BLOWING YOUR OWN HORN
Of course it is your horn and you have a right to do anything you want
to do with it—except make a nuisance of yourself to others—and you can
toot it to your heart’s content when off in some wilderness; but if you
desire to live in peace and harmony with your neighbors and with your
fellow travelers in this vale of tears, you will have a care when and
where you toot your toots.
In olden days it was compulsory to have bells on the horse when drawing
a sleigh, which was supposed to be noiseless. The bells were to give
warning of the sleigh’s approach around a curve or over the hill. This
was the only vehicle to have a warning tone, except the fishman or the
junk cart, and their noise was inviting—ostensibly—rather than warning,
though often it ought to have been the latter.
Soon after the coming of the bicycle it became apparent that some means
of signalling its approach must be had. Now singularly enough in
the light of present-day understanding, the bicycle bell or horn was
not to warn people to get out of the way. It was to warn folks that
you were looking out for them and that, unless they stepped suddenly
in your path, they might feel assured that you would not run into
them. Everybody understood that the pedestrian had first right to the
road. Bicycle riders practiced strenuously the ways to avoid the man
afoot—most of them.
With the coming of the automobile the use of horns was continued, early
electrics and some others using a bell. They were the continuance of
the bicycle warning, and when the automobile was popularizing itself it
was understood that the bell or horn was merely to prevent others from
walking into danger. The autoist saw to it, so far as he could, that
the man, woman, or child went safe.
Came another generation and the universal use of the automobile for
pleasure, business, and transportation uses, and all of a sudden people
began to talk about the rights of the autoist, and the horn began to
peremptorily order folks to get out of the way or get run over. There
is not the slightest doubt in the mind of the writer that the present
attitude of autoists in general is due to the mistaken notion that
they have rights in the roadway part of the street and the pedestrian’s
rights are confined to the sidewalks and crossing walks; nor that this
notion was bred by the police regulations of traffic which sought to
protect the pedestrian by herding him off the road to the side walks
and permitting him at intervals to cross the road. It is noticeable,
however, that not one arrest for refusing to keep off the roadway has
ever been made—or at least sustained by court. The policeman may frown
at the man who tries to go contrary to the traffic rule, but that is
all.
Out of this misunderstanding there has come such a constant use of
horns as to make it a continual nuisance on thickly traveled streets
and even on much traveled highways in the country. And the nuisance is
not from the necessary signaling to other cars or vehicles, but the
unnecessary tooting the driver does because he wants everybody to know
that he is coming and to understand that they must get out of the way
for him.
Now a certain amount of signaling is needed in driving, but it is
possible to drive through the thick traffic of New York City from the
Battery to Harlem without tooting the horn half a dozen times—that is
if one is a careful and well-instructed driver.
Watch other drivers and pedestrians and do not blow the horn after they
have seen you, or if their direction and speed of travel is such that
they will be out of your way before you get to them. If not seen, sound
the horn once and be ready to stop. As a matter of fact the foot should
instinctively go to the brake pedal each time the hand goes to the
horn. But if you are seen by the other person why blow the horn at all?
If one is driving along a country road and desires to pass another car
going in the same direction, it is customary to sound the horn once
that the driver ahead may not turn his car in front of you, and so
that, if needed, he may turn to the right to let you pass on the left.
He is the judge as to when and where he will turn, since he can see
ahead better and knows what obstructions are to be avoided. With few
exceptions he will, when signaled, immediately give way; if he does
not, and it is fair to presume that he heard the signal, it is polite
to wait a moment before again signaling your desire.
One also should signal just before reaching the top of a hill,
particularly if the road be a narrow one, that anyone coming up on
the other side may know of your presence and be guided accordingly;
likewise the signal should be given before coming to a cross-roads,
unless there is a plain view of both roads for a sufficient distance to
make sure that a collision is not likely.
Occasionally one will catch up to a farmer’s load of hay, and the
signal will not be heard, and it becomes necessary to toot a number of
times, but this is rare. In meeting a wagon or another auto it is not
necessary to sound the horn unless it is apparent that the other driver
does not see you, or is keeping to the crown of the road, expecting you
to do all the turning out. Well, even then, sometimes, it is better to
do it, at that.
As a rule, it is easier on one’s temperament, and safer in the long
run, to let the fellow who wants all the road have it; therefore when
you hear a speed fiend coming, his presence announced by vociferous
tooting of the horn and perhaps punctuated by shouting, or oaths, draw
to one side and slow up. It costs little either in time or effort, and
if it happens to be a load of drunken, irresponsible loafers you will
be safe. At the same time, if you have influence with the police and
other officials, call their attention to persons who thus disregard
others and see that they are fined and their licenses taken. For the
meekness advised, in letting them have their own way, is but that you
may survive to do a piece of good work for the country at large by
bringing before the law those who violate all principles of courtesy
and rules of the road.
Blow your own horn, if you want to, but blow it discreetly; let others
blow, too, and heed the warning, lest you come to grief with them.