Can Aggressive Honking Be a Form of Negligence?
Honking may not only be bad for your health, due to stress put on your cardiac system caused by noise pollution (according to Brainfacts), but honking can also lead to collisions that would otherwise not take place. Honking is a form of distraction and escalation of road rage, both of which increase the likelihood of a collision. If you were injured in a collision that was caused by another driver’s road rage due to excessive honking, tailgating, or another form of aggressive driving, you need to talk to an attorney about your legal options for compensation.
Why Honking is Dangerous
While horns are included in cars for safety, such as to warn another driver to keep from merging into an already occupied lane, the fact is that horns are more commonly used to punish or retaliate against other road users. According to AAA’s Foundation for Traffic Safety, 45 percent of drivers report using their car’s horn to show their annoyance. Honking is a form of road rage, which can escalate aggressive driving, startle other road users into making a maneuver that puts themselves or others at risk, or distract the victimized driver from another hazard, such as a light that is changing from green to yellow.
The Problems With Unnecessary Honking
- It causes noise pollution for other people in the area;
- It can startle other road users, causing their hearts to race, foot to stomp on the pedal, or cause them to suddenly swerve or veer off the road;
- It distracts other road users from paying attention to what they, and others, are doing;
- It escalates road rage, and can cause the other driver to retaliate in an even larger, more dangerous manner;
- The combination of stress and distraction that very loud or excessive honking causes can last for minutes, putting other road users in flight or fight response, and detracting from their ability to drive.
Other Forms of Road Rage
Honking may be one of the most common forms of road rage, but there are plenty of others that often go hand in hand with it. One or more of the following types of road rage generally accompany excessive, retaliatory, impatient, or unnecessary honking:
- Speeding;
- Weaving in and out of traffic, particularly without a turn signal;
- Illegally passing on the shoulder, in the bike lane, or on an exit ramp;
- Tailgating;
- Yelling at another driver;
- Flipping another road user off or making obscene or rude gestures;
- Throwing objects at another road user;
- Forcing another road user, including motorcyclists and bicyclists, off the road;
- Unnecessary or sudden braking to scare or punish another driver;
- Bright headlights to penalize other drivers;
- Ramming or sideswiping a driver, bicyclist, motorcyclist, or pedestrian;
- Intentionally blocking another car from passing; and
- Moving in front of another car and slowing down to intentionally anger or punish that driver.
Call an Experienced Orlando Personal Injury Attorney Today
Are you a victim of another driver’s road rage? If you suffered serious injuries because of another driver’s excessive honking, speeding, tailgating, swerving, and/or another type of road rage, you have options. Call the experienced Orlando car accident attorneys at the Payer Law today at 866-930-1238 to schedule a free consultation.
Resource:
exchange.aaa.com/safety/driving-advice/aggressive-driving/#.X1gFO5NKiYU
brainfacts.org/thinking-sensing-and-behaving/diet-and-lifestyle/2018/noise-pollution-isnt-just-annoying-its-bad-for-your-health-062718#:~:text=Numerous%20studies%20have%20linked%20noise,ambient%20sound%20have%20significant%20effects.
https://www.payerlawgroup.com/wrong-way-drivers/
