Lmfao imagine it gets stuck on like "go fuck yourself"

As a league of legends player, there is no signal that can universally be accepted to mean a specific thing. It would be abused by bad actors.

That being said, making a wrong turn is more acceptable than being an asshole or endangering other's lives or property. Pay more attention or accept the consequences.

I've only seen that in Eastern Europe, but as both a "thank you" and also "oh, shit, sorry."

It's not a thing in the States at all. There's zero use of the hazard lights other than to indicate your car is having problems and you need to pull over, or you're parking (poorly, usually) and will be right back.

This isn't a thing where I live but I wish it was!

Usage is also country specific. Different countries use different horn communication

The way people communicate in cars using hazard lights is country specific usually in my experience.

I think it's healthier for everybody to accept that mistakes happen, and tolerate the correction, knowing that one day you might make the mistake too.

An invasive lane change costs a few seconds to the other person, while rerouting will usually cost at least a minute. In other words, if we imagine everybody in the world makes that mistake once a month, then forcing everybody to reroute rather than do an invasive lane change, costs the world thousands of more hours.

Driving involves a lot of soft decisions. Any action can be risky, even a regular lane change. But we still do lane changes all the time. Ultimately it's up to us to judge.

Point is, I think there are cases where making a last minute lane change can be totally safe, eg if the cars in the other lane are already stopped.

"Sorry I endangered your life, but I cannot be bothered to reroute for a minute."

Yes mistakes happen, but the healthier solution is for people to accept the consequences of their actions. Your view is a manifest to the egocentric society we decry every so often.

If someone crashs into you doing an invasive lane change (or any other mistake correction) I hope you're thankful for them not adding to the world's wasted hours.

What the fuck man.

Endangered life? Where did OP say they endangered someone's life? It could have been a lane change in stopped traffic. Which is 100% safe, albeit a bit annoying to the person you cut off. I assume OP knows the difference between annoying and unsafe.

What causes accidents are not the cars and conditions you see, but the ones you don't.

Humans aren't machines, they make mistakes. And cars have a lot more blind spots than we realize.

That's why we have rules. If we are predictable and follow the rules, even when we don't see anything that could stop us from taking a shortcut, then we're being considerably safer.

Keep in mind that, on the road, it's not just your own safety you need to ensure. An accident can also harm other people, so the more reason to prevent them.

You used the word invasive lane change.

In situations where you're basically saying, "thank you for being a better driver than me," opening your window and putting out your hand with all fingers fully spread is the correct gesture. For me at least, it dissipates my anger when someone has cut me off, because at least they're acknowledging and apologizing. I usually assume the reason is because shitty GPS gave them impossible directions.

There's already a gesture 🖐️ and there's blinking your hazard lights.

Western Europe too. But then again there are a lot of eastern European truck drivers here.

Hey you, on the bike!

Relevance to the post: 5%

If the lane next to you has stopped traffic, but you cut into a gap between cars and edge in as the traffic begins to move again, that is an "invasive" but also 100% safe move.

It sounds like you've never driven before.

But driving rules are not precise. For example, when doing a lane change, how much space should you have in the lane you are entering? It's entirely up to us to judge.

So obviously don't drive on the wrong side of the road whenever you feel like it, but if you for example want to squeeze into a lane of stopped cars (while your lane is also stopped), I don't see the issue

Use "safe lane change" then, maybe? Instead of making up scenarios afterwards, where invasive equals safe.

But I feel you have a problem admitting mistakes in general, not just when it comes to traffic.

If you think I don't drive, I think you shouldn't drive.

The word "invasive" doesn't even matter here. That was a word you introduced and I was just using it too. But if you want, we can use OP's terminology. OP said cut in line, you responded saying not to do that, and I'm saying that it's fine and can be totally safe.

I'd love a 2nd quieter & apologetic horn in my car. When driving electric behind pedestrians it often takes them some time to realize that there is a car driving behind them, and I don't want to use my regular horn to ask them to let me pass.

Please read the comment chain again if you think I used the term first, lol. u/sunsofold used it, you used it, and only then I entered the discussion.

I flash my hazard lights a few times.

Ok my mistake I didn't realize I was replying to a different person

I'm in Australia and I don't honk at all when I'm in the wrong.. I put my hand up passively at least twice, once when I'm being let in and second time when I'm leaving the intersection.

When I say "put my hand up" I mean I extend my arm, all my fingers are together like I'm saying Hi but the hand stays still.. This symbol in Australia is what you do to say thanks to people letting you get in front of them and what you do to say sorry to people you've cut off.

A horn thats intended to mean sorry would be misused or misinterpreted on purpose.

Drive better so you dont need to apologize

Please point to the inconsistency

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you've been heiling Hitler all this time

Where I’m at, you turn on the hazard to say thanks to people behind you, If you get flashed with brights, message received.

GREAT JOB

I've noticed some small number of people here (Australia) turning them on when they break hard but I think that might be something that model of car does automatically when you jump on the anchors.

It's pretty common in Palestine, not sure about other Arab countries.

we kinda do that in the US midwest but it's more of a thanks for letting me in, the apology sign is a middle finger lmao

it's not inconsistent, it's just talking about league in a post about driving lmao

if it was totally safe then there's nothing to apologize for

in my state the driver manual specially states to change lanes with enough space that you can see in your rear view mirror both headlights of the car your getting in front of

if it's 100% safe there's no need to apologize!

it gets used when approaching stopped traffic on a freeway so cars behind you can brake earlier

I thought about doing this with custom sounds a few years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8wqnk_TsA

“sorry, I screwed up. Excuse me. I just need to slip in there.”

My problem with this is that the screw up is the slipping in. In other words, accidents happen and there's nothing wrong with apologizing for something you already did by accident -- but in this case, it's preemptively apologizing for doing something on purpose that you know is wrong, cutting someone off because you already were late/past where you need to go.

If you cut someone off because you didn't see them and you thought it was safe, that's a good reason to apologize. Mistakes happen and it's good to take accountability.

If you're seeing that it's not really safe and the other guy is going to have to slam his brakes because you're going to consciously on purpose cut him off, then yeah you're just being a shitty driver on purpose. Apologizing for something you knowingly did on purpose and will do again? That just makes you a liar on top of that.

Oh, yeah, I guess so. I've done that a few times when I was pulling up to the back of the traffic.

How does your comment have so many upvotes when it doesn't address the actual topic about a new horn sound at all? It's just finger wagging.

A good example of why humanity is doomed: people are shackled to their reflexive need to jerk off their egos at any and every opportunity they see rather than focus on thinking.

Various horn sounds is a good idea.
I always wanted text messaging displayed on the vehicle.

Instead of addressing the horn sound itself, I've addressed the underlying need/desire for it.

Addding a sorry button wouldn't make things safer or chill tempers, it'd just empower more people to make dangerous moves; playing it off as fine because 'I pressed the sorry button, people should be ok with me endangering them'

The rules of the road exist for good reason. When people don't follow them, it effects more than just themselves and has cost many people their lives through no fault of their own.

Be a better driver; don't make others pay for your poor planning and judgement.

Even OP appears to agree with this, given their reply and upvote on my comment.

A good example of why humanity is doomed: people are shackled to their reflexive need to jerk off their egos at any and every opportunity they see rather than focus on thinking.

An interesting double-standard you have there.

Implying I'm somehow a bad person for pointing out and discussing the consequences of these choices instead of just patting OP on the back and agreeing with their desire - without actually providing any meaningful counter argument to what I've said.

If the OP had only written "Horns should come equipped with different sounds to better communicate with other drivers", which is the overarching gist of what they were musing, the thread would be different. But they added the story which prompted the thought.
Instead of considering the benefits, or even drawbacks, of the proposed suggestion- you fixated on the story itself, seeing a great opportunity to interject some moralizing and also indirectly boast to the rest of the readers about what a good driver you think you are.
There's nothing to debated about what you wrote, everything you said is correct.

But it's easy to admonish others opening up to explain a mistake by clubbing them with an imagined perfect scenario.

Should all people be better drivers? Yes, of course. Is that realistic? No. And is it really related to the actual proposal the OP opined on? Very tentatively.

Also, I certainly don't think you are a bad person. A very human person. Just like me. And all the upvoters who are now thinking "Yeah, OP's dad should be a better driver! And thinking that makes me feel better about myself" instead thinking about auditorial communication.

What is invasive about that, and why would you have to say sorry? It doesn't sound dangerous is everyone is stopped at the same light.

It is not a "sorry" horn, but flashing your hazards once or twice is how to say "thank you" to the car behind you that lets you in.

If you don't see the similarity, then maybe you don't drive a car lol

It's common in the USA, especially amongst truckers, where you can't see the hand wave.

It is common in the States, especially amongst truckers.