Hmm. What's With the Honking???

[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!"