SOUNDING THE HOOTER

Hawera Star, Volume LII, 19 November 1932, Page 12

SOUNDING THE HOOTER

ENTIRE ABOLITION SUGGESTED

WAX TO TEACH CAREFULNESS

In Rome and Florence born sounding is forbidden between midnight and 3 a.m., but a more drastic suggestion has been made by a correspondent in a. letter to a London daily paper. He holds that the one way of teaching carefulness to all, drivers and pedestrians alike, is to abolish entirely the use of the horn. He states that everyone, from the worst road hog to the most inoffensive old lady driver, depends to a certain, and no doubt varying, degree on horn sounding. “The Motor,” in an editorial, agrees that far too many modern drivers use their hooters much more often than they need do, but it is far too drastic to suggest the entire abolition of the horn. Drivers of long experience know that the hooter should be used as little as possible as a warning to pedestrians, for a sudden blast may in too man cases alarm rather than warn, and every driver - knows that hesitation often creates as embarrassing a situation as a sudden dive.

In driving nothing requires such find discrimination as horn sounding, and we recommend any motorist who is prone to frequent use of the warning instrument to practise driving with as little use as possible of the horn. If he is a safe driver, he will find that he can confine its use to very few occasions as a warning of his presence at blind turnings. Now that rear reflectors are in general use it is net necessary to use the hooter so often when desiring to pass other vehicles.