Foreigner Explains Horn Etiquettes Of India Like A Perfect Indian [Video]
The traffic in India can be described as organized chaos in simple terms. To navigate across any Indian city without pressing your vehicle's horn is next to impossible. Most people do not give it a thought before pressing the horn. However, there are a lot of variations when it comes to horn usage, and recently a foreigner staying in Bangalore, Karnataka, revealed what different types of horn beeps mean in terms of expressions on the road. Most likely, you'd also agree with her breakdown of Indian horn patterns.
Foreigner explains Indian horn etiquettes
The video describing different horn types by a foreigner living in India has been shared on Instagram by Danamarieplus3 on their page. It starts off with the woman pressing the horn for a short while and then describing it. She says that this type of beep mostly means, “Hey, I am just letting you know that I am here.” This is mostly true, as this type of horn just alerts other drivers.
Soon after this, she then describes the medium horn press. She highlights that this type of horn press is generally used as an exclamation by one driver. The woman adds that it simply means, “What are you (other driver) doing? Get out of my lane.” Once again, this is also kind of true, and most people do this on Indian roads.
The woman then adds a special note to the medium horn press description. She mentions that what she has noted living in Bangalore is that after the medium horn press, some people like to give a descriptor by rolling down their windows. They mostly yell at the other person and explain what went wrong. This may not be true for every city, however, as different cities have different people.
Following this, she describes the double horn that means, “I am going to pass you.” As for the bunch of short bursts of horns, she describes them as a signal to stop the other vehicle to talk to. Finally, she talks about the longest horn press, and that signifies the crash avoidance tactic. She highlights that this type of horn is generally pressed to avoid a collision on the road.
Bonus description
While concluding, the woman also talks about the use of the dipper or flashing the headlights. She mentions that this mostly means that the vehicle flashing is coming and wants to go before the oncoming vehicle. The woman adds that it could also mean that a vehicle is stationary and is waiting for the other vehicle to come first.
Are these true?
As mentioned, these horn press types and their descriptions are mostly true. However, they are also dependent on the city. Many cities have different approaches to this, but yes, in general, the descriptions of the woman are correct, and mostly people use horns to express their emotions while driving.
Netizens’ reactions
A number of netizens have agreed with the woman in the comments section of this video. One of the netizens jokingly said, “Give her Aadhar. It's time. Little one.” Meanwhile, another user said, “I love how all Indians know this emotionally, and Americans have analyzed and quantified this.”
One of the netizens also wrote, “You actually wrote a guide and gave words to the horns, which we Indians just developed on our own without any description to it.” Lastly, another funny commenter said, “You can also switch on your windshield wipers to deny and show your dominance when they are trying to pass with their dippers.”