| By :
Stewart Wrighter
New York is famous as the city that never sleeps. But it seems many of us do not wake up as there is a guy leaning against the horn of his car down the street. Whether it is 3:00 AM or perhaps your round the corner neighbors have newborns, or that there are huge signs posts reading, "Do not Honk: $350 Fine", it does not really matters. You can hear loud annoying honks 24/7. Toyota dealers who sell cars agree that in the crowded urban areas, the answer to the smallest inconvenience is a loud honk. It appears as if this was the way it has always been. If you give someone a horn they won't rest until honking it. However, this hasn't always been the same. An Innocent Past It actually took several years for the car horn to turn into the harsh sonic bazooka we call it at present. Initially, automobile warning gadgets of 19th century constituted old-fashioned bells, rubber-bulb squeakers and whistles. As cars became diverse more rapidly and became easily accessible, a powerful horn was required. One was the Gabriel, an exhaust horn famous in the 1910's and '20's, but in due course died away in popularity. The new one to take its position was Klaxon, whose sound arrived through an electric resonating metal diaphragm and gave off the very familiar and goofy "ah-oo-ga." Meanwhile, auto cockpits started becoming quieter, as per consumer demand. As of now, it is hard for a driver with windows shut and music on to even listen to an emergency siren, let alone an extended horn. Mine Goes Louder Than Yours It is no secret that drivers want their car horns to be sufficiently loud. There have been too many complaints about the cars having wimpy horns. This led to a dramatic change and Hyundai substituted the hardware with a better dual-shell unit that offers the car a louder presence whenever the driver feels like using it. But is it actually essential to freak out and press on the horn if the person ahead of you is not smashing the gas pedal the moment traffic light turns green? It appears much of horn use recently is not driven by need, in order to warn other drivers, but merely by irritation and intolerance. Around The Globe It is interesting to note that horn is not such a problem elsewhere. Overdo of the horn appears to be an exclusively American phenomenon. This is not much observed in any other part of the world. For instance, in Paris, cab drivers used to flash their headlights to attract the attention of those in front. Although they had horns in their cars, they were not honking it needlessly. What To Do? If there is any lesson to be learned from the world, it is that there is no need to accept the overuse of horns. To begin with, training of new drivers can be done. This way, the importance of use of horns only in emergency can be emphasized. But at the central part of the crisis is the bigger concern of respecting others a feature quite difficult to come across in our society.
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