Garth Rattray

This represents the epitome of idiocy.

On Thursday, November 30, taxi driver Winston Johnson alleged that he was assaulted (knocked unconscious) by the police (in his own yard) because he disobeyed an order to stop. That was bad enough, but my interest was piqued when he said that he had in fact heard a car horn blowing but he ignored it because he thought that it was somebody blowing the horn unnecessarily (as usual). Unfortunately for him, it turned out to be the police and transport authority and they thought that he was trying to evade them.

Just a few weeks ago, I sounded my horn in a desperate effort to warn a driver who was hurriedly entering the main thoroughfare apparently unaware of my approach (I couldn't stop because there was a rather large truck tailgating me). He paid little attention to my horn until it was almost too late. As I passed in front of him with mere centimetres to spare, I realised that motor vehicle horns have been abused so much that they have lost their impact.

Our drivers are, on a whole, much too 'horny'. I once witnessed a man who was second in line and failed to notice that the car in front had already driven off when the light turned green. The 'genius' eventually looked up, saw the green light and realised that he was now first in line. To my utter surprise and amusement, he blew his horn at himself before driving off! It was only then that I began to grasp the depth to which this obsession with blowing the horn at the first sight of a green light goes.

Pre-empting the green light

Someone once defined a millisecond as the time that it takes for some idiot behind you to blow the horn when the light turns green. Recently, however, I've noticed several drivers blowing their horns at others in order to pre-empt the green light. This represents the epitome of idiocy. I sometimes make the effort to memorise what the face of such a person looks like in the hope of finding identifying features common to such clowns.

We have all experienced waiting to safely enter a major roadway only to have an impatient driver come up behind and (almost immediately) start sounding his or her horn. I, for one, don't intend to commit suicide in order to facilitate him or her. Honorary (overuse-of-horn) mention must be given to beep-beep (perhaps 'bleep-bleep' is more appropriate) route taxis and buses that blow every time they approach potential passengers on the street.

We are supposed to sound our horns whenever we are overtaking another vehicle, but many ignoramuses unnecessarily blow their horns at other drivers who are turning away from them when exiting a dual carriageway from a parallel lane. This silly practice always causes undue concern because it makes those leaving the carriageway lose concentration as they wonder if there is an impending collision.

All this horn blowing raises the level of tension and hostility on our roads. But, more importantly, it diminishes the effectiveness of horns. Most people ignore the incessant blowing in order to maintain their sanity. Now, many treat the sound of horns the same way that they do those car alarms that go off for no apparent reason.

The road code warns against inappropriate use of the horn. I wish that the authorities would start prosecuting people for blowing their horns too much so that these instruments can regain their original status as crucial warning devices.

Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.