Is horn honking anti-social?

[Grumpybear31]

We live in the country. It is not completely in the middle of nowhere, but a small village quite cut off, with some residential streets with various types of houses. It is a very peaceful area, the loudest noises around are usually the odd sheep or cow. Obviously there is the odd car and occasional delivery vans, but most of the people here are retired so not busy at all.

We had new neighbours earlier in the year, they have been generally very friendly, stopped for a chat or waved etc and they seem nice. They had work done to the house which was fine, everyone expects noise when people move in and have builders but the issue we have with them is that they honk their car horn every time they leave and arrive. They also have adult children who come and go regularly and do the same. We have gently asked them not to and they seemed to lessen for a bit but now have started up again in full force. They also do not just honk once but several times, and it doesn’t matter what time of day, although they have stopped doing it very late in the evening (waking children was one of our initial issues with it). It now really irritates me and I don’t know whether I am completely overreacting. I am really not a confrontational person so don’t feel comfortable going round there. They thought it was quite funny last time my husband said something. They just don’t seem to understand that it is antisocial, or is it just me and I’m being unreasonable, grumpy and overly sensitive?!

My adult sons do this as they are wind up merchants and their best friends live three doors down from us. They honk their horn when they pass their friends’ house and their friends do the same, mainly to wind up us, the parents, and the busybody neighbour next door. The number of homes this happens is minimal and it was ever so. They rarely used a car whilst living at home. Two of the boys now live on the other side of the world and the other two are elsewhere in the UK. I quite miss the fun and the neighbours, even the busybody, have never complained.

Our newish neighbours do the same. It never bothered me that much until during the day they let their small kids sit in the car and just honk the horn for up to half an hour at a time. It's driving me insane as I am very ill and need rest especially after having treatment regularly. We tried talking to them but they do it more now

We live on a country lane outside a small town, it’s often used as a short cut. Our house is on the inside of a bend. This year we have experienced so many vehicles sounding their horn as they approach the bend, presumably they think they are ‘warning others of their presence’, however make no attempt to slow down! Our lane is designated a ‘quiet area’ on road signs and to drive carefully. Some do it at 6am. Some do a ‘beep beep’, others sound their horn five to seven times. DH thinks someone from his old company has told their friends to do it to annoy us (as he set up his own business in same field). We’re so fed up of it. You can be sitting in the garden on a nice day, and in the house and hear it. We know that one particular house down the lane has both cars who do it, we have seen the cars passing (after beeping), while we’ve been on the drive. DH says he’s going to pay them a visit. We are tempted to get our garden chairs and sit by the edge of the drive over the weekend and actually go in the road to stop people and ask them to stop doing it.
Sorry for jumping on your thread, OP, I do feel for you! Anyone got any advice on how to deal with this?

It’s twatty, inconsiderate, selfish and illegal.

OP, it really isn't ‘falling out with them’ to say ‘look, could we have a word? This constant hooting is doing our heads in. It’s intrusive, it disturbs the peace, it wakes the kids. Please stop it, and wave goodbye like everyone else does instead! Thank you for your understanding’

If they protest, say ‘well to be fair it is actually illegal. Check the Highway Code’

Tell them you ard glad to have them as neighbours and don’t want to fall out but the hooting is too much.

Be clear. Don’t pussy foot around and make a joke if it. Pay them the compliment of being sending adults who can listen to a fair point politely made.

Good luck!

Sympathies OP our neighbours do the same, they are a early morning people (I'm not) and it's usually my alarm call, I find it particularly annoying at weekends.
However they are nice people , helpful neighbours, will look after our cat when we are away so basically I've chosen not to mention it.

Is this a thing? I have literally never heard of anyone doing it. That is one of the most inconsiderate and pointless things I have heard of. (Honking when leaving? The use of the word bye would surely be sufficient.)

I would probably kill them after two days. Honestly. Contact the council. They won't know it's you. It could be anyone in a 100-m radius.

What is the Council able to do in this scenario?

I feel for you - had this with builders who moved into a property on our road to flip it. He would rev the porche at 5am, honk hello and goodbye like an Emperor needing validation and a red carpet.

Idiots. Highway code says horn is there to alert people to your presence on the road but I don't think people who do this have the brain cells to comprehend this isn't about audible jazz hands of "HEY EVERYONE I'M HERE!'

Are they doing it because there's bad visibility coming out of their driveway? Still annoying, I'm sure, but maybe they need one of those mirrors to see down the road?

Could you put up a sign along the road saying nesting birds or something?
It's pure selfishness and lack of consideration to anyone else that causes this. I can't believe that some people think being "wind up merchants" is actually funny to anyone but the selfish gits who think "it's just bantz" is a valid phrase rather than a signifier of stupidity and archaic values that went out with Benny Hill.

@Pandasquishy funnily enough, when I was typing on this on Saturday evening DH had gone out to collect a takeaway and saw the woman in her garden, so stopped and spoke to her. Asked her politely to stop beeping. She said she would continue doing it for her safety as she can’t see things coming. The thing is, she doesn’t even slow down! I’ve seen her out of the bedroom window, she seems to think that as she has beeped the horn that she’s covered herself. Seriously though, if you were driving a tractor you would not hear it. In my 30+ years of driving, I have never beeped on a bend, I just slow down. Half an hour later her husband came to our door. He seemed reasonable but said that she has said she won’t stop doing it and doesn’t care that we have lived here 25 years with no issues.

We are now going to approach the parish council to see if we can find out about getting some signs put up though I’m not holding out much hope.

Maybe a sign about kill your speed not a child - kids have no where to go on a country road if she is tearing about. Or ask the council if they can put those pneumatic traffic tubes used for traffic monitoring down to test the speeds along the road, to prove they need a sign about slowing down. She won't need to honk if she does 20-30 on the bends rather than 60.

Adult daughter left yesterday. We said goodbye. We waved as she and her partner drove off and she honked the horn as she drove past us. Bank holiday Monday before 10.00 am.

We had this in a previous house. They also like to punctuate with screams of “LOVE YOU!!! BYE! LOVE YOU!!!!!” So obnoxious. Especially past midnight. I don’t miss it one little bit. Unfortunately they didn’t care that it was a nuisance to everyone else on the street and I wasn’t going to open a complaint with the council, as that would have meant that when we tried to sell we would have been legally obliged to disclose the “neighbour dispute” to potential buyers. We were planning to move anyway and now life is much more peaceful. Hope your new neighbours are a little more considerate when it’s raised again.

It could fall under the definition of statutory nuisance.

It would probably depend on how often it occurred.

The fact that it is also illegal under the highway code under certain circumstances might help build a case.

It’s twatty, inconsiderate, selfish and illegal.

couldn't put it better myself.

I could be marginally sympathetic to a family who drives across Europe once a year and arriving is a big deal, and it's once a year, but when it's people who live in the next village and are there 3 times a week, or anyone and everyone? Fuck off.

would everyone making a big and loud show of going outside to see what's happening and why the horn would make a point?
I am not sure, but I wonder what other people think

So someone will need to gather evidence? Assume Council officers won’t do that for you?

It's rude when there's no need to honk the horn, yes. I live in a place where all the horns are honked after a football match has been won and that's quite annoying too, but at least only for one evening.

I would start honking my horn each time I arrived and left just to confuse them