Evening star., 1923-08-26
Autoists footing Horns Less,
But With More Real Meaning O
Old Habit of Blo,oing Indiscriminately
at Crossings as Measure of Safety
NO,U Out of Date.

message for all motorists is heard in
sWhat it saws. "
driver can no longer afford to ap-
pfodcn crossing with the idea that
ms MS norm will cause everybody
sise 10 grant him the right of way
ne knows that the sounding of his
norm VIII simply warn the other fc,-
low that they will meet at the in
teIsection. 'but the matter of right of
way VIII not be determined until they
actually see each other and note
their respective positions and speeds.
IL IS because oad-hogging has no
chance in traffic that the trend is
toward not blowing the horn at all,
each driver operating his car with
enough caution so as to be ready re-
sardless of the unexpected.
blatant HOrning Growing Less.
In other words. the horn is being
used less and less. thus training driy.
ers to be more alert and to denend
upon senses other than hearing This.
however. does not mean that the horn
is outliving its usefulness: quite the
contrary. The horn is coming to be
Hscd more as safety device and less
as trumpeter.
The abuses of the horn are vanish
Ing in favor of its many advantages
as an instrument of safety.
Excessive horning. like excessive
use OF the brakes, is now regarded as
q
real criticism of excess hornins i not
so much the nuisance a s the danger
The less the horn is used the more
effective it is when there is real need
for it,
Some time ago it was feared that
enough that they were taking
chances on having the other fellow
give the warning and that accidents
wou increase radically conse-
oGence. But it is now evident that
these fears were groundless
Drivers have seen that too much
horninG is ineffective. and they have
found many places where horning
should not be reSorted to at all unless
the horn is the last safety device in
store. The result is that they have
heen forced to place greater depend
ence upon their ability. they are more
cautious a t points where they once
relied upon the horn and they leave
the horn for just the very thing it
was intended for.
Rca! Intent of Horn.
The horn was never meant to be
used when ii would he safer to drive
slower. steer to another position or
app'y the brakes. 1t was intended
either to supplement these courses of
action. or to supersede them in case
they failed.
If the driver of the car sees that by
oioWlng ms horn the other driver. or
the pedestrian. can be helped in the
process of avoiding an accident he
should do so. But he must not RELY
upon this. He must use the other
safety devices on the car in an hon
est effort to prevent an accident.
If the other driver, or the pedes-
trian. cannot be helped by the horn
the driver should try to stop. or steer
out of the way. before he does any
thing else. In a pinch he should use
the horn. 1t is frequently his last
chance.
More accidents have been saved by
proper horning than any other safety
device. 1t is highly important. there
fore, to save your best trick until
last. When your horn is used let it
say something important. Its effec-
tiveness is in it's conservation.
The less dependency you place on
the horn the more you can depend
upon it in an emergency.
Copyright, 1921