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Horn Limiters

Do we really need to be able to lay on the horns?
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I live in LA, a city that loves its car horns. It seems that at least once a day on the highway someone near me gets so upset about traffic that they decide to lay on their horn for about 10 seconds.

How about something that limits the amount of time the horn can be on?

I envision a system that gives you 3 seconds of horn, and then for every second you use it (or fraction of. it would sorta work like cell phone minutes: If I do a quick 'beep beep' it would count as two 'seconds' of usage.) the horn has to be off for a full two seconds to recharge the second of horntime you just spent.

So if I lay on the horn it would go for three seconds, then it would cut off and I'd have to wait at least 6 seconds before I could honk for 3 seconds again. Optionally, you could spend 3, then wait 2 seconds, then honk for another second.

I think being forced to wait to honk again will go a long way to discourage horn abuse.

Maybe I'm just crazy for not being able to envision a scenario where safety would require you to use your horn more continuously.

kurleykyew, Jun 14 2003

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       Have a horn counter, each second of honk is a dime (that's US$0.10, for those who don't live in a free country). Each time you take the car for the annual inspection the inspector reads the "Honkmeter" and adds that amount to the inspection fee.   

       That way nothing stops you from honking when there is real danger and the city makes a few Megabucks from honk-fees.
kbecker, Jun 14 2003
  

       heh, then honking will become a sign of wealth.
kurleykyew, Jun 14 2003
  

       Let me guess - this *rare occurence* happens on I-5, (Santa Ana Freeway) NW to SE and/or I-405, (San Diego Freeway) generally SW of I-5, NW & SE corners of Greater LA and/or the I-210, (Foothills Freeway) which connects N LA County communities and/or the 2 (Silverlake - Glendale/Pasadena) and/or the I-10, (Santa Monica Freeway), Santa Monica thru LA & San Berdoooo to Arizona and/or though the I-110, (Parking lot /Freeway/Hell), and/or the I-710, (Long Beach Freeway), and/or the I-605, (San Gabriel River Freeway), runs N-S to, or near to, San Pedro Bay and Long Beach, and/or the 134 and/or the 101 and/or the Marina Freeway...
thumbwax, Jun 14 2003
  

       A city that loves its horns? I live in a city with the opposite problem. People just don’t ever use horns. Well yes, after an accident, maybe the horn will be blaring, but that’s because the driver is leaning on it, dead. In this city, people fall asleep at stoplights all the time. The people behind them don’t honk, no sir, they back up and go around the sleeper. It used to drive me crazy when I first moved here years ago. But I’m better now. Now, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the intersection…
ldischler, Jun 14 2003
  

       'Twould be nice if each car had it's owner's recorded voice as a horn, such as "TOOOT!" or "HONK HONK!" or "BEEEEEP!".
FarmerJohn, Jun 14 2003
  

       Yeah, I suppose they could hook up cars so you can download custom beeps like other poeple download custom ring-tones for their cell phones.
kurleykyew, Jun 15 2003
  

       I would download the police siren sound. That would give me some room.
kbecker, Jun 15 2003
  

       Ugh, last night someone honked about 16 times (I started counting about half way through) in a row outside my window at 2am. I really would like to see this idea become reality.
kurleykyew, Jun 20 2003
  

       Car horns are fairly sonically simple, so how about an -active- horn limiter that counters the waveform of offending horns/alarms; it could switch on within milliseconds of the onset of another horn, and could at least damp the noise within your car's cabin (or your home). Even better for sending the message, however, would be if it greatly muted it to the offender's own ears if their blasts covered more than x out of y consecutive milliseconds (i.e. we must allow for short safety toots).
n-pearson, Jun 20 2003
  

       Make it interesting, having the horn hooked up to the internet and teh police automatically charge a $2 fine fopr every extra second (past2) you lay on the horn.
althyr, Jun 20 2003
  

       Introducing money into the scheme would just allow rich people to be assholes.
kurleykyew, Jun 20 2003
  

       [FarmerJohn] recordable horns is something they'd never make. Instead of beeping you'd get streams of profanity with every traffic-jam. Or even marmalade.
Freelancer, Jun 22 2003
  

       Raspberry? Or, after three seconds, the signal would be switched over to a horn inside the honker's car.
FarmerJohn, Jun 22 2003
  

       You know. I think I like that idea better.
kurleykyew, Jun 24 2003
  

       The other day, I saw someone slooowly back into a double-parked car, which tried to avoid the collision by honking for several seconds. I think it would be bad to limit the horn's duration, for safety reasons, since it sometimes takes a while to get people's attention.   

       Some sort of after-the-fact citation for excessive non-emergency use of the horn woul d be better.
beland, Jul 04 2003
  

       In that particular case it didn't seem to help.
kurleykyew, Jul 04 2003
  

       How about just making the horn twice as loud on the inside as it is on the outside? That'll dissuade people from using it unless necessary.
phundug, Feb 18 2004
  

       Oooh. Good call.
kurleykyew, Mar 20 2004
  
      
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