Push The Magic Button Again! Do It!
Most days, BikeSnobNYC will produce one or more paragraphs that delight me greatly. Today, this one got me chuckling audibly.
You’d think there were other devices in the vehicle that he might have employed more effectively if his goal was not to run into me, but apparently by simply sounding an alarm he thought he was doing me a favor. After a brief exchange that was actually fairly civil (apart from the fact that every sentence finished with the word “dumbass”) I reflected upon the incident. An then it hit me. Some people are actually so stupid that they think horns make things happen. They actually believe their car comes with a magic button in the middle of the steering wheel that can change reality. Suddenly, I became aware of the constant chorus of beeping all around me–the kind that’s always present in a big city, and the kind you simply tune out like you do crickets in the country. In every case, I realized the drivers stuck in traffic all around me were using their horns not to communicate information but simply in a vain attempt to change what was happening to them. It was as though they thought sitting in congestion was a bad TV show, and that by honking they might somehow change the channel and be transported to a clear roadway. I’m not sure where this notion comes from. I don’t think there’s ever been a traffic jam where somebody beeped and the thousands of others also caught in the traffic jam suddenly realized, “Hey, he’s right, we can all just go!” and it was over.
Tags: bicycle commuting, car culture, Heh, NYC, stupidity, urban cycling
