Questionnaire survey on vehicle horn use

Abstract

The Japanese Road Traffic Law provides that a vehicle horn should be utilized in the dangerous situation or the place where the horn sign was installed. However, drivers are frequently seen to use their vehicle's horn as a signal in the situations when they pass each other. Given such situations, the mentioned above law is likely to become a law in name only. Therefore, a questionnaire survey was carried out to ascertain the current circumstance of a vehicle horn use. The respondents were asked the latest or last remembered case of horn use in various situations of both their driving or as pedestrians. With regards to an experience of being tooted at by another driver, the questionnaire included questions concerning place, traffic volume, the aim of the horn use, time pattern of horn tooting, respondent's mental reaction when tooted at by another driver, etc. As a result, drivers mostly had negative mental reactions (i.e., startled, noisy and irritating) by long toots. Pedestrians' negative mental reactions were mainly aroused by horn use calling another's attention to something or to inform of a danger. Furthermore, nearly 40 percent of the respondents were discontented with the volume and the sound quality of horn.