Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Abuse of car horn

Monday, May 03, 2010

Abuse of car horn

In some cities, it is an offense to use the car horn. except in an emergency or to avoid an accident. The abuse of the horn disturbs the tranquility and affects other car drivers and the public. Car drivers in Singapore have a bad habit of using the horn to express their anger. I hope that this is treated as a public nuisance.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...: you may not like it. but it is better than physical violence. i often see this scenario: one car parked perpendicular to reverse-parked cars. the cars parked cannot come out since there is one car blocking them. it happens in open air carparks, multi-storey car parks, shopping centres.

what can you do? call the police? the police cannot tow away the car and takes too long to come. what usually happens in a carpark is that the drivers of the blocked cars will horn so that the driver can be notified by the neighbours to move his car. it is the only way. if cannot horn, then do what?; May 03, 2010 10:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Before I lived overseas, I'd have agreed with Mr Tan too. Create yet another new law to regulate Singaporean behaviour.

Having lived in a western democracy for 8 years, I realize folks over there think and behave differently.

- They cherish their freedom
- They accept the responsibility that comes with the freedom
- They will fight against excessive regulations
- They place emphasis and trust on individual rights, freedom, responsibility to govern themselves rather than government laws

I know we are Uniquely Singapore. So the above will not work in Singapore. Only the heavy hand of government can manage the Singapore Recalcitrants.

Anywhow, I just thought I'd share how other societies manage themselves.; May 04, 2010 8:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Before my return to Spore after 6 months in Sydney, my wife reminded me to check if my car horn was working before selling it to another party since I did not use the horn once during the period. I drove everyday during the 6-month.

Horn should be used to warn for danger, not communication.

In Spore, taxi horns pedestrian to ask if one needs his service. School bus norns at 6am in crowded heartland to remind school children to come out.

Mr. Tan, I agree with you. It is far better to give way than using the horn. Our life will be more peaceful. To certain degree, we can tell how gracious a society is from such behaviour.

Loh; May 04, 2010 8:42 AM
Anonymous said...: The situation is extremely bad in China. With more and more drivers coming from PRC, they will bring the bad habit here too. I am sure it will continue to get worse unless the government do something about it. They are the only one that has the power and resources to do so.; May 04, 2010 10:45 AM
Toot! Toot! said...: Our borders are porous. We have Malaysian registered vehicles with Malaysian drivers.
We have drivers from Indian Sub-continent where horning is encouraged and even tested during driving tests.
We have drivers from PRC
We have drivers from Europe
We have drivers from Africa

We have our own home grown ones too!

Toot! to get the car in front of yours to move when the traffic lights turn green.

Toot!Toot! to get your girlfriend to come downstairs.

Toot! Toot! Toot! to get the jams moving even though its a funeral procession.

Tooooooooot! when you are angry when someone hijacks your parking lot, right before your eyes!

The vehicle is an extension of your persona. It is you, and not the vehicle. It is comfortable, with music,air-con and silence.
This will never change for a long time.

Just do not end up exchanging blows and whacking each other up.. over a "toot!".

Not a Driver; May 04, 2010 12:57 PM
Tan Kin Lian said...: I think that the people doing the honking are Singaporeans. This problem has been with us for a long time, way before the door is opened for foreigners to live and work in Singapore. So, don't blame the foreigners.

The foreigners watch the habits of Singaporeans and they follow this habit. After all, they saw that honking was part of the life in Singapore.

Why do Singaporean's honk? Too much stress. Too much hurry. Too much selfishness. We have to recognise our bad behavior and correct them.; May 04, 2010 1:40 PM
SD said...: Yes, definitely agree. I think they should impose a fine on mis-use of horn. The purpose of horn is to warn people of incoming danger, and not to scold people.; May 04, 2010 8:26 PM
Anonymous said...: rex comments as follows,

i dont understand what this fuss is all about. motorists in cities like jakarta honk 10 times more frequently than singapore motorists in my opinion. Walk along orchard road, or shenton way, etc., can you hear constant honking characteristic of some cities?

i think it's ok to honk for all those reasons posted by the people here. How can anyone be offended by a gentle honking i dont know.

Of course very loud honking is a nuisance, but i seldom experience it despite being on the road for so many years.

I only dislike impatient people honking me from behind when the traffic light changes and i am just starting engaging first gear (not everyone has auto drive!!).

rex; May 04, 2010 9:26 PM
Sebastian Gaydos said...: Car horns are for signaling and making others notice you on the road. Using it out of anger can also cause others to lose their temper, and that can cause other traffic problems. It is the driver's responsibility to use the horn responsibly. I rarely use my car horn because we value peace and quiet in our area very much.; January 18, 2012 10:22 PM