India is an exceptionally beepy place
India is an exceptionally beepy place. All the roads in Chennai are packed full of vehicles zooming about in seemingly well organized chaos, tooting for time to time From what I can tell there are four types of motor vehicles: motorcycle, three wheeled moto taxis, and full sized busses. The larger two appear to have had their normal horns removed and replaced with little beepy horns. I believe this was done purposefully.
Automotive horns, or at least as we know them in the States, are auditory behemoths that are meant to make a statement about how important whatever it is you are honking about, accuse someone of being an idiot, to show surprise, or just to be a jack-ass. Big horns only piss the world off with the noise they make, and irritate the horn using driver more by reinforcing angry with angry sounds… in s sort of negative feed-back of automobile angst .
But little beepy horns are different. They just say ‘Hey!’ in a rather meek voice to the cars around you, much in the way that birds chirp at one another in a flock to coordinate movement. The result is a mass of motorcycle swarming around cars swarming around buses, all beeping excitedly in a simple one word language. Planning to pass a car? ‘Beeeep!’ Get cut off? ‘Beep!’ Someone straying to close to your vehicle? ’Beep!’ Traffic stopped? ‘Beep beep beep! And because the horns are non-conformational, no one seems to get the least bit upset about it.
Of course, this all seems grand for an outsider’s perspective. The reality is that road accident are one of the major causes of deaths in young men. And in India, where the bulk of traffic (is many cities) is two wheeled and motorized, the toll is particularly high. And the sign I saw earlier today which states “Driving fast thrills but kills” convinces me to check my sped about as much as the anti-tobacco add “Smoking is for Adults” convinces teenagers to wait until they are 18.
Automotive horns, or at least as we know them in the States, are auditory behemoths that are meant to make a statement about how important whatever it is you are honking about, accuse someone of being an idiot, to show surprise, or just to be a jack-ass. Big horns only piss the world off with the noise they make, and irritate the horn using driver more by reinforcing angry with angry sounds… in s sort of negative feed-back of automobile angst .
But little beepy horns are different. They just say ‘Hey!’ in a rather meek voice to the cars around you, much in the way that birds chirp at one another in a flock to coordinate movement. The result is a mass of motorcycle swarming around cars swarming around buses, all beeping excitedly in a simple one word language. Planning to pass a car? ‘Beeeep!’ Get cut off? ‘Beep!’ Someone straying to close to your vehicle? ’Beep!’ Traffic stopped? ‘Beep beep beep! And because the horns are non-conformational, no one seems to get the least bit upset about it.
Of course, this all seems grand for an outsider’s perspective. The reality is that road accident are one of the major causes of deaths in young men. And in India, where the bulk of traffic (is many cities) is two wheeled and motorized, the toll is particularly high. And the sign I saw earlier today which states “Driving fast thrills but kills” convinces me to check my sped about as much as the anti-tobacco add “Smoking is for Adults” convinces teenagers to wait until they are 18.