I’ll be darned if I’m going to walk to the door of a golf playing buddy whom I’m picking up and risk the chance of facing an angry wife. When I pull into the yard and the lawn looks like it needs mowing and we could run the risk of missing out tee time, I’m using the horn.
I won’t speak for Whitey but when I ride my bike, my thumb is always on the horn button at the first sign of anything that might pose a threat. I don’t have to reach for it when it happens because it is already there, poised for action. Getting out of harms way is more difficult on a bike than in a car. Unlike a car, I can press the horn and steer at the same time…
TwinTurbo, I think you and Wha_Who? are talking about are two different situations. What you and I are talking about is being at the ready with the horn before something happens so that, hopefully, we can use the horn to prevent the situation from becoming dangerous. On the other hand, if someone surprises me with a dangerous situation I didn’t anticipate, by the time it occurs to me to hit the horn, the danger has been abated.
I think you and I see the horn as a useful tool to prevent a situation from becoming dangerous, and Wha_Who? doesn’t understand that potential benefit. He’s right, that a horn shouldn’t be used to educate an erratic driver. It might, however, prevent some of that driver’s erratic behavior.
I have ridden bikes mostly in an urban area including freeways, city streets, inner city, suburbs and parkways for many years. I say a bike horn is useless unless you want to use it to say “Hi” to someone you know. I realize too that riding abilities differ so your sphere of awareness may require a horn.