YIKES!! thats nasty

 

While I agree with some of Bieg's points regarding the usage of the horn, I still want to upgrade the stock horn. A LOUDER horn might have prevented an accident I had in my MR2 years ago. I was driving in lower manhattan during busy noisy morning rush hour. I was stopped behind several cars in a narrow one way street waiting for the light to turn green. A truck started pulling out on my left (driver side). The truck driver was checking his passenger side mirror to look for clearance to pull out but I was just in front of him and too low for him to see me. As I saw his truck coming my way I kept banging on my horn but the MR2 horn is as wimpy as the S2000. I tried to move as much to the right as possible to avoid him but there's a car right in front of me. The truck hit my front left fender. Luckily the damage was localized to just the fender. Ever since then, I am a believer of LOUD horns.

 

What a stupid response! "A REALLY good driver does not put himself (or herself) into a position where a stupid move by someone else puts them in jeapordy".

Haven't you ever been out on the expressway, and had some f*cking idiot start to come over into your lane, and not you do not have the luxury of having anywhere to go since there is a guardrail right next to you? Its either lock up your brakes (and take the chance that the car behind you rear ends you), or lay on your horns!

Defensive driving is utilizing all the tools at your disposal to stay out of harms way! And yes, I rode cycles also for many years, and used the horn whenever I needed to.

 

I drive the Long Island Expressway all the time. You don't ride in someones blind spot, you hang back until you can pass past his blind spot in one quick move, you watch for their eyes checking their mirrors. You position yourself so even if they do make the stupid move (and they invariably will) it will not effect you.

The point is ANTICIPATION is ALWAYS better than reaction.

Ever notice how some people have many accidents and "the other guy" was always wrong? He ran into me, he hit me, I had the right of way. Well some folks go through life and never seem to have all that "bad luck". You make your own luck, you are driving on of the most nimble cars on the road, if you pay attention and know how to read a situation that "bad luck" is less likely to happen to you.

Roger Penske (Penske Racing, Detroit Diesel, Penske Truck Rental) had a great response when someone called him "lucky". He said "Maybe so but you know the harder I work the luckier I seem to get." I believe he also said "Luck is the residue of design".

Of course there are times when you will use the horn, it is just that people who rely on it as their means of "defensive driving" might want to put a little more effort into their driving skills. If you find yourself hitting your horn all the time you are doing something wrong.

 

Bieg is clearly correct. I'm getting a new horn because when you really need to toot it shouldn't sound like a Geo Metro, you should sound like something which motivates folks to correct their course really quickly.

2x6spds

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]I drive the Long Island Expressway all the time.

 

I don't care if you agree with me or not.

BTW how many accidents have you been involved in?

 

I think that that's the point most of us are trying to make. If you have such little regard for the beliefs and interests of others, why bother "contributing?"

 

The point is not to make someone agree with you, it is to at least show there is another point of view that might have some validity.

Not every argument is as clear cut as it seems.

As for me if I had to choose between riding with an average driver with a loud horn or an excellent driver with the stock horn I know what I would choose.

 

Bieg,

Even you agree that there are times when a horn is necessary. Should we all choose to have an inferior horn for those times just because, according to your philosophy, those times are rare? I didn't read in anyones post that they used the horn excessively and you have no basis for assuming they do. But there clearly ARE times when a horn is needed and having a good one is only going to make the car safer. The stock one can barely be heard and needs to be replaced.