Loud Noises!

I'm not sure why this is true, but it seems as though everyone is much more animated when they're behind the wheel of a car. I don't know what it is about driving that make people feel the need to talk more with their hands, yell or gesture wildly when trying to communicate. Perhaps it has to do with trying to overcompensate for the people in other cars not being able to hear you or see you from the waist down. The other thing they will do is honk their horns. Personally, I'm not a big honker of my horn. A large part of that comes from the fact that just a few months ago I discovered that despite my truck's large exterior, the horn is kind of weak. (Frankly, the two just don't go together - from the outside my truck says "Move or I will move you" but the horn says "Only if that is alright with you and if it is not I will find an alternative.") I also don't like to honk because it creates unnecessary noise pollution. Honestly, I have a neighbor who gets picked up for some kind of practice and her ride never gets out of the car - she just leans on her horn and it annoys me every. single. time. But, the main reason I don't like to honk my horn is that it is just not specific enough for my tastes.

I was out and about this afternoon and at one point I was coming up a street towards a crossing intersection. The woman coming out of the street to my right was doing that oh-so-annoying move of being just far enough into the intersection that I had to stop and let her go, otherwise I could have clipped her and taken off her bumper. Now, there are several reasons this move gets under my skin, the main one being that other driver is essentially cutting you off without having the guts to actually cut you off. If you are going to be that kind of driver the least you can do is own it. But, I also don't like the disingenuous wave which follows, as if the other driver is surprised by your random act of kindness. Maybe I would have let this woman go anyway, but she was making the decision for me and then acting like she wasn't. Honestly, it is the real-world equivalent of peeing on my shoe and telling me it's raining. However, what this woman did was even worse, because she stuck herself into my street and then she still didn't go. She was 30% into traffic and yet still not ready to merge. It is possible that she was shocked her method worked. Either way, the fact she was half-assing her turn was only serving to annoy the cars around her even more. That was when a random honk sprang from somewhere around me.

Since I had my driver's side window open that was the direction it sounded the loudest. As such I couldn't tell where it had originated from because I only had cars behind and to the right of me. It might have been someone in line behind her was getting annoyed that she was being given the chance to merge and suddenly couldn't quite figure out the complicated pedal system at her feet. Or maybe it came from the people behind me who were pissed that I had let this person bring our line of traffic to a stop. On top of that we were only a couple hundred feet passed a light, so there could have been cars still in the middle of the intersection and the light was turning. Was that honk for me? Was it for her? It is now several hours later of replaying the event in my head and your guess is still as good as mine. Hell, for all I know the honk had absolutely nothing to do with me or the other driver and was related to something going on 5 cars behind me. This is the problem with just honking your horn. It's the same thing as walking into a crowded office and yelling the word "Hey" at the top of your lungs. Not only does it not let those people know what you want, but there is no guarantee you even got the right person's attention.

Now, I'm fine with honking if you are attempting to alert someone outside of your vehicle because a good long honk will get people to poke their head up and look in every direction. After all, there is a reason many car alarms remain some version of the honking horn - it may not make people want to stop a criminal from stealing your car, but they will at least look over as it drives away. But if you are trying to let someone know you are unhappy with the way they are currently operating their motor vehicle, there has to be a better system. Personally, I can't wait for the day when people can dial your license plate number on their cellphone and talk to you directly. I think a lot of drivers might be more courteous on the road if they know the guy they just cut off has the ability to call them and personally voice his displeasure with their driving style. Much like making people post comments on internet message boards with their real name for everyone to see will, hopefully a little accountability will lead to some better road manners. It won't solve the problem of the people who are too lazy to get out of the car and ring the doorbell to let people know their ride is here, but at least the people who aren't doing anything annoying behind the wheel can keep their focus on the road. And if we could all stay focused there wouldn't be a need to start honking at all.