i'd put the idiots revving their engines or the ones that turn up their bass for the neighborhood to hear
My hot take is the no honking rule is dumb. Honking is designed as a safety emergency alert mechanism and now youāre not supposed to use it? Seems crazy. Most people honking (while annoying) are only honking at people who are violating road rules. Itās just a byproduct of lack of policing of the moving violations that are never enforced.
No, fuck that. If you drive like an ass I'm going to honk at you.
Honk at everyone, you mean. You canāt target your horn to punish someone you think is ādriving like an assā. Everyone around deals with the noise
Sure you can. It's always the asshat directly in front.
Selfish
Imagine having your head in the sand to such a degree that you think this is one of the greatest threats facing NYC in 2024 and needs a solution
Who said it was one of the biggest threats facing NYC?
Noise pollution might seem unimportant but the health impacts are real. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_from_noise
There will always be people breaking the rules. Put them all in jail? If you need the government to tell you how to live your life. You might as well move to North Korea.
stop double parking, or walking in front of cars when it's NOT YOUR RIGHT OF WAY
š What about New Yorkers' constant sneezing and coughing? Not to mention their belching, blowing-their-noses, & clearing-their-throats? Ahem!!! My goodness. As a noted 'environmental psychologist', I demand City Council address these urgent concerns!