Monday, March 3, 2008

What is rude?

I don't often honk my horn in my car. A large part of it is that my first car did not have a working horn. The other part is that I'm always afraid I'll be "that guy" who uses his horn way to much and is a total jerk.
But twice in the last week, I've been in a situation where I was at a red light, the second car in line. The light turned green, and the car in front of me sat there. The first time it happened, I counted 4 cars in the lane next to us go before the guy in front of me realized the light had changed and he finally went. I could see the guy, he was turned toward whoever was in the passenger seat and was not watching the light.
Today, same situation, except I was in a left hand turn lane. Again, I could see the silhouette of the guy, he was looking for something on the ground apparently, then turned toward his passenger. After a good 4 or 5 seconds, I gave a quick hit of the horn, and he quickly realized the light had changed and went.
My concern is always that I'll be that guy who nails the horn way too early and is just impatient. I feel like I waited long enough, and the driver was clearly not paying attention to the light. My question is, am I rude for hitting the horn, or am I justified because he wasn't paying attention and I did give him a few seconds to react to the changed light?

1 comment:

David said...

I think it's okay if you wait. But I agree I hate when people honk their horns. But in the case you mentioned that is the exception