Car Horns

Those things will make you shit a pickle if you're close.

 

shit a pickle  

How 'bout the volume of the horns on some of those buses?  Those things will make you shit a pickle if you're close.

Haha and blow your ear drums too. I managed to block out the cars horns before moving to Shanghai, now it sometimes gets annoying if they go through the night I'm having trouble getting to sleep.

I agree about the Scooters, today I was looking up at some traffic lights and edging forward to cross the road, for some reason the scooter guy coming towars me didn't want to honk. On this occasion I turned my head just in time.

High beams are bad, however, I think buses and taxi's driving at night without ANY lights is the very worst.  You can't see the buggers coming at all.   

I think it was worst in Wuxi, I didn't notice it as much in Dalian.

I've recently taken out two of them, just because I had no idea they were coming up behind me. The first because I took a step sideways to avoid a puddle and the second when I turned to point across the street. Down they went, and my arm is still a little sore.

I'd kill for that opportunity.  Literally.

Quote from: Stil on March 21, 2013, 01:06:49 AM

I've recently taken out two of them, just because I had no idea they were coming up behind me. The first because I took a step sideways to avoid a puddle and the second when I turned to point across the street. Down they went, and my arm is still a little sore.

I'd kill for that opportunity.  Literally.

I didn't take them out on purpose. 

They both tried to avoid me.

After a little over a year in China I've come to the conclusion the object of life is to make as much noise as possible, be it: blowing your horn, yelling into your phone or pre-enacting WW3 with fireworks 24/7/365.

...

The thing about car horns though is they are by design grating and distressing. They are meant to be offensive to the ear and spirit the better to have you notice and react. If they sounded, say, like classical piano or violins, that'd be different. Chinese could cotinue with this grand social symphony they're making and the world would be abetter place for their efforts.

Quote from: A-Train on March 21, 2013, 04:21:55 AM

Quote from: Stil on March 21, 2013, 01:06:49 AM

I've recently taken out two of them, just because I had no idea they were coming up behind me. The first because I took a step sideways to avoid a puddle and the second when I turned to point across the street. Down they went, and my arm is still a little sore.

I'd kill for that opportunity.  Literally.

I didn't take them out on purpose. 

They both tried to avoid me.

Some people have greatness thrust upon them. 

The thing about car horns though is they are by design grating and distressing. They are meant to be offensive to the ear and spirit the better to have you notice and react. If they sounded, say, like classical piano or violins, that'd be different. Chinese could cotinue with this grand social symphony they're making and the world would be abetter place for their efforts.

Ditto for car alarms

Quote from: Calach Pfeffer on March 21, 2013, 12:18:20 PM

The thing about car horns though is they are by design grating and distressing. They are meant to be offensive to the ear and spirit the better to have you notice and react. If they sounded, say, like classical piano or violins, that'd be different. Chinese could cotinue with this grand social symphony they're making and the world would be abetter place for their efforts.

Ditto for car alarms

Scooter alarms. DON'T forget SCOOTER ALARMS.

I seem to recall that bicycles used to have a non-grating, inoffensive little bell - only to be rung to warn pedestrians that the rider was about to swoop past at dangerous speeds.

Technically, using one's horn can result in a 200 RMB find in downtown Dongguan.  The warning signs have been in place for years.  I think it's the city's way to being able to collect a few billion RMB in a single day if there's ever a serious fiscal crisis.

Aye Stil makes a good point about pedestrians, they are even more annoying than cars

It's a total mystery how some of these people in their 30s and 40s are still alive despite not understanding the need to look before you cross a busy road or bike lane

Long, long ago, the way cars used the road was different. People would walk wherever they damn pleased--sightlessly, drunkenly, normally, whatever--and car drivers avoided them. It was a feature of riding a bike that anticipating where a car might end up next was function of knowing where pedestrians where rather than sighting painted lines upon the road. Cars veered and wobbled and shot around everywhere, but there was system to their lunacy and it was relatively easy to pick up.

These days the worst of those habits persist, such as driving on the wrong side of the road because it's easier than making a u-turn, but swerving around people has been replaced by honking. The cars too move faster and are more numerous.

I believe that in these patterns of road use we can see the future.

I believe that in these patterns of road use we can see the future.

Piles of twisted metal and flesh, I presume.