Comments on The Proof

-- charles, do you have photoshop?

; )

i don't have photoshop. that is a real image from the real new york city.

-- i was teasing you...

This reminds me of my favorite New York story. When I was there (NYC) a few years ago I saw a street sign on one of the major avenues, "NO HONKING HORN EXCEPT FOR DANGER." Somebody had scratched out one letter of the sign so that it read, "NO HONKING HORN EXCEPT FOR ANGER." So, so perfect....

We need those signs here.

any one who's heard the massive roar of NYC would vote against horns.

I love that it says "no horn honking" rather than just "no horns."

Well, you can't have "no horns"; cars come with horns. You pull the horn out of your car, you'll electrocute yourself. You just can't honk it, not here, baby.

yes it is in fact true (i lived in nyc for 5 years). how often its enforced, however, is something quite different. the honking is pretty continuous...

I find sledgehammers to the hood and windshield of the honking car work wonders, personally. That's why I always carry a 5 pounder just in case ...

What about just no honking? "No horn honking" is kind of redundant.

I think we should only get 3 honks a month on the car horn. Then, someone cuts you off, you press the horn, and nothing happens. You're like, "Crap! I wish I hadn't seen Ricky on the sidewalk!"

-Mitch Hedburg
(and I agree)

Actually, honking itself isn't really illegal here. though "excessive honking" and "honking without reason" are. As they probably are in most places with noise ordinances. But, then again, installing car alarms is illegal, as it damned well should be.

Johnnie, dude, read the fucking sign.

Yanni, I live in New York. This is one of the noisest cities in the world, despite the honking ban. I've had to make my fair share of noise complaints over the years and I'm actually fairly familiar with NYC noise ordinances. Despite what Flickr or the sign says, honking itself is not illegal. Honk because someone isn't going through a light fast enough? Fine. Honk because someone is jaywalking? Fine. Honk because you're waiting for someone to come out of their building? Not fine. Or, on a cold day in hell, fine, in the other sense of the word.

In fact, NYC's noise ordinance is the strongest in the country. It was passed in 1972 and might have been enforced at least a hundred times sinse then. That is, against bars near condos. Otherwise, not much use.

Seattle hardly needs an anti-honking ordinance.

Quite the opposite in fact.

Although I usually ride my bicycle or take the bus, I have spent more than my fair share behind the wheel in this town. One thing that stood out in my driving experiences in Seattle was the constant LACK of use of a horn when it was appropriate. Cars foolishly blocking intersections, cars attempting to turn the wrong way onto one-way streets, cars attempting to turn left during times it is disallowed, and similar dumb moves were almost never met with what should be the appropriate response - honking.

I can only surmise that this has to do with Seattlites being too nice for their own good. I posit that a little more frequent use of the car horn in Seattle would actually help alleviate traffic a smidgen. Politely watching someone create gridlock directly in front of you while you internalize your anger (you do experience anger don't you?) isn't healthy for anyone. And letting people make foolish mistakes without alerting them to the fact they are doing so just guarantees that they will continue to do so.

I've spent most of the last 15 years living in some of the highest density parts of Seattle and rarely were car horns annoying to me. This is not NYC. The law makes sense there, here, people need to stop being so passive.

Here Here, K X One.
Whenever I use my horn in Seattle to get someone's attention (to alert them to the fact that they're doing something wrong/stupid/inconsiderate), they often give me a look as if I just spit on their Grandmother. A horn is a tool. If horns were really purely obnoxious, wouldn't manufacturers quite putting them in cars? Not only has a quick honk of the horn by myself stopped someone else from doing something stupid, but likewise I have stopped doing something stupid myself on more than one occassion thanks to someone else's use of a horn.
It's a safety feature, people shouldn't be so easily offended when it's used.

@16 & 17:

Ditto! As if giving a quick honk on the horn to remind someone that stopping in the middle of the street during rush hour Downtown is NOT an okay thing to do...

Why do so many people lately seem to think that their business is so much more important than everyone else around them?

16; 17; 18: You are the problems of Seattle. There is too much self righteous horn honking in Seattle and it's extremely annoying and unnecessary. You holier than though honkers are what's wrong with Seattle. Take your passive aggressive expression to the privacy of your own home and blow it out your hole!

I grew up in California and people rarely honk their horns. According to the California Vehicle Code, honking a horn means "Please bust a cap in my a$$ now."

Thank you! I lived briefly in Los Angeles and never heard a horn honk--quite a relief. Also drivers in L.A. and Southern California, in general, know how to drive in extreme traffic situations without resorting to obnoxious horn honking.

"you're killing me"

Oblige us with your address so we can finish you off. I'll fix my tits up car just drive over and honk at you!

BTW that's 'holier than thou' not
"holier than though"

"You holier than though honkers are what's wrong with Seattle. Take your passive aggressive expression to the privacy of your own home and blow it out your hole!"

It's good to know I am what is wrong with Seattle! And there I was thinking it was so many other things!

Passive aggressive? By actually expressing our anger? I'm not following you...

Okay, I'm FINALLY reading this post. So yes, Charles, I believe you. I still can't say whether or not you were drunk the morning I doubted you, but at least I know you weren't lying. I stand down. Mudede forever.

Don't speak for all of California, San Franciscan's LOVE using their car horns, and it's obnoxious as hell.

Also drivers in L.A. and Southern California, in general, know how to drive in extreme traffic situations without resorting to obnoxious horn honking.

Right. They just resort to shooting each other.

"Yanni, I live in New York. [...]I'm actually fairly familiar with NYC noise ordinances."

Congratulations on living in NYC, but you don't know what the fuck you're talking about when it comes to noise ordinances. You said:

"Honk because someone isn't going through a light fast enough? Fine. Honk because someone is jaywalking? Fine. Honk because you're waiting for someone to come out of their building? Not fine."
"But, then again, installing car alarms is illegal, as it damned well should be."

Contrary to your assertions, section 24-237 states that using horns or alarms installed on motor vehicles is prohibited "except as a sound signal of imminent danger or in connection with use as an audible motor vehicle burglar alarm". Whether your jaywalking example qualifies as an imminent danger situation would really depend upon the particulars, but your not going through the light fast enough example certainly doesn't qualify. Further, it is not illegal to install or use car alarms in NYC; they just have to conform to certain standards (e.g. shutting off within 3 minutes of activation).