Today is No-honking day in Mumbai, I honked twice! Once when a car suddenly came out of a lane directly in front of my car and then on the highway when a biker was changing lanes without any signals and came dangerously close to my car!
I don't feel bad about it! I honk when I have to honk. It is an accepted form of communication on the roads.
In some of the countries I have visited, honking is close to swearing, to be used in the rarest of rare events. In USA and UK if you honk then you are either considered rude or someone made a gross mistake that could have turned fatal. The long beep is more of a 'What the F***'!
In Bermuda people honk when they see a familiar face in the opposite car. The short beep-beep more of a Hi!
In India honking is normal. It is not intentional but more of a reflex action. I admit that some people use the horn even when there is no need, sometimes just to intimate others, many times it's just a hormonal drive to look 'macho'. But most of the times it is needed. People crossing roads looking the other way, cars and bikes changing lanes without signals, taxis driving slowly just to get a fare. All these people deserve the horn! It's not to teach them a lesson or to make them aware, no one learns by one horn, it's just to postpone the accident to another no-honking day!
All said and done, from my side I resolve that I will try and avoid the horn unless it is absolutely necessary.
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