Why do women use the horn more aggressively than men?
 

I would never post something this silly and irrelevant but the last 4 or 5 times I have been blasted by a horn, I have always looked in the mirror to see a middle-aged lady as the perpetrator. Usually she is in an SUV or a heavy duty sedan with a powerful engine.
The last and most recent was 10 minutes ago as I was coming back from Lunch.
The scenario is always the same. There is usually an easy alternative solution to using the horn for the for the perpetrator, such as a slight turn or a brief pause on the brakes, but she rarely uses it. Instead she issues a Mega Blast or Double Mega Blast from the horn. This is followed by a Full Throttle Blast of a 24 valve DOHC 6 cylinder and the screeching of tires as they swerve to go around you with their size 7 XXX shoe pumping 300 hp of heavy Metal.
The time previous to that I was blasted with the horn was right in front of my own house in a quiet neighborhood.
The Lady could have easily driven around me. I was so p____ at her rudeness I yelled at her "Lady you need to start taking some estrogen to chill your menopause!" She gave me the finger after that. ( I am usually pretty quiet and easygoing unless I am sleep-short).
Obviously someone is going to say what does this have to do with Mercedes Diesel engines. Since I once drove a W123 240D I collected more than my share of hornblasts.
There must be some invention or something that someone here on the Forum could come up with to stop this horrible practice. I hardly ever use my horn and always slow down to let Senior Drivers in or to let them blend into high speed traffic more easily by setting a pick for them. Personally I would like some type of magnetic device that would disarm their Credit Cards.
Its frustrating. At least with a guy, you could roll around on the ground and exchange fisticuffs ( since in middle age we tend to have a lot of padding it would be like Bugs Bunny fighting the Pillsbury Doughboy )until one of the two of you passed out due to oxygen starvation, arthritis or some other middle age sypmtom, but who wants to roll around on the ground with some tough lady.
Heck, if these ladies fight the way they drive, she might even get the better of you.

hormone driven mental instability....... :eek:






my wifes gonna get me for that comment.... :eek:

I forget about my horn. If somebody does something stupid, I usually just sit there and cuss. In my first car, the horn was broke the day I got it and I never fixed it, so I think that led to my reduced usage. I did have the best bumper sticker on that car, though...Horn's Broke, Watch for Finger.

There's no use trying to respond in anger. Instead, respond with a smile and a wave, followed by suggestive tongue motions once you have her attention. Believe me, this seems to give them pause. I've never had one get out of the car and come after me, but I suppose then you could drive off, saying "No thanks, I've given up beef!"

Richard, the answer to that question is very simple:

Women use the horn, men use their middle finger, or, their fists if things escalate. :(





It's already invented. It's called a "proximity regulator". It will work very effectively, because said person is right on your ass. Do a search.

I'm going to install a modified version on the SDL. I'd like to eject straight diesel fuel right out of a couple of nozzles pointing rearward at about 6 feet off the pavement. The problem is mounting the nozzles without drilling the body. I might just capitulate and drill the body to mount suitable nozzles adjacent to the license plate.

Brian, why don't you just make a custom license plate frame with nozzles on it? The fuel can be passed through the body via a banjo bolt that also holds the plate and frame.

I still will need to drill the body behind the plate to pass the tubing and fit the banjo bolt.

Probably just as easy to drill adjacent to the plate and install some grommets.

you are too d*** fast with the keys! :eek: (see my edit above).......edit, thought about it a minute, sorry, never mind! :o

I almost did something like that in my younger days.....using a remote resivour and windshield wiper pump with a dash switch.....I never went through with it.....I was going to use brake fluid. I had three fooglights with the lenses removed facing out the back window wired to a dash switch....VERY effective at getting rid of tailgaters at night. eventually got rid of thse however on my own.....technically they couldn't bust me with an equipment violation becasue of how it was set up. but that was 25 years ago.

With those two slow vehicles you now own, you should reconsider it. :D

But, don't use brake fluid. No reason to strip the paint of the $hitbox. Just want to stink it up a bit and get a good dollop of fuel on the windshield. :cool:

Is brake fluid that caustic on auto paint?

I love this idea :D Perhaps some modified winshield washer jets with adjustable nozzles will do the trick. ;)

I was an agrey youth back then...I have meelowed out and never really considered it since.....

I don't have that many beligerant tailgaters anymore......last one was about a month ago....a jerk with a fairly new BMW...that almost found out my rear bumper was stronger than his grill and hood were when I slammed on my brakes....(with the W123)

LOLOL..........you edited it to add the banjo bolt..............LMAO...........I thought that, because I am so focking blind, I didn't see it the first time.................so I edited mine. :D :D

If it isn't washed off soon it will discolor or even lift paint....most victims won't even think to do that.

Yep, brake fluid will strip the paint.

That's what I want to do, but, I need to make it look like a professional installation with the w/s jets permanently mounted on the back panel in the trunk. Then route fuel oil from under the hood into the trunk via plastic tubing.

The turbulance behind the car on the road shold do a good job of breaking the stream into a mist.....Diesel is less mean.......but it you use brake fluid make sure you keep the back of your car well waxed....incase any of that turbulance gets it on the back of your car. You won't know if it will till you try it however.

You could also consider a intermittent contact switch under the dash somewhere wired to a spare electric fuel pump and a trunk mounted reservoir. ;)

BHD makes a good point about the developmental stage of this project. I was going to suggest a friend following you in a dirty car and try the system with water but the viscosity of the brake or diesel is different so the spray pattern might vary. :)

Whatever happened to just ignoring them, waving friendly, or giving them the finger? Spraying stuff at them wiil at the very least make the situation worst, or worst case cause an accident, in which you'd be at fault.

Only time I use the horn is when I'm at a turn with an green arrow and the person in front isn't paying attention. Even then I give them a few seconds to figure it out.

As it says at the State border "Drive friendly, the Texan way." (or something to that effect)

-Alan

Spray 'em with WVO. Let that stuff sit in the sun too long and it reeks.

I laid out plans and seriously did everything right up to the point of actually installing it......I still have a Windshield washer pump in my toolbox......yes it has been rolling around in there that long.

If I had to deal with enough idiots then I might install one....but at this time its so infrequent its not worth my time.

If you were to squirt the "wrong" person, you might end up with a situation WAY out of control. The gratification may be very short lived. It would be difficult to explain that you squirting them was "accidental". Or if the cops found it. You would probably want some sort of temporary setup that could be quickly removed.

I assumed at first you guys were being tongue-in-cheek about spraying stuff, but I worry someone out there would do that. You could get somebody killed doing that sort of thing. I don't think tailgating deserves the death penalty. Particularly if I happen to be the one they hit head-on when I am passing in the opposite lane and they swerve over because they can't see.

If you want to send a message in a similar manner, why not put an oil nozzle in the exhaust pipe and dump smoke out? That will surely annoy them, but wouldn't be likely to completely impede their vision.

Either brake fluid or diesel would wipe clean with the wipers......adn its transparent.....nobody is sugesting you spray old motor oil.......or paint

And I doubt there is a law against mounting such a kit......they can't charge you if its not illegal.

Thats because the diesel forum is relativly new, we havn't had enough time to give them a reason to make that law yet. :D ;)

I was talking state or federal law.....you are talking forum rule.......


Its not like we are talking trunk mounted rear facing cross bows or spike strip deployment devices.

I'm not thinking of using a firehose back there.

Just a little shot from the pump and some mist will hit the windshield. The dork will need to divert his attention to the wipers and his following distance will increase.

The argument can always be made that the old stinky diesel puts out all kinds of pollutants, including raw fuel on occasion. Don't drive so focking close and you would not have been hit with it. :P

And anyone that whines about it would have to explaine what they were doing 2 feet off your bumper at 55 mph.

Tsk!!!!
 

Tsk!!!

I just complete ignore them or when I'm in a good mood give them weird faces, this really pisses them off!

Used to get really aggressive; with the finger as favourite tool of communication, but at the end the only looser would be my self, driving in anger for an other hour or so.

I don't get aggressive in a supermarket if someone does something stupid, so why would I behave like that when I'm sitting save in my car?

You too live in LA and you know how people drive around here. They are jackholes. Even when you're driving perfectly normal someone else has to come along and mess with you in a rather harmful way. Such as going down the 5 and some idiot approaching you at 100mph (I was going 70mph in the 2nd lane over from the right) decides to park his car in my bumper so close that I didn't see any hood of the car behind me. I tap my brakes cause the traffic is piling up ahead and then he proceeds to speed past and then mash down on his brakes and then start swerving in front of me and doing all of these ridiculous turns.

Another example was my girlfriend driving our Miata who very nearly got clipped by a lifted Navigator going 60+ on a street swerved to avoid being run over and clipped the curb at 40mph....and so we rarely drive the car and probably are going to sell it because it's just plain hazardous to own it!

I bought my w116 largely in part to the fact that the bumper is like a steel 4x4 bolted to the back and it's won my heart over twice cause it was tough enough to take 2 collisions with no damage. :)

In the 2 years I have been here I park my car with ample space on either side. USE my turn signals, don't run red lights, speed excessively, drive on the shoulder, make U turns on red lights, run through the intersection 3 seconds after the light has turned red and honk at the car in front if they don't floor their car 2 picoseconds after the light goes green. I even pay my insurance AND have current DMV tags!

As a result my GF and I have been rewarded with 2 accidents (both not our fault), one keying, tons of near misses, 2 non damaging collisions, and my whole car being stolen with BOTH sets of keys from a building robbery that we were in!

I can't imagine anyone else having all this happen to themselves and their cars and not be ticked about it.

Sorry for ranting. I try to stay low profile but even then, I feel I have had a LOT of car related problems being in LA. :(

I almost had a van with a lady and her son in the back sideswipe me today because she wasn't looking.
I was even driving with my headlights on today! She started to come over, with room but it was tight (like one of those people that cuts you off hardcore) so I let loose with a little horn action (driving my bug my horn got used a LOT) and she whipped it back into her lane and was whiteknucling the wheel. Since I have been there and done a similar thing...I really didn't care but she seemed pretty freaked out.

I use my horn becuase I think its better than getting my blood pressure up EVEN more by flipping out. I just use it, and be done with it, move on.
Defintely not the standard mood of a 18 year old male driver! :D
I guess I just love driving my benz too much to get pissed at anyone in their econoboxes :)

I know what you are talking about, had many similar situations in LA: one time a guy comes out of a drive way right in front of my car, I hunk, the guy go's crazy and follows me to the gas station and gets out of his car and starts to jump like a "monkey" in front of me. I just left, what can you do...kick his ass, not worth it to me.

At least he didn't try to attack you...that possibility always lingers in my mind.

On a lighter note, a few years ago my friend was punched in the face by a very large sarong wearing transvestite man in the car in front of him during a traffic jam for honking at him...er...her. :D

I hate the way people drive and my horn gets a good work out. Just today on the way to school I almost clipped a car. I was on a straight 40mph road doing 45 and getting passed like I was sitting still. :rolleyes: Anyway I lady in a pos Ford going the other way just had to make a left turn that very second. God forbid she sit for a second and let me get out of her way. She floors it and just made it, if it wasn't for my quick reaction I probably would have hit here car right by the rear wheel and spun her pretty good. :mad: %&*%&%^&*^&^(^&^&* I would have been pissed to say the least. She would be working for the next 10 years or so financing an S320 CDI. :D

Anyway people are on my bumper quite a bit, because I refuse to go more then 5 over the speed limit around town. The cops have been out in force and I want to keep my clean record. So of course every jerk in town has to be stuck on my bumper. Sometimes I just wish I had a cheap beater, I would see a "dog" :D slam on my breaks and check out how the front of their new $50k BMW does against my bumper. :D Hmm $1k for a beater x a few rear end collisions...

New Haven is the worst by far, if they are not passing you they go crazy. :eek: I have had people drive on the sidewalk almost clipping my car to get around me at a red light so they can get ahead. :eek: Nothing pisses people off in that city like not going 50+ down every road. :rolleyes:

Revoke Their License!
 

GOD YES! What really pisses me off is people having to pass you as approaching a red light!

WHAT THE F*&@ GOOD IS GETTING TO A RED LIGHT FASTER THAN ME GOING TO DO??!!

And now understand me fully...I will be speeding 5 or 10 over anyway and these psychos in 8mpg V12 Excursions will get up on my bumper and then go flying around me to a red light clearly visible. Oh, excuse me, I didn't know I was supposed to accelerate to a STOP!

The problem is these new cars have such good brakes that it encourages this tomfoolery. People think they need to go down the street as fast as possible until the last moment their brakes can stop them without careening into the intersection.

I drive a turbo and I don't go particularly slow and this happens to me at least twice every day. I love the idea of shooting brake fluid at their cars. It's grossly impractical and offensive. PERFECT!

i have noticed this phenomenon too, and have wondered about it as well. This, from observing female friends drive and use the horn (that last sentence serving as a disclaimer, lest I get accused for being sexist :) ).

for us guys (at least for myself), we instinctively know what a "friendly" horn sequence sounds like. Something like a short "beep-beep", which is akin to normal body-checking in sports, and not taken personally.

Invariably, the female drivers I know use the long "beeeeeeep" sound, which, unbeknownst to them, is very much like cursing to us guys.

Can the female members in this forum give their points of view?

Interestingly, if some driver does something rude to me, like honking the horn in an aggressive manner, and I find out that the driver is female, I don't take it personally ...

I am tempted to sling Feces into their open window.....................


One of these days I might....

Heh, good idea. One of the reasons I drive a diesel is for the car to do that for me out the tailpipe. Maybe I should put my 350SD back together and run it into the ground? At 50 miles per qt, and a constant cloud of oil around me, I could really stick it to them if I do a brakestand. :cool:

Sometimes, I wish I could do a PIT maneuver on any car that cuts me out. I have come very close to pulling one before. Somebody was not letting me merge from a two laner into a one. I gave the SDL a big swerve to the left, and the gentleman's Suberban locked it's wheels. That was that. ;)

hey... not a bad idea! Theres plenty of that in my backyard, thanks to my new dog, the poop machine.

I had ideas of something front mounted to 'pop' peoples tires that cut me off or wouldn't let me in :D never got too far in the defleopment stages but I still like the idea of it, lol.

I rarely use the horn on my cars, I give people as much time as possible to correct their mistakes as possible before I use it, I feel like it makes me seem like just another ass in a mercedes if I did. Although today I HAD to use it or get hit out of my lane but some lady in a jeep not paying attention when merging across TWO lanes, well she was paying attention to, I kid you not, the mirror so she could see how nice her make up looked going on! for god sakes woman, just drive! I noticed another one behind meon the interstate this morning on the way to work reading as newspaper, eyes glancing up every so often. I got the hell out from in front of that nutcase.

The last part of my 280SE I had saved, the horns, are now on my coupe, unfortunatly, 35 year old horns are not very loud so I bought a pair of air horns I will be installing shortly, they ought to do the trick.

Ever couple days I have to lay on the horn to alert soemone merging (Actually shooting directly) across 4 lanes of road that my lane was already occupied...

some of these people actually thing they have the right of way to go where they want when they want..and everyone else better move when they do it.

Bowels feeling a little loose are they doctor? :D

(just playin ;))

when someone does something to endanger or inconvenience me on the road, I try to suppress my instinct to hit the horn first, and instead try to concentrate first on accident avoidance. My brain has only so much "bandwidth", and I would like to devote as much of it to self-preservation first.

THEN, I can get even ...

A buddy of mine who has a long commute, early in the morning (dark) and early evening has a solution to tailgaters. He calls it paying the "tailgating toll" When someone is riding his bumper he opens his sunroof, grabs a handfull of change and tosses it up and out the sunroof! You can imagine the suprise of the tailgater when all that change hits the hood and windshield! Recommend only doing this at night when they can't see what you are doing. RT

Rob, that's an old trick.

Usually we just toss a single penny out the roof. Followed by another one, and then another one until the dork realizes that something is amiss, but he doesn't know quite what it is.

If you toss a handful of coins, he could figure it out and become violent. :eek:

Generally at night they fall way back after I give them a dose of my exhaust.....we've had people race past us giving the finger after we smogged them a few times at night :D :D :D

Hey..I have done that before when I was on my Harley....I always carry a handfull of old lug nuts for dimwits that like to get 5 feet behind me....

One night in the mid 80's I was driving home from a long day at work...it was like 11:30PM 4 punks , guys thought it was funny to get about 3 feet off my back tire......at 70 mph...I speed up they sped up, I changed lanes , they changed lanes...3 miles of this I took my helmet off...and chucked it over my shoulder and through their windshield...I bet they thought that was real funny too, since I saw their taillights three sepperate times as they spun out.... They were all college age guys....probibly drinking...

Only time I ever had to go that far to protect my safety.

Brake fluid = bad idea
 

When I was a young man, we used to load up the ice chest with beer and head to the beach. Once I had to take a piss, but the driver wouldn't stop. I rolled down the back window in his station wagon and turned loose. I was rewarded with spray-back into the face, body, and car. YUCK! :eek:

Better stick to giving them a smoke screen via Italian tune up. ;)

I dunno about the rest of Louisiana . . .
 

. . . but NO and its area is full of nuts. I think they're frightened of all the stalks by the steering wheel; they certainly have no idea about turn signals.

I've given up being so damn nice. Nowadays more and more people are getting my horn, and a nice long blast, too. If somebody wants to get into my lane, if he puts on his turn signal, I back off and let him merge in. If he can't be bothered to flick a lever, I close up the space while blasting the horn to warn him off. (Like some of you, I need more horn. A lot of these clowns with the crashing thumping noises from their speakers -- music, I guess they call it -- probably can't even hear my stock MB horn.)

Doesn't always work, and I'm not going to bluff somebody in a big pickup truck. But even once in a while, it's worth it.

I remember that the diesels were always good for smoking tailgaters. When I was a little boy, and my mom would have someone tailgating us in the 300SD, she would just get on the pedal and smoke em.
Boy, that was fun! :D

I unfortunately have no more smoke in my 300D. I use Power Service and Redline at most fill ups, and I gave it an Italian Tuneup on the steep Beltway 8 bridge over the Houston Ship Channel yesterday, and it didn't smoke at all. So, I don't have the secret weapon for tailgaters anymore, although the SD does, since it's not driven as hard as my car.
-Joe

Bonehead, I won't even ask where you plan on getting said feces while you are traveling down the highway ... :eek: