Taboo Of Using Your Horn In Thailand.

[robhufton]

I sometimes wonder how the Italians get by here. It must be hard for them as they live on their horns in Italy!

Even worse in India, everybody is honking their horns all of the time, so consequently everybody ignores them, so it is just a bloody annoying massive noise generator for no reason.

[Tiger55]

The real reason could be that they think it uses the battery,same as with turn signals,

regards worgeordie

I have a special horn on my pickup and use it at least ten times when driving, I use is at intersections, when passing the idiots on motorbikes, and when ever i percieve the idiots may be a threat to me. I have never been stopped or chased but if i ever do i have a prepared speech in thai to lay on them! it is not nice! basically i call them idiots that don't know how to drive, i really don't care if i hit them or not but i DO care about the damage to my lovely pickup!

I am an imposing figure, and i do carry something in my hand whenever i am confronted.

Maybe you don't know how to drive!

[fred Kubasa]

In my eleven years here, as a pedestrian, I have barely escaped serious injury by looking in

all 5 or 6 possible directions, including the sidewalk, before I took a step & now, realize I hear almost no horn honking.

While the loudness of horns can be disturbing, so, too, can be death ! Horns, I believe should be 2 position, # 1 soft, a little louder then a doorbell and # 2 normal so walkers can avoid premature death and hearing loss as well !

[stevenl]

I don't know which country you are from but I would contest that British drivers are by default " Better " drivers than the Thai's. I used to drive around 1000 /1100 Miles a week in the UK. It was very stressful and I hated it but it was part of my job. I'm now back in the UK and things haven't changed any since then. Give me Thailand any day. You mention Thai's can't parallel park but the vast majority of British drivers can't either and their attitude on the road goes from the majority driving at 25 MPH or under as they are fearful of getting a speeding ticket to the arrogant bullies that think they own the road and have one hand attached to the horn at all times and if you ever venture onto a motorcycle here you do so at your peril.

I took my nephews R1 for a spin the other weekend and it was scary. In the UK drivers just don't see or expect motorcycles to be on the road. Again give me Thailand any day for a nice ride on a Bike.

I can't wait to get back to the Thai driving again. It can't come quick enough for me

Who are you trying to kid? Do a poll and see if you can find one in a thousand who agree with you. Time to give up the drink when you spouse such drivel.

He had a point regarding motorbike visibility.

But never mind that, you may not agree but that is no reason to get rude.

[Keesters]

mate, my wife bips the horn all the time so others are aware she is there or not to pull out.

Don't need people to beep their horn to tell me they are there or not to pull out. I HAVE EYES.

[longstebe]

mate, my wife bips the horn all the time so others are aware she is there or not to pull out.

Don't need people to beep their horn to tell me they are there or not to pull out. I HAVE EYES.

The hills have eyes.

[SussexExpat]

One of my pet hates is the convoy of buses that think their immune from red lights.

[timber]

I think he was having a bad hair day. I honk my horn to make people aware.

[Neeranam]

I personally know of two Thais that were shot dead because of using their horn as a criticism rather than a warning. Still safer than LA or NY in the states where everyone carries a gun and are more hot-tempered than Thais.

[DLang]

Some people's eyes aren't connected to anything. They just in the sockets and look around vacantly and pointlessly. Though some seem to be connected to the tip of a nasal stick.

Edited June 3, 2015 by DLang

[yoboots]

my wife always asks me why i beep the horn so often, and my answer is simple, if you dont let someone know they are driving bad or not paying attention while driving, then they will continue to drive as they do.

i do have the horn etiquette though, short 1 or 2 beeps just to let someone know you are there or they are doing something wrong or not paying attention,

and save the long press for the complete idiots that are seconds away from causing an incident.

of course TIT you also need to understand, why people drive like they do here, and also get used to driving here,

if you have not watched the videos when getting a license here you should.

The one part of video i was shocked at, was the official way to overtake in Thailand shown on video,

get right up their ass, flash your lights, if that not work, beep your horn for 3 short beeps,

and wait for the person in front to move out of the way,

and signal (hand) for you to proceed in a safe manner.

[sipi]

At my age, I can only get half a horn.

[Lancashirelad]

A few have mentioned Cairo, Egypt. For those who have never been, here is a typical example of how it is. This cacaphony goes on 24/7. It does not stop/go quiet at night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnzxMjrBCTQ

Edited June 8, 2015 by Lancashirelad

[Tomtomtom69]

I don't know which country you are from but I would contest that British drivers are by default " Better " drivers than the Thai's. I used to drive around 1000 /1100 Miles a week in the UK. It was very stressful and I hated it but it was part of my job. I'm now back in the UK and things haven't changed any since then. Give me Thailand any day. You mention Thai's can't parallel park but the vast majority of British drivers can't either and their attitude on the road goes from the majority driving at 25 MPH or under as they are fearful of getting a speeding ticket to the arrogant bullies that think they own the road and have one hand attached to the horn at all times and if you ever venture onto a motorcycle here you do so at your peril.

I took my nephews R1 for a spin the other weekend and it was scary. In the UK drivers just don't see or expect motorcycles to be on the road. Again give me Thailand any day for a nice ride on a Bike.

I can't wait to get back to the Thai driving again. It can't come quick enough for me

I don't know details about how you get a drivers license in the UK but i can bet it's not a "test" (more like a joke) like in Thailand.

For instance the "issue" with Somchai or Bualoy coming into a big road from a soi... what do you do in UK/Europe when you do that? Well, you check that it's safe and when you actually get your car nose pointing in the direction of the road you actually accelerate so that you don't drive 20 km/h on a 50-70 road for 500 meters which is the case in Thailand every single time. I haven't yet witnessed any thai driver accelerating so they "get up to marching speed" when turning into big roads and i drive 20-70 km every day in Thailand for a couple of years now.

Yep. Thai drive like they all just stole their cars, but are never actually in a hurry to get anywhere and have no concern or consideration for anyone else on the road. Like accelerating from a red a light, it takes them a minute just to react on the change from red to green, and then it takes another half hour to accelerate to cruise speed.

I have often noticed when for example a vehicle crosses the road in front of an oncoming vehicle, the oncoming vehicle makes no attempt to reduce the speed, instead the will blink their light-horn or sound the horn repeatedly. Now what the heck good will that do? the crossing car is already in the middle of the road, do they think it will magically disappear just because the horn is sounded? Is there Hindu Magic involved in that kind of action? If you see a car crossing the road in front of you, you must understand the car is crossing taking a measured risk because driver wants to cross the road in a hurry, so logically one would understand this and be ready to break hard if the guys engine stops or something, but sounding your horn is just about the dumbest thing anyone can do.

And don't get me started on the numerous occasions where a car in the right lane is driving along a truck in the left lane, matching the trucks speed, meanwhile there are about a hundred cars behind wanting to pass the pair, but the driver of the car is apparently oblivious to this.

Actually, it tends to be trucks driving alongside other trucks at the same speed, or because the trailing truck, who is going like 3km/h faster than the truck it is overtaking/passing is completely oblivious to the line of vehicles trailing. Those drivers going at 140km/h suddenly have to slam on the brakes, nearly having a rear end collision with the truck in front all the while slowing down to the 43km/h the truck is doing. But I get your point - occasionally cars do the same.

Thailand is no place for cruise control - no matter how good a speed you're doing out on the highway in relatively sparsely populated Isarn or northern Thailand, every now and again a slow moving truck turtles along in the right lane alongside another truck and your average speed drops down to like 60-80km/h rather than the 90-100km/h you were expecting.

[Tomtomtom69]

Buy a BIGGER CAR (eg. Fortuner, Pajero etc ). Get the car in black color with black tinted windows ( mafia style ) and no one will bother or chase you anymore when you use your horn or change lane, etc. Even the police won't check your car that much. They suspect that someone "important" is the owner.

Fortuners aren't that special every 3rd person owns one. Landcruiser or Pajero, yeah or how about a Toyota Tundra (ordinary in Cambodia or Laos, but funnily would be gawked at in Thailand!)? Although the issue may be that RHD versions of these may be very expensive as the Cambodians and Laotians (and now Burmese too) all buy them used direct from the USA and of course all three countries drive on the right (unlike Thailand).

[JaseTheBass]

Thais tend not to react negatively to a quick 'pip pip', but that's not much fun. I prefer to use the offensive long 'you are a retard beeeep!'. Makes the missus a bit uncomfortable, but she understands and agrees with the sentiment.

Luckily, I rarely drive now.

[fish fingers]

I'd love to get a truck horn fitted to the next car I buy, the really low level deep loud ones

[wprime]

Buy a BIGGER CAR (eg. Fortuner, Pajero etc ). Get the car in black color with black tinted windows ( mafia style ) and no one will bother or chase you anymore when you use your horn or change lane, etc. Even the police won't check your car that much. They suspect that someone "important" is the owner.

Fortuners aren't that special every 3rd person owns one. Landcruiser or Pajero, yeah or how about a Toyota Tundra (ordinary in Cambodia or Laos, but funnily would be gawked at in Thailand!)? Although the issue may be that RHD versions of these may be very expensive as the Cambodians and Laotians (and now Burmese too) all buy them used direct from the USA and of course all three countries drive on the right (unlike Thailand).

It's not about special it's about the fact that you have a 2x mass advantage to most of the cars on the road and your brakes are so bad that anyone with half a brain knows not to cut you off.

Edited August 7, 2015 by wprime

[DLang]

I think it's funny how newbs think Thai's generally refrain from using their horn because of politeness, respect, and greng jai.

When the reason is that they know and fear the Thai at the receptive end of the beeping is quite possibly armed with a deadly weapon and quite possibly will snap with lethal anger.

Thai Buddhism.

[WarpSpeed]

Here I was thinking that Thailand was all about using your horn .

[Broken Record]

I'd love to get a truck horn fitted to the next car I buy, the really low level deep loud ones

Get a Train Horn.

[thhMan]

I blast away all the time... f em

Now looking for a louder horn to really get in their face...

[wow64]

Fitted an Air horn black tinted Windows and police lights and Siren in the grill. 

 

Don't have any issues using the horn.