THE BLAST FROM BEHIND

Few of us have not been victims of the impatient, arrogant driver who feels we are not driving as fast as he would wish us to. Few of us have been first at a red light and not heard the impatient blast from behind, the instant the signal turns to green. And few of us have been spared a rude honk--and sometimes an accompanying shaking first--from a driver who simply cannot share the road with anyone else. Using horn to make a rude statement reflecting your personal impatience does nothing to improve "road relations." When tempted to urge a slower driver with a horn blast--curb the instinct if you can.

On the other hand, using the horn judiciously can make its use more effective and will alert others (drivers as well as pedestrians) to a truly dangerous situation. When you hear horns honking constantly and with little reason, the tendency is to "tune out" the unwanted noise. But when drivers cooperate to use the horn only as a signal of some sort--a real warning sound--the horn becomes an important safety device.