Not sure how the Miata driver figures this obnoxious horn saved him. Not only would a regular horn have worked, but so would his brakes and clearly there was another lane available as well.
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I’ve always wanted to mount a bicycle bell on my steam locomotive.
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There’s virtually no situation where “legitimate” honking isn’t too late; the only example I can think of is warning someone who’s fallen asleep. I wouldn’t be surprised if paying attention to their horn makes drivers less safe overall.
Also, if someone only hunk to warn of danger, their honking reaction would be a lot slower because they’d hardly ever use it. Everyone knows it’s really the Scolding Button, not a safety device.
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The other situation that I can think of, is the car right next to me drifting into my lane (and, possibly, into my car). Though for all I know they just happen to realize it at the same time I honked the horn, and were moving anyway.
I’m not going to lie, though: having a truck, train, or ship’s horn would be intensely satisfying in numerous situations (if otherwise having no actual use or benefit).
EDIT: I’d also settle for a megaphone. “Well, you sure showed me!” etc.
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When I was growing up my neighbor with a Trans Am had his CB mic wired up as a police style public address system. The way his nonchalant “Move your bike off my driveway” boomed out was the coolest thing I had seen.
Kinda surprised car PA horns aren’t more popular. Maybe for the same reason people text because they are too afraid to call strangers these days.
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An Air Zound is what you’re looking for. It’s an air horn with a flexible hose and a small air tank that fits in a bottle cage, which can be filled from a tire pump. It sounds roughly like the little pre-charged marine horns that people sometimes use at sports events. It has saved my bacon more than once. You can also “blip” it pretty easily, for unwary pedestrians on the trail.
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Imagine hooking this baby up to an autohonker.
Yah, not cool. Probably feels good to use in the rare situation it’s warranted.
What I really want is a “polite” horn. Here in North America (perhaps con-Mexico) the default, and only, horn sound is pretty “ANGRY HORN”. Most cars have very loud horns. It is very uncomfortable to be in front of a car while the horn is sounding. So we only use our horns for serious warnings and often in anger. Lately I’ve started giving a blast to red-light runners and racers.
Far more useful horn usage is found off the continent. Generally smaller cars with less obnoxious-sounding horns, which are used as polite warnings. ‘Meep meep!’ I’m about to pass you. ‘Meep Meep!’, stay on the sidewalk, pedestrian friend. This does lead to a constant cacophony of polite horns. But seems so much nicer.
I do have most ot the hardware and such. I collected the Instructables. Just gotta put one together… eventually!
ETA: I am reminded that my boat (~80’s Starcraft 18’) was originally a police boat. So it has a siren. It is wicked loud! I’ve only let it run for a few cycle when very far from shore.
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You’ll overtax your alternator doing that in Tijuana. /s
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Just add wheels to this:
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Exactly!
Yay, more traffic noise! Just what we need. >.<
I had one where one of my rear brakes has locked on and so there was smoke coming out of the wheel - I hadn’t noticed, but the driver behind me got my attention and we pulled over so he could tell me.
But yes, most of the time I’m concentrating on avoiding the accident, and by the time I consider using the horn I’ve already slowed down and/or steered out of the way.
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Yep. The number of people I find behind me with fog lights on in very much non-foggy conditions…
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Stuck behind someone who hasn’t noticed the lights have changed from red to green? (Probably 'cos they were looking at their fucking phone.) I guess that might just fall into the ‘metaphorically asleep’ category.
Holy crap, even a Thunderbolt isn’t that loud! Keep in mind, every +3 dB is approximately a doubling of power.
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That’s not even the best bit:
While the Chrysler-Bell siren achieved its acoustic goals, its other specs were not quite as advanced: The first production models were manually controlled. A seat was provided, requiring a single brave soul to climb aboard, Slim Pickens-style, rotating until the nuclear flash relieved both man and machine of duty.
(From another article about the Chrysler sirens, link in the Nukes thread.)
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I’ve wanted the “War Rig” horn from Mad Max: Fury Road on my truck, but that might be a bit pretentious. One of the old-school “AHH-OOO-GAAA” horns might be funnier, though. (I mean, in all liklihood it’ll be just a sound file that’s played on an outdoor speaker mounted under the hood, so it might be amusing to have it do a number of different sounds, or use it as a PA system in a pinch.)
In Texas, I was riding a chopped Triumph motorcycle that came without a horn, and I found out a simple bulb horn met the criteria to register the bike. 
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