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The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

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Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#241

Post by VBprogrammer »

mnw21cam wrote: post #218
CraigJPerry wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> In the mountains of Italy, drivers give a short honk before entering a turn on a serpentine road At night i was on an airport transfer bus heading down the Amalfi coast and the driver was flashing his headlights before barrelling into a hairpin turn giving no room for oncoming traffic. I stopped stamping on the imaginary brake pedal quite so hard when i realised this signal must mean I’m coming through which is th…

The highway code disagrees with you. Flashing your headlights or sounding the horn should only be used to draw someone's attention to the fact that you are there.

Oh please. That's like citing the dictionary definition of a word which has come to mean something else.

The actual uses of flashing headlights are much more varied than the official version. For example "you are driving with your headlights off and it's dark", "you are blinding me with your main beams" and "a tree has fallen in the road ahead". I would wager that the unofficial version outweighs the official 10 to 1.

The only danger with flashing someone to give way is when there is potential for it to cause a conflict with other vehicles, for example a cyclist on your left. For that reason I always check my mirrors and slow to allow someone to cross in front of me rather than flashing them. Most people figure it out but don't completely disengage their own perception.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#242

Post by hdesh »

kelvin0 wrote: post #173

No where in the article do they even try to ask the people who own or paint these words on the vehicles? Speculation throughout and not a shred of input from any of the people actually involved (Drivers, Lettering painters, police..). Conclusion: none! We don't know and didn't ask either. Really weird article.

Unfortunately this is similar to how most of the western press covers India.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#243

Post by VBprogrammer »

Daneel_ wrote: post #196
vollmond wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always hear/read about the speed trap warning. In motorcycle circles, IIRC tapping the top of your helmet is that same warning. I haven't ever actually seen either of those in practice, though. Motorcyclists do usually wave at each other, or sometimes point at the road with a foot or two fingers, just as a greeting. The one I do see (in the USA anyway) is flashing your high beams to let a semi truck know they have…

There's two common motorcyclist signals for police: Either tapping the top of the helmet, or pointing up at the sky while moving your arm in a circle (to mime spinning police lights). Other motorcyclist signs are sticking the left leg out to say thanks, holding your hand out and rapidly opening/closing it to say "you've left your indicator on", and pointing at dangerous spots on the ground like potholes, gravel, or o…

Flapping your arm like a child pretending to be a bird is another I've seen warning of a speed trap (it's actually the hand signal for "I'm slowing down" back in the days that was relevant).

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#244

Post by icambron »

calahad wrote: post #143
sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different 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…

Flashing the high-beams to warn of police is a thing in the US also, although you can get ticketed for it. (Apparently this has been successfully challenged in court as free speech though lol https://www.myimprov.com/flashing-headlights-in-florida-prot... )

I remember reading through some of the judicial rulings on this. IIRC, the logic is that not only is it speech, but the government case for regulating this kind of speech is unusually poor: the function of flashing the lights is to suggest that you obey the traffic laws. That can't reasonably be in the government's interest to prevent.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#245

Post by dvirsky »

sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different 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…

In Israel, flashing the warning lights or hazard lights or whatever they're called when driving, means "hey car behind me, you're on high beams and blinding me, please stop". Since moving to the US I haven't found an effective way to signal people about this, they certainly don't understand this signal.

Flashing high beams quickly is either a warning about police ahead, or "turn on your damn lights" (there is also a hand gesture for this, spreading and closing your fingers towards them to illustrate a light beam). If someone is blinding you coming in front of you, you just turn on high beams and blind them back.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#246

Post by aatharuv »

gumby wrote: post #211
aniforprez wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've asked and they don't know for the most part either. It's become tradition at this point and it's not known by the drivers or the painters why. It's just cute

Most of them don’t speak English either — this is merely something that has to go on your lorry.

Not speaking English, doesn't imply they don't understand English words or phrases that have gotten into what languages they do speak.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#247

Post by RankingMember »

Xevi wrote: post #133
sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different 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…

> 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.

I think this is originally a trucker thing, and I've seen it many times from truckers in the US. I've used it myself when someone is courteous and lets me in.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#248

Post by cryptonector »

sjg007 wrote: post #219
calahad wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Flashing the high-beams to warn of police is a thing in the US also, although you can get ticketed for it. (Apparently this has been successfully challenged in court as free speech though lol https://www.myimprov.com/flashing-headlights-in-florida-prot... )

Most people these days drive with their LED high beams on all the time.

I hate this. It's incredibly dangerous and annoying.

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#249

Post by gnicholas »

pomian wrote: post #206
ballenf wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like Waze has killed the high beams flashing warning, although I miss it. It sounds crazy as a say it out loud, but the signals between drivers always gave me warm feelings of some kind of community with other drivers. Now everyone on the road seems much more internally absorbed or focused. Cars are quieter, podcasts instead of radio, etc. While they were never very common, CB radios were also less rare in car…

what's waze?

A navigation app owned by Google, which is popular largely for its police and hazard notification system. Apple has recently copied this feature in Maps, and you can use Siri to report hazards/etc. (which I believe cannot be done in Waze, at least on iOS).

Re: The origins of ‘horn ok please,’ India’s most ubiquitous phrase (2016)

#250

Post by hereforphone »

sdfjkl wrote: post #85

Different 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…

"Tourists have to pick up on it" seems like a strange thing to bet one's life on.

Does making the very tight turn faster get one home much quicker? Why not just slow down?

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