Do you use your horn correctly?

arcon5

Use it

when i'm picking somebody up and can't be ar5ed to get out my car
when the road is slightly narrower than normal and some idiot has their pushchair or bike wheel is sticking in to the road
when I see somebody I know and want to scare the !!!! out of them

dacouch

I use my horn to say "oi oi"

Aretnap

Gloomendoom wrote: »

Except in emergency, is it still illegal to sound your horn between the hours of 11.30pm and 07.00am or anytime when a vehicle is stationary?

Yes. Construction and Use Regulation 99

Subject to the following paragraphs, no person shall sound, or cause or permit to be sounded, any horn, gong, bell or siren fitted to or carried on a vehicle which is—
(a)stationary on a road, at any time, other than at times of danger due to another moving vehicle on or near the road; or
(b)in motion on a restricted road, between 23.30 hours and 07.00 hours in the following morning.

Note that the "except in emergency" bit only seems to apply to using it while stationary. At night it would seem you're not allowed to use it at all on a restricted road (ie in a built up area).

There's also Regulation 97 which seems broad enough to catch other unnecessary use of the horn

No motor vehicle shall be used on a road in such manner as to cause any excessive noise which could have been avoided by the exercise of reasonable care on the part of the driver.

Lum

Thing with those regulations, how are you supposed to test your horn works, which is required for a roadworthy vehicle and to pass an MOT.

According that the only way to legally do it is to be driving, but if you then find it doesn't work, congrats you're breaking the law. Plus driving down the road and sounding your horn for no reason is just going to wind someone up.

Strider590

Firstly my horn is pretty damn loud, I fitted twin air horns behind the grill and couldn't be bothered to remove the bumper to disconnect the factory unit (which was terrible).
So now im getting 125db(ish) & 90db (ish), totalling something close to 130db.

I used it the other day to warn a driver who was reversing off their drive onto the main road in front of me, the driver couldn't actually see the road due to a hedge+wall, so I felt it a perfectly valid use of the horn. But this idiot then followed me giving me abuse for about 3 miles afterwards, not something an intelligent driver would do, having just shown me where he lives.......

I also used it recently approaching a parked car, with children and adults visible inside, the road was narrow and I didn't want them opening a door into me.

In fact, most of the times I use it, is when approaching junctions or driveways where I feel a driver might pull out without being able to see me.

Joe_Horner

Yes I do use it properly. Which has been probably about a dozen times (at most) in the last 29 years or so, not counting testing it pre-MOT (off road of course).

Jamie_Carter

Aretnap wrote: »

Yes. Construction and Use Regulation 99
Note that the "except in emergency" bit only seems to apply to using it while stationary. At night it would seem you're not allowed to use it at all on a restricted road (ie in a built up area).

There's also Regulation 97 which seems broad enough to catch other unnecessary use of the horn

You may have noticed that it also mentioned sirens. These obviously can be used at any time on emergency vehicles. But that comes under a completely different law.

Jamie_Carter

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Yes I do use it properly. Which has been probably about a dozen times (at most) in the last 29 years or so, not counting testing it pre-MOT (off road of course).

Well with your name you should know how to use it

wba31

I always thought the correct way to use your horn was with a flat palm of the horn hitting hand, with the other hand suggesting what the other person gets up to in their personal time?

I joke of course. I love how the offender to the OP chased him/her down flashing his lights, DISCO TIME!

Lagoon

I've used mine just the once. A couple of passengers have told me that I should have used the horn, when some idiot driver has put me in danger of an accident, but in those cases I've had to swerve or slam on my brakes to avoid a crash. By the time I've got to the point where I know that everyone is safe, the horn seems a bit pointless. I've almost never been in a situation where the horn has seemed necessary and I've still had time to actually use it.

In fact, the only occasion was a few weeks ago. I stopped behind another car at the end of a row in a car park. I expected them to turn left to exit the car park, but they didn't move for at least a minute despite there being no traffic to stop them. After that time, they put their reverse lights on. They had space to go back a little, so I wasn't worried. I figured that since I'd been behind them since they stopped, they definitely would have noticed me. Unfortunately, I soon realised they were going to hit me and had no intention of stopping. My first tactic was to get my car in reverse and back away, but in my panic I couldn't. My horn was a last-second attempt when I realised I couldn't move away. They still hit me, but caused no/very little damage, then they drove off. In that situation I sounded the horn to try and make them aware, but it was probably too little too late though it may have been what got their attention just before they hit me and caused it not to be a bigger hit. After they'd gone, I also hoped that it had raised the attention of other shoppers that had seen the incident, but nobody around seemed to have noticed.