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Q: Do Chinese people love to honk their car horns???
What is it with Chinese people and their incessant need to honk their horns? Even if they are in a traffic jam and no one can move, you still have people honking like crazy. Do they really think its going to help matters?
11 years 11 weeks ago in Transport & Travel - China
Once I was guessing, Chinese drivers must be seeing
comet is coming, and they warn others with constant honking, butt....
No, they don't think! In real, they feel powerless in traffic jam, so they honk.
Same as they don't stop their car to pedestrians, not even in bad weather, 'cause 'rickshaw's' owners are wealthier than poor pedestrians, thus they have right way. 
The consensus is that they beep a lot to let people know they're round the corner or incoming, of course the concept of pedestrians being able to magically teleport themselves away from the car's path two seconds after it honks is perhaps a little too optimistic. Traffic jam honking on the other hand is something that makes no sense whatsoever to me.
It's pure arrogance nothing else. I stopped to pay attention to it. Sometimes, when they honk, I walk slower then usually. Thus they have to wait until I move away even though they still honk the horn behind me.
I thought honking the horn means 'please slow down'? 
That's what I ALWAYS do when I hear it.
As people constantly honk their horn it has no meaning anymore, the same goes for flashing the headlights. The boy who cried wolf did so in vain.
In a completely unrelated note: Earlier today I was talking to a friend of mine who works at a Chinese aircraft manufacturer here in town. They are working on their own original design for a plane they will call the Aircoach C666 Sleepliner. However the design work has ground to a halt which I belive might be the end to this, otherwise very well run project. They have failed to locate the horn in "the papers they get their inspiration from"
As I understand it when you buy a car in China the dealer gives you the option of a louder than normally fitted horn or a turn indicator stalk on the steering wheel. Nearly all Chinese car buyers opt for the horn and as a result the indicators now come connected to the horn!
BHGAL:
Not a horn, but reminds me of: I bought 2 Nissan pickups in 1999, straight off the boat from Japan in Richmond BC…….. me and my brother went to get them, in Richmond, at the boat. Then it came time for local extras………… I totally understood the music extras stuff at the time, but when they asked me if I wanted a bumper, it floored me……….. duh, yes I want a bumper………….. and then, do you want a plastic bumper that looks like a bumper or do you want the more expensive real bumper. They both had pre-installed horns and we got $1000 worth of Black & Decker tools with the trucks …. Under 12000 each in case you too have memories ………..new 1977 Camaro $6500, horn included.
If you've spent a lot of time in taxis, it might become evident that honking the horn means "GET THE HELL OUT OF THE WAY, OR I'LL MOW YOU DOWN." 
When stuck in a dead stop for 20 minutes this is their only outlet.
Back home people would be yelling obscenities out the window so the horn is not that bad...but yes I agree it is a futile endeavor.
Using the horn while driving helps avoid sideswipes and warns motorbikes you are passing...it does serve a purpose even though it took me a while to see it.
Now that I live in a complex off the main drag I can actually sleep in peace now...maybe that helps.
Dunno about Chinese people but I certainly do. All I need now is a car.
Remember when you were a baby and you kept shaking that thing that makes an annoying noise because you had nothing else to do and it amused you?
>Traffic Jams
(and sometimes red lights, because they're OBVIOUSLY noise-sensitive. The more you honk, the faster it turns green, right guys?)
mArtiAn:
Shaking that thing that made an annoying noise? What d'you mean, my sister? Sure, I remember. And yeh, she turned green pretty fast. Honk honk. All over the carpet. Yuch.
