Originally Posted by natelutkjohn
I have been know to apologize to drivers at red lights after saluting them for thinking the honk meant something that it didn't - but my general feeling is that a honk on a busy road is dangerous to me as a cyclist, so please, NEVER do it for any reason unless my life is in danger due to your brakes failing and/or your steering locking up.
That's the whole problem though. You're asking people to honk only when your life is in danger, but if they actually did so then you'd probably die anyway (since you would assume they are just honking to be an ******* like everyone else).
Originally Posted by ChipSeal
My choice isn't available on the poll: big smile and wave.
That's not the point. The point is that by not responding to honks by leaping to the side of the road, cyclists are nullifying the only legitimate reason for honking at all and, in fact, putting themselves in danger by inappropriately responding to legitimate honks. On the other hand, 99% of all honking is illegitimate, so it would be a huge waste of time to respond to all honks as if they were legitimate.
It doesn't matter if you honk back, wave back, smile back, etc. For the purposes of this conversation they are all the same. They all spell death for the cyclist if the honk is legitimate (for example, if the driver's shoe got stuck under the break pedal or some such).
What I want to know is how do you people deal with that? Horns are a necessary safety precaution, but by not interpreting honking as grave danger we are effectively removing that safety precaution.