Less Frequent Use Of Horn Would Make Motoring Much Safer

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14657, 28 April 1948, Page 4

Less Frequent Use Of Horn Would Make Motoring Much Safer

Safe driving docs not depend on frequent use of the horn although some novices appear to think so. Indiscriminate use of the warning signal can do more harm than good, and, indeed, may precipitate an accident.

To discuss the use of the horn is immediately to put oneself on debatcable ground. The accident form issued with your insurance policy gives early in the list of particulars it requires ycu to fill up when you have an accident, "What warning of approach was given (a) by your car; (b) by the other party?" In any enquiry into an accident, the same query inevitably conies up first of all. Notwithstanding its Importance in an accident enquiry, it is not infallible. It is not the use of the horn which averts accidents but its intelligent use, and abstention from sounding the warning signal has often averted trouble.

The intelligent use of the horn when driving is something which must be acquired by practice. It must be appreciated that ninetynine times out of a hundred you sound your horn to warn someone not to do something hazardous which he or she seems likely to do. Take the case of a child rushing into the - road. The moment to sound your horn is the instant you realise she is making ready to rush. This means extremely rapid reaction, and unless you have your hand actually over the horn button, it is doubtful if ycu can be quick enough. 'To sound the warning note when the child is full in your path may precipitate the veryaccident you are hoping to avoid. Aroused to the danger of its surroundings the child is liable to panic, and either run back, in the pqth of a following oncoming car, or stop dead in your path: or it might "run on a little further and then hesitate, with fatal results.

Left to itself the child would probably get safely across. To sound or not to sound in the circumstances is a matter for great nicety of judgment.

The horn was originally intended to give polite warning of the approach of one's car, but often it is used as a loud and bullying command to get out of the way. Used so, there is no doubt the horn can do a lot of harm and contribute to nervous breakdowns and heart failure in the case of highly strung, elderly people. , Instead of "driving on the horn," as one may put it, considerate drivers refuse to use the horn except in very exceptional circumstances. Instead of giving a violent hoot at a dangerous point in the read, they take it at a slower speed and are extra watchful in case of an emergency. Any driver, of course, should do this whether he sounds the horn or not, but the fact is that the horn is often used instead of caution, whereas both should be used on all occasions. Having sounded the horn, the driver is apt to feel that it is up to the obstruction to remove himself or his car from the path. This is obviously a false principle which, taken to its logical conclusion, would result in utter chaos on the road.

Driving wculd be safer, on the whole, h less horn sounding were done. The next time you take a trip, choose a fairly quiet route, and decide that you won't touch the horn at all. Sec how you get on. You'll probably be surprised how easy it is, and how much more pleasant.