Originally Posted by Leisesturm

You're all just making my point. A horn could fail. Your voice could fail. The **** that you are honking or yelling at could have Pearl Jam cranked to 10 on his iphone and not hear you... do you really think it was your timely use of the horn that kept you from being smisshed? Did you not also scrub off a significant amount of forward momentum at the instant you realized things were going sideways? Of course you did.

A horn (like a gun... ) is best used as an offensive weapon. As a warning, if you will. A horn (like a gun) can and often is used for defense. It works occasionally as such, but (as accident statistics prove) is not nearly as effective as good defensive driving skills. I don't get habituated to having a horn so I don't have to worry about one failing on me just when I need it most.

The nastiest accident I ever saw... two cars were on a T-Bone collision path. The setup I didn't see. I don't know who was "wrong". Whoever thought he was right hit the horn but took no other defensive action. He hit the other car so hard that the passenger in it was ejected and flew 10 or more feet through the air and landed right at my feet on the sidewalk. He was alive and asked me to call 911 before he passed out.

I don't think much of horns in clutch situations. And none of us are prescient enough to be able to use a horn before the idiot makes that unsignaled right turn or lane change.

H