This was interesting, and I normally love atlas Obscura, but it seems like quite a bit of the article was lifted from this quora question that shows up early in google
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Horn-OK-Please-painted-on-the-b...
The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
161–170 of 378 posts
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
The same applies in southeast Asia/China/Japan, for both. It isn't exactly ubiquitous just in Europe. Not in USA though.
Other than trucks blinking left or right, all of these are pretty common in the US. As someone who grew up in a rural area, honking before going around turns on small roads or crossing single-lane bridges you couldn’t see the other side of was something we did regularly to avoid being hit. I don’t experience this as much in larger cities though.
My father said honking is common going around corners on small roads in the mountains in Columbia.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#163As someone who has grown up (and learnt to drive) in England - I had a moment of sudden realisation in India. For me, the horn is a warning sign - "get out of my way" or "watch out!" - only to be used in emergencies. In India, the horn means "I'm over here", to be used whenever you're near another vehicle. Which fits with the statements on the back of the lorries perfectly.
> For me, the horn is a warning sign Here in Massachusetts, it seems the horn has only three functions. The first, a quick "beep beep" signals that you recognize another driver or pedestrian and are saying hello. The second, a one to three second beep means that the traffic light has switched to green and car in front of you has not begun moving within 20ms. And the third, a five to sixty second "beeeeeeeeep" means t…
Around 1995 the Massachusetts driver's manual said something like "Only use the horn in an emergency" or "Only use the horn to avoid an accident."
I've found that most Massachusetts drivers abide by that.
> and car in front of you has not begun moving within 20ms
No... It's more like 2-3 seconds. But you THINK it's 20ms because you're not paying attention.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
> [in England ...] For me, the horn is a warning sign - "get out of my way" or "watch out!" - only to be used in emergencies. That is not the correct use in England, especially not 'get out of my way' (emergency services' vehicles aside) - and it needn't be an emergency (uh, again!). It's only supposed to be used to alert other drivers to your (non-stationary) presence, when it appears they haven't seen you or may no…
As someone who lives in the countryside and have multiple roads like you describe, I can comfortably say nobody honks the horn on blind corners nor narrow roads. Maybe it is like this on other English counties but I've not seen that to be the case when travelling either. Official or correct usages aside, the more typical usage for horns in England are: + impatience. eg a car going to slow and the driver behind is a d…
Indeed, I've seen the horn-on-corners thing mentioned a few times in this thread and I think it's dangerous:
- If the road is hilly, there is a significant amount of rock and soil between you and an opposing car and the sound will be quite muted as it has to diffuse around the corner.
- If the other driver has their window up and/or their radio on then they won't hear it at all.
- People who are hard of hearing can and do still drive.
I used to live on top of a 4200'/1300m mountain, and occasionally people would do this and then think it was OK to cut the line. Please just don't, you're only disturbing the countryside and residents/hikers and giving yourself a false sense of security.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#165Man the amount of honking is insane in India. I was visiting a relative in Patna and it's like everybody just honks for the sake on honking. I mean I thought delhi was bad, but this place just takes honking to a whole new level. It's so bad that I had to go inside a random shop to wait for my Ola as the sound levels were literally unbearable. The only place where I haven't seen so much honking is Goa. Maybe the traff…
I've always observed that in India honking the horn is not just about overtaking - it's an acoustic indicator of your position, making it possible for those in front of you to plot your presence without taking their eyes off the road in front (which usually requires their absolute and undivied attention). Additionally, as the article points out, many vehicles don't possess funtional rear-view mirrors, and are therefo…
> it's an acoustic indicator of your position, making it possible for those in front of you to plot your presence without taking their eyes off the road in front
So you're saying Indian drivers have developed echo-location.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#166Different cultures have different unwritten behaviours on roads. In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road, which usually can't be seen around. If there is no responding honk, they will take the full width of the road (making the very tight turn easier and faster). Tourist drivers have to pick up on this :) In much of Europe oncoming cars flash their lights to wa…
Even on racetracks indicators and high-beams are used in their own way (that is: if the race car is equipped with such lights).
Hazard lights (both indicators): Used in yellow zone, both to confirm to the marshals that the driver has seen the yellow flag. For drivers behind it is extra indication that yellow zone is ahead.
Indicate to the right: Acknowledge the faster driver behind you, indicating it is safe to pass. Also to acknowledge to marshal that the blue flag was observed.
Indicate to the left: Indicate to car in front that you are faster, please let me pass (same as blue flag by marshal). Obviously not used in competitive racing, but very useful recreational for track driving.
High-beams are sometimes flashed to thank/acknowledge marshal on a flag signal.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
More or less is relative. In 2019, Indonesia had 15.3 road deaths per 100.000 inhabitants per year [0]. For context, Norway had 2.0, United States had 12.4, and Liberia (the worst on the list) had 35.9, to pick a few random data points. While I definitely agree that the traffic in Indonesia is chaotic and that can lead to more accidents, that doesn't tell the whole story. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou…
To me, the Fatalities per mile is the most meaningful metric, but that's very sparsely populated on the chart. The next most meaningful metric on that chart is Fatalities per 100k vehicles. Somali car owners have a 6.5% chance of dying in their vehicles, annually.
A large percentage of road deaths are pedestrians and cyclists. Especially in countries with fewer cars and more pedestrians. So it's more that as a Somali car owner, you have a 6.5% chance of killing somebody with your vehicle, annually.
Still the number seems incredibly high. Maybe the number of registered vehicles is underreported, with many vehicles just not getting officially registered?
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#168A reminder that pretty much no lorry driver in india knows English. Vehicles here have inane phrases like this and it’s for the most part almost protocol to paint them when you get a vehicle of that class. The guy who paints Lorry backs with the company name probably asks “you want the horn ok please phrase right” and the drivers probably like yeah whatever. Not like the drivers here expect courtesy from anyone aroun…
That seems very plausible, along the same lines as western tourists getting a tattoo which says “輕信游客” and thinking it’s a profound quote.
Tried taking a picture of this, and using iOS 15's "Live Text" to recognize the characters and translate them. It translates this phrase as "Lightly believe tourists". Anyone care to comment on whether that's an accurate translation, and "lightly believe" is an idiom meaning "gullible"?
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#169Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Here in Lithuania, flashing your warning lights (the four orange ones on the corners of the car) means thanks, for example if you let someone merge from one of the very short onramps. I've never seen this in Germany, where onramps are however much longer. In Sweden it's common to do this by using your blinkers. You blink once in each direction. So first left, then right. Or the other way around.
In the USA, I at some point picked up flashing headlights as "thanks", I don't know how common it is, I don't see it that often (anymore?), but USA drivers may be unlikely to give thanks on the road. :| (Flashing headlights is also "i see you trying to merge in front of me and i'll give you space." Which I also occasionally do but don't see that often).
>Flashing headlights is also "i see you trying to merge in front of me and i'll give you space."
I do this for the same reason - or more generalized - 'I see you are about to do _x_, and I acknowledge - go ahead'.
Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)
#170Different cultures have different unwritten behaviours on roads. In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road, which usually can't be seen around. If there is no responding honk, they will take the full width of the road (making the very tight turn easier and faster). Tourist drivers have to pick up on this :) In much of Europe oncoming cars flash their lights to wa…
I'm in Zanzibar, TZ at the moment. Honking is also used when overtaking or in general to make others aware of your presence on the road (especially for pedestrians and cyclists). The interesting part though is with indicators. They use the right indicator (driving in on the left) to signal incoming cars to the vehicles behind you, meaning it is unsafe to overtake.