I don't give a hoot

[Gsxrnz]

My truck has dark tinted windows. I beep the horn with impunity because the muppet in the offending Vios can't see me and assumes I'm a Thai and I probably have a gun, otherwise I wouldn't have beeped at him.  

 

It's a circular thing. 

[actonion]

I use the Car horn regularly ,  mostly at  Bikes with Thai's riding,  either looking at something, but not the road,  or they're using their Telephone,     a small Toot  just to let them know     i'm there,   saves me getting involved in an accident with some of them

[damian]

37 minutes ago, ricklev said:

I use my motorcycle horn every single time I feel it will make me safer.  And that is often in Bangkok.  Usually just a short beep beep to make sure that the other driver (who I assume is a moron that I suspect is about to endanger me) knows I am there.  If they continue in their lunacy they get several long beeps and if that doesn't work I lay on the horn til they stop.  

 

To heck with politeness Thai style when it's my body in danger.   

 

Never had a problem with anyone confronting me in 20 years of driving in Thailand. 

 

 

Correct. It's all in the 'tone' you use like whispering, talking forcefully, then yelling!

[wavodavo]

16 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

I've used my horn about 3 times in years, Vietnam and India hell holes where all you can here is horns.The drivers hands are constantly on it.

You should go to Manila if you want tooting horns

[NoshowJones]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

I use my bright lights and my horn on trucks, when they are hogging the fast lane on a major highway at 50kph. Usually it works. Sometimes they just ignore it and I have to use the slow lane to go around them.

 

Using your horn with cars can be dangerous here. I do it rarely. Only when someone does something incredibly dumb and dangerous. 

On my motorbike I always pump at anyone coming down the wrong side of the road, that is being dumb and dangerous, they are putting my wellbeing at risk. I was warned in a recent post that some day I will get attacked for doing that. I am not worried about that, a Thai on his own is not going to attack you 99.9% of the time especially if you are a big guy.

[NoshowJones]

47 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

I still say cool down..... one day you will get a reaction.

Not if a Thai guy is on his own, although maybe if he has a gun, they are the biggest of cowards who always needs their mates.

[ChrisKC]

I am neither a hooter or a flasher!

[SAFETY FIRST]

17 hours ago, Gandtee said:

What is it in Thailand where just giving a toot on the horn to indicate you may cross in front of me. Thankyou for letting me pass or for any reason is considered a challenge to a duel. Using fisticuffs, pipes, machetes, or anything that comes to hand. Perhaps horns should not be fitted to vehicles driven in Thailand. Fragile egos can't handle them.

I have a neighbour, he's English, he'd ask me at times to go with him because he would regularly get lost. 

 

I had to stop helping him, we'd get in his car and he would be on the horn constantly, saying 'stupid Thai's' etc. 

I tried to reason with him, asking him to relax and let the other road users in. Nope he acted as if the roads were his only and he wasn't sharing. 

 

The guys a bloody PSYCHO 

 

 

Edited April 19 by SAFETY FIRST

[FolkGuitar]

I'll use my horn if the situation warrants it. The odds of getting shot for it are pretty low.

Perhaps if more people used their horns there might be fewer road accidents.

[Gandtee]

2 hours ago, JayClay said:

 

Ahh. You're getting upset over hearsay. Got it. 👍🏻

Are they hearsay? And I'm certainly not upset. Just making an observation.

[JayClay]

5 minutes ago, Gandtee said:

Are they hearsay? And I'm certainly not upset. Just making an observation.

 

Yes they fit the dictionary definition of hearsay.

 

And I'm sorry if I misinterpreted the tone of your OP. You seemed quite distressed about the whole situation to me.

[ThaiFelix]

It never used to be like that.  When I first came to Bangkok in the late 80's all you could hear was horns.  It kinda reminded me of the stories of flag/latern bearers that walked in front of the first motor vehicles warning everyone of their approach.  I clearly recall being in taxis and Tuk-tuks going around Silom and Sathorn and the drivers continually honking their horns everytime we overtook another car/motorcycle, passed a pedestrian, or got anywhere near anything else on the road.  I used to wonder how any of it could be understood as it had become just a constant din with so many honking.  

 

Now it seems the exact opposite, I have learned to not use my horn but just take it all in now as just another bad movie, my actions wont change that.

[jesimps]

I quite like the absence of car horn noise in Thailand, the way that I drive, I never use the thing anyway. Don't even know if it works or not.

Prefer it here to say Athens, Greece. I once went there for a holiday and returned my hire car after a couple of hours. Couldn't stand the constant noise of car horns, found it really stressful. Especially at lights. If you didn't pull away the split second they turned green, the whole queue behind you started beeping. Even walking around trying to appreciate the sights, you couldn't escape that constant honking of horns. 

[digbeth]

Going back to Australia, in cities you notice horns for what we who are accustomed to in Thailand, to be inane reason to reach for the horn, like the light turn green half a second ago? honk, cars making a u-turn in front, horn, like we both can reach for the brakes, dinging each other and spending 20 minutes exchanging insurance information is not worth it even if you're in the right. 

[ripstanley]

It is illegal in Thailand to use your horn unless you are preventing an accident. I have a lot of times when I am preventing an accident.

[Gandtee]

5 hours ago, retarius said:

The non-horn-using readers are obviously saints and they will get their reward in heaven. As of me, well whenever someone on the road makes a mistake my put my fist on the horn for about 5 minutes straight. Despite warnings from the family, I haven't been killed yet.

R.I.P.😆

[Coota]

When I first came to Thailand in 2004 I noticed that most of the road users used their horns to let people know they were there in a friendly way. I even remarked to friends back home about how the Thais correctly use the horn as a warning of their presence.  At the time I was a Policeman and had had a few dealings with cases of road rage in my home country, Australia. Mind you there were a lot less cars on Thai roads back then as hardly any poor Thais could afford to own a car. Then came the Government incentives to buy a car and, suddenly the roads became choked and manners flew out the door.

Edited April 19 by Coota
spelling

[geisha]

On 4/18/2024 at 12:12 PM, ThaiPauly said:

I miss old Bernard......I wouldn't have minded his job at the Post though !

So who would you vote for to take Trinks place ( if there was one !) on the new ASEAN Now ??? Candidates for the post ?

[kwilco]

On 4/18/2024 at 8:55 AM, Gandtee said:

What is it in Thailand where just giving a toot on the horn to indicate you may cross in front of me. Thankyou for letting me pass or for any reason is considered a challenge to a duel. Using fisticuffs, pipes, machetes, or anything that comes to hand. Perhaps horns should not be fitted to vehicles driven in Thailand. Fragile egos can't handle them.

it is a classic problem that farangs have when they come to drive in Thailand - they simply don't understand Thai dul=ture and try to impose their own values on daily life.

[jacko45k]

20 hours ago, FolkGuitar said:

I'll use my horn if the situation warrants it. The odds of getting shot for it are pretty low.

Perhaps if more people used their horns there might be fewer road accidents.

Don't see the correlation..... maybe a few less Indian tourists getting mowed down. 

[Skipalongcassidy]

T use or not use a car horn in Thailand is based in the Thai culture of Buddhism... to behave well... I like to think that it is OK to behave well, but I am also well aware that Buddhist living has developed the "bully state"... bullies will take advantage of everyone who they perceive as being weaker than they are.  Horn honking is one of those things... are you really honking to prevent an accident or are you honking to bully another driver who you perceive to be inferior?  As to being "attacked" because you honked... well you just exposed another bully didn't you.

[Henryford]

21 hours ago, ripstanley said:

It is illegal in Thailand to use your horn unless you are preventing an accident. I have a lot of times when I am preventing an accident.

 

Really? or did you just make that up.

[ThaiPauly]

8 hours ago, geisha said:

So who would you vote for to take Trinks place ( if there was one !) on the new ASEAN Now ??? Candidates for the post ?

Donald Trump 😆 🤣 

[ripstanley]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

 

Really? or did you just make that up.

  Section 14 of the Land Traffic Act. Its a PDF and I can not copy and paste it.

[alien365]

I use it at least every other day. It can be a short beep if I want them to pay attention to something, traffic lights for example, and a longer beep if someone caused me to slam on my brakes or avoid an accident. Other times, like in Paya Thai last week, I started with a short beep and progressed to a long beep as a driver decided to park next to the sky train line to let a guy out of the car. What should have been a 10 second drop turned into about a minute. Oh and when driving in hilly regions I beep my horn to let cars know there is someone coming in the opposite direction round blind corners. That's what they do, so I now do so too.