Hmm. What's With the Honking???

[Eden]

Some people do it so say get the f out of my way, but a lot of people think that they are doing something nice for you by letting you know they are coming up behind you - like you can't actually hear their big loud car or something.....

[Kimmyt]

Someone honked at me the other day, I wasn't even taking up the road. It didn't seem like a particularly angry honk, but honks never sound nice. I want to tell people that by honking at us, they're just increasing the likelihood that they'll startle us and we'll swerve a bit into the lane. We know you're there, you're a car, we could hear you a mile away, you don't need to honk.

I gave the girl who honked at me the finger and hollered at her, even if she did mean well, maybe she'll realize that it freaks cyclists out a little to get suddenly honked at on a busy road.

K.

[MomOnBike]

I may be dating myself, but I remember watching a film in Driver's Ed that instructed all us budding young motorists to honk when passing bicycles - to let them know we (superior beings that we would soon be) are there.

Like much of my social instruction, I've always ignored that piece of advice.

So, at least some of us have, indeed, been formally taught to honk at bicycles.

[lph]

What a strange piece of advice.

Logically it should be the other way around - all budding cyclists should be given a large, powerful air horn, and told to honk loudly when approaching cars, to let them know that we (superior beings and all) would soon be coasting by with a big fat grin on our face.

[quint41]

What a strange piece of advice.

Logically it should be the other way around - all budding cyclists should be given a large, powerful air horn, and told to honk loudly when approaching cars ...

LOL! Best thing I've read in a long time!!! Truly!!!

[SouthernBelle]

I may have to get an air horn. Just so I can honk back.

[Jenn]

Uhh... I wanna get honked at!

[Kimmyt]

What a strange piece of advice.

Logically it should be the other way around - all budding cyclists should be given a large, powerful air horn, and told to honk loudly when approaching cars, to let them know that we (superior beings and all) would soon be coasting by with a big fat grin on our face.

Hahah this really makes me giggle, because I KNOW that grin!

It is usually accompanied by outright, joyful laughter, and a loud, 'Haha, Suckers!!' as I zoom past the standstill traffic.

[csr1210]

It's generally pretty friendly honking (or I'm just totally oblivious!). I ride acess roads running along the (rural area) interstate, and mainly the honkers are either locals who recognize me, truckers, and ocassionally the TRAIN. (I really like when the train honks and waves - just seems kinda cool ) I think in my area, it is the complete novelty of seeing a cyclist (I've never seen another one except dh) and a comrade-ship of the road. I don't think it's complaining because I'm not on their road, and for some reason it never strikes me as sexual (as in construction worker hooting) - maybe because there is a fair amount of distance between us)

I figure somewhere along the line, someone will be rude to me, but so far I've been pleasantly surprised. (though I've only got a couple hundred miles under my belt, errr wheels so far.)

Someone honking directly behind me would scare me to death!

[Deanna]

For me, my reaction depends on the honk. Laying on the horn is just rude. A light tap is either trying to be nice or warn me of something (like the time a very wide load was coming up behind me) or it could be somebody who knows me.

[mausland1981]

As a cyclist i've noticed alots of drivers who doesn't know how to appreciate people on their bikes and since they have their cars which is bigger and faster well they passed you without any respect and honking you because they don't have enough patience to wait atleast for a few seconds.

I totally agree of giving finger to those reckless drivers.I guess they don't understand anything at all.

Someone honked at me the other day, I wasn't even taking up the road. It didn't seem like a particularly angry honk, but honks never sound nice. I want to tell people that by honking at us, they're just increasing the likelihood that they'll startle us and we'll swerve a bit into the lane. We know you're there, you're a car, we could hear you a mile away, you don't need to honk.

I gave the girl who honked at me the finger and hollered at her, even if she did mean well, maybe she'll realize that it freaks cyclists out a little to get suddenly honked at on a busy road.

K.

[Deanna]

I am completely against giving the finger to drivers. It makes us look as a bad as them. That and the one time I did, I spend the rest of the ride wondering if I really set them off and would they be waiting around the next bend in the road. Turns out they were pulled over further on my route. They were out of the car and one of them made a lunge at me as I rode by. Luckily their car was busy giving another car a jump and they couldn't give chase.

I always smile and wave. It makes me feel better knowing I'm doing it in sarcasm, but it gives them no excuse to escalate the encounter.

[onimity]

Most of the time I get honked at it seems to be accompanied by whistles or the like, annoying but flattering I suppose ?

Of course there are the occasional 'get off my road' honks, I usually encounter these on my commute home where I have to cross several lanes of traffic on a busy road. It is a steep hill so I am usually going fast enough to change lanes easily, but I am really cautious, signal and never even come close to a car while changing lanes.

Still, I get honked at all of the time there and just about jump out of my skin each time. And it may just be coincidence, but they all seem to be SUV drivers. I take these to be 'get off my road' honks due to their duration. These make me mad but I try to keep my middle fingers on my handlebars.

This particular road is such that I am often stopped waiting to turn left next to the people, going straight, that have just honked. Sometimes they just ignore you. One girl glared through her window glass at me a few weeks back and I raised my hands, shrugged my shoulders and gave her an inquisitive look as in, why the honk? She looked at me kind of sheepishly and turned away.

Often I think that cyclists scare drivers, especially young and inexperienced drivers. They don't want to hit us (a good thing) but fear is often so close to frustration. From my perspective, I did everything I could to be safe, to be visible and to let drivers know what I'd be doing, but perhaps she was talking on the phone or not paying attention and I took her by surprise. Many people honk when they are surprised and do not consider the louder sound to ears unprotected by a large metal box. And yea, like I said, I was mad. But I figured if I'd flipped her the bird, like I was tempted to, it would just reinforce to her the idea that she had been correct to honk at that a$$hole cyclist.

I never get angry because of 'I'm here' honks. I live in a bike-friendly area so they are rare, but I often don't hear cars until they are close when it's windy and hybrids can be hard to hear on even a still day, riding slowly. I know a lot of hybrid drivers that are accustomed to honking in conditions (like parking lots) where people often depend on their sense of sound to know that a car is coming. So I do appreciate it when hybrids honk (from a decent distance). It's scary to be passed by a car that you haven't heard too.

Anne

[lph]

I got honked at today. It's quite rare actually, considering how much I ride in traffic, so I guess drivers here are pretty civil.

This guy passed me, on a road otherwise empty for several hundred yards in either direction, honked, and pointed slowly and obviously at the cycle path next to me. So I smiled and waved prettily back.

The rest of my ride I spent making up the great conversation I could have had with him if I'd managed to catch up. It went something like this, all with a big friendly virtual smile :

"Why, hi there! You honked at me, you want me to use the bike path, right?" (...)
"Let me ask you - have you ever ridden a bike on that path?" (...)
"I thought not. Let me tell you something about this path! You've never ridden a bike with tires like this either, have you?" *pointing at my skinny tires* (...)
"Well, this path starts right over there, with an edge sharp enough to crack a wheel and certainly puncture my tires. Unless I stop and carry my bike over it, which is about as much fun as you having to stop your car and roll down the window to talk to me. *merry laugh*
Anyway, the path goes on past several driveways where cars come out in a helluva rush, ready to run me over in a heartbeat. And over there it passes a construction area, so I have to veer out in the road anyway. And 200 yards later it does it again! Can you beat that?" (...)
"Anyway, dearie - THAT is why I'm in the road, it's not because I enjoy your company. Have a nice day!"