The Chainlink

Honking Drivers

I usually try to stay to the right of traffic so that drivers can pass, but sometimes I have to pass a stationary object. Am I missing something?

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Sreenan on May 16, 2016 at 10:29am

I for another do not appreciate being honked at for the same reasons. As a cyclist, I am well aware of my surroundings. Horns are for the isolation motorists are subject to. Like Andy, all I ask is that motorists pass me when it's safe to do so and with the required 3 feet distance.

Permalink Reply by mike w. on April 8, 2014 at 7:03pm

A tap of a horn doesn't really bother me, in fact since i'm a little hard of hearing, it's helpful to know that someone's back there. i believe CTA drivers are trained to give that short toot, as most of the ones i encounter on N Sheridan do it. Don't take it too personally- it just means that the driver is aware of you and given the large number of drivers who apparently look at the world through their navels (think on that a moment...) it's nice to know that not everyone has his/her nose to their smartphone or whatever...

 

Also, think about all the riders who have their headphones on in traffic. Maybe they need that toot.

 

As for the angry 200db blast- well, i tend to keep my verbal response sub-audible and keep my middle finger folded in.   Sometimes i even smile and wave.
 
AM 9.5 said:

I for one don't appreciate even a light tap on the horn to let me know someone is driving behind or near me.  I do my best to keep a look out, be courtious to other drivers and cyclists and stay aware of what's behind me.  If I have to take the lane, I do so with a hand signal and as safely as possible.  A tap on the horn suggests, IMHO, that I am in someone's the way, and I tend to react as if it's a hostile act, i.e., car coming through; out of the way. 

All I ask is that drivers simply pass when it's safe to so, as the rules of road require.

Permalink Reply by Renee Patten on April 8, 2014 at 8:01pm

When it comes to horns, my thoughts align with Bike Snob for personal vehicles. Don't mind when bus drivers so it though, pretty sure they are supposed to per their training. 

Honking part starts a bit down from the top of the post - http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2013/10/even-after-three-day-weeken... (from an old discussion).

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on May 14, 2016 at 10:32am

I tried to read that article....I find his (Bike Snob's) thoughts and writing to be myopic, crude and unpleasant.

Permalink Reply by Michelle Milham on April 9, 2014 at 11:23am

It scares the shit out of me when random cars do it, but I can tell what the bus horn sounds like (and usually know that I am in front of a bus, so I'm expecting the taps...) The bus horns seem to be a bit more "friendly" sounding and the toots shorter than in cars. 

Renee Patten said:

When it comes to horns, my thoughts align with Bike Snob for personal vehicles. Don't mind when bus drivers so it though, pretty sure they are supposed to per their training. 

Honking part starts a bit down from the top of the post - http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/2013/10/even-after-three-day-weeken... (from an old discussion).

Permalink Reply by We all have an inner Beast... on April 12, 2014 at 10:24am
I like the fact that the CTA bus drivers toot their horn to let you know that they are there or are passing you up. On Archer and Halsted, my major roads, they have become very good with this and a few of them give me words of encouragement during the times that we are close enough to speak. (Good mornings, speed, have a great day, etc.) Never in a bad manner, so I really appreciate it. Sometimes it cheers me up for the rest of the day (due to realizing that I am going to deal with less - than - pleasureable employees).
Cars that honk are usually the ones that are trying to go around traffic and I seem to always be in "their" way. I have a few spots (almost all of Archer) where i have to take the lane due to parked cars. There, i usually just stop pedaling and coast (naturally slowing down). It drives them nuts, and I usually catch them at the red lights after they speed past me. I just smile. A friend of mine says that my size is what keeps most people from saying something at the light when i just look into the car. He even admitted to me that he had honked his horn at me a few times, before he met me, because he was running behind schedule for something or another, and when i rolled up to the light and put my leg down, looked directly at him, and he realized i wasn't a small "Lance Armstrong" type of a guy, he just tried not to look at me.
I almost felt bad about that. Almost. He is still amazed at the fact that I am still riding my bikes the way I do.
Permalink Reply by Drewbacca on April 12, 2014 at 1:35pm

I got some angry honks on Thursday, on River Rd. near O'Hare while riding back to the burbs from the Cub's game. :( Of course, it came from a taxi... (besides that, it was a pleasant ride despite being rush hour)

Jerk was trying to give me a message. 

Permalink Reply by KayCee on April 13, 2014 at 4:18am

Interesting.  This morning I was talking to some ladies at the women bike Chicago event about how drivers are usually more decent to us when we are with our families,  and then on the way home I had my first incident of 2014 with a honking, gesturing,  flipping out driver. We were taking Taylor over the expressway and I don't believe she thought I belonged in the lane (I was riding just left of center of the right lane because of an extreme pothole situation.) I imagine the car behind us went around slowly, which must have been an extreme inconvenience to her.  My response is always the same- eye contact, smile, keep going. (No wave today, bumpy road.)  More commonly than the honk, I feel, are the aggressive passers who put on some speed to show they are annoyed you were in their way...  I feel much more intimidated when people pass close or fast than when they honk.

Permalink Reply by Shawn A Conley on April 13, 2014 at 7:27am

Thanks to the OP for posting this because I thought perhaps it was just me.  Drivers seem to be particularly upset with us now, and I was wondering if I just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time over and over again.

There's a lot I want to respond to.  Here goes:

1.)  I think Sarah D. is right.  Maybe winter took it's toll on everyone's patience.

2.) h' 1.0 asked where the OP had been riding.  I know him and he rides primarily on the south side.  Where the incidents are that he's referring to, I'm not aware.  I can tell you where my incidents happened so far this spring - King Dr around 112th or so, 99th & King Dr, Vincennes around the low 120's - all were horn beeping stuff.  At the intersection of 83rd & Cottage Grove, I was heading east on 83rd when a driver pulled the old left-turn-in-front-of-the-cyclist routine.  This is the 2nd time it happened to me on that particular intersection.

3.) Like AM 9.5, I don't enjoy the friendly taps of the horn, but I don't hate them.

This is sort of a side bar, but a friend of mine who isn't a cyclist and lives near 103rd and Vincennes told me just yesterday that the residents, himself included, in that area are upset because they took a lane of traffic away for a bike lane.  He's not ready for me to hit him with the argument from this article.  http://www.treehugger.com/bikes/do-bike-lanes-slow-car-traffic-not-...  So, I advised him that although he doesn't perceive many residents as using the bike lane now, it's there for their use, and they should start using it in an effort to save the over $4/gallon of gas their wasting to go on short trips that can be done by cycling.  I used this argument since he just got finished complaining about gas prices.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on April 14, 2014 at 8:24am

Same.

Had an unpleasant close call with a guy buzzing me on Elston (of all places) on Sunday. Rattling.

KayCee said:

  I feel much more intimidated when people pass close or fast than when they honk.

Permalink Reply by Dave Jacque on April 14, 2014 at 10:29am

I wish cars had a second horn button that would produce a friendly, low-volume, non-threatening sound.  It'd be useful to alert the guy who's fiddling with the radio when the light turns green, or to warn pedestrians when you're coming out of a parking garage across a sidewalk.

Permalink Reply by Irvin Steinert on May 14, 2016 at 10:36am

genius!

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