Do drivers in the USA also pressure others at green lights?
Posted by SuddenWerewolf7041@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 1185 comments
Hi, I am from Germany. Here it is common that if you are first at a traffic light, the cars behind expect you to move right away when it turns green. If you wait even one or two seconds, they usually honk.
But the honk is not a short friendly reminder like “hey it’s green now,” it is more the aggressive one, like “move asshole.” They hold it longer, and sometimes they also make angry faces or say something you cannot hear but you know it’s a curse.
I wonder, is it the same in the USA? Do American drivers also pressure the car in front of them like this, or is it more relaxed?
John-pirate_@reddit
Why are you not going when there's a green light? It's green, that means go, it doesn't mean "sit there".
DDChristi@reddit
Do you live in one of the big cities? Our closest city had a population ~100K. I regularly visit our closest “big city” ~800K. I’ve lived here in Germany 14 years and I’ve never seen that. Ever. I’ve seen a couple of short honks but that’s if they were straight up sleeping.
pinniped90@reddit
I mean, if the light turns green and you don't move, then sometimes you get the polite short honk.
But if you're sitting there for 3+ seconds, you're getting the long honk. We know you're on your phone....
SteampunkBorg@reddit
Unless you're in Missouri where for some reason people just sit there until the green is at least half over
Jacks_Lack_of_Sleep@reddit
We’ve gotta give all the cars running the red light time to get through the intersection before we can go.
Used_Evidence@reddit
Exactly. Too many people consider red lights to be suggestions in this state
Leading_Sir_1741@reddit
Green: Proceed Yellow: Speed up! Red: Inconclusive. (Maybe really really speed up.)
KONG3591@reddit
You should learn the driving rules for driving in Boston. 1) One way, go anyway. 2) Red, green or yellow doesn't matter. Traffic will keep going right through the cycle 2 or 3 times before some brave soul finally breaks through and the cross traffic continues the pattern. 3) If a pedestrian steps off the curb it's the nearest driver's job to chase them back onto the sidewalk. That's why we often see pedestrians crossing the street in herds. 4) All vehicles operating on the streets of Boston are required to have at least one dent on them at all times.
WinnerAwkward480@reddit
Well Now , it is a Roadway and not a Sidewalk
KONG3591@reddit
No, it's a sidewalk. We chase them off of the roadway back up onto the sidewalk 🤣. And in the city it's a street not a road.
undeniably_micki@reddit
Maryland: same! Stop signs are also just suggestions here. 🙄
KittyCubed@reddit
Same in the Houston area. I pause, especially at lights I know people run all the time.
Dragonflies3@reddit
True. My husband got t-boned by a red light runner a couple months back. I did get a new Camry out it though.
Leading_Sir_1741@reddit
Good thing it wasn’t a new husband!
Dragonflies3@reddit
Yeah. I can’t start over training a new one.
VegetableSquirrel@reddit
^^^This.
86a-@reddit
No cap! Be safe out there.
Much-Performer1190@reddit
Upvote for the cool username.
Aisysoon@reddit
Missouri is one of the few states where drivers ed is in no way required. If you get your license after 18 they don’t even make sure you’ve actually driven a set amount of time with like with a lil sheet or whatever. At least they didnt when I went after 18. Also at least around STL people are known for blowing through lights. It’s advised to wait a second or two so you don’t get plowed into. Rather get honked at and not total my car or y’know myself.
WalmartGreder@reddit
Same in Idaho. I lived out of the country for a few years as a teenager and didn't get my license till 18.
As soon as the clerk saw I was 18, they just handed me my license. No written test, no driving test, nothing.
I had taken drivers ed so I knew how to drive, but that was a little scary, seeing how easy it was to not know anything at all.
pinniped90@reddit
The reason is that people in Missouri don't know how to drive.
CanoePickLocks@reddit
They want to be shown!
Niangua25@reddit
I live in Missouri now and they need to be shown how to: use a turn signal, accelerate after pulling out in front of you, drive AT LEAST the speed limit, and get the fuck out of the left lane!!!!
SteampunkBorg@reddit
I was driving along the highway one morning, three lanes, and an onramp came up, so I moved to the middle to give the joining people some space. Speed limit was 70, I was somewhere between 70 and 75, highway nearly empty.
Suddenly some idiot pulls into the highway with at most 40mph, and goes to the middle lane immediately, right in front of me
Good_egg1968@reddit
My son goes to law school at Mizzou. One of his first observations is that people in Missouri can’t drive. But they are so nice!
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
They drive their cars like they’re piloting a river boat
Neyeh@reddit
No we drive like it's a Sunday drive. Although 30 years ago I did have a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass, the size of a boat, and low to the ground, and the steering was crap. So yeah it was driving a river boat. I moved to Oregon and get teased for my driving. I have two speeds. Land yacht or nascar, lol.
ForestFreakPNW@reddit
Same, same state.
Semi-Pros-and-Cons@reddit
Nah, it's because they don't want to leave all their stoplight buddies behind. After all, Missouri loves company.
gotbock@reddit
No you've confused us with Illinois. Easy mistake to make.
stack_percussion@reddit
Illinois requires Driver's Ed. Missouri doesn't. It's pretty simple actually
gotbock@reddit
They teach everyone in Illinois to drive like that? Huh. Explains a lot I guess...
penguinwasteland1414@reddit
I'm in st louis and this is the truest fuckjng statement I've seen yet. 🙌
Cirrhosis-2015@reddit
As a fellow Missourian I can verify this! Drives me nuts.
zgillet@reddit
They need to wake up from the meth nap.
mealteamsixty@reddit
What the everloving FUCK is a meth nap lmaoooo
camarhyn@reddit
When you crash and turn into a zombie after a three week binge you’ll never remember.
bravesirrobin65@reddit
Usually in a drive thru.
JFcas@reddit
Heard they are a little slllooowwwwww down there..
tcorey2336@reddit
Except that Clemens guy.
zendetta@reddit
For the life of me I just don’t get when people do that.
Randompersonomreddit@reddit
Maybe they are all on their phones
GiveMeTheCI@reddit
When I lived in DC people didn't even wait for the green light. They would just sit at red lights angrily honking, as if that activated the light.
SpartanLegends@reddit
I hate that shit. Also a few hours ago I saw someone turning when it's a straight and a turn without using turn singles. Like what the heck, it's important to use it so people don't drive into you. Thankfully I'm a defensive driver, even if people aren't doing it. It's not worth getting into a crash.
JeddakofThark@reddit
If you're the first at the light, your responsibility is to go the instant it turns green, particularly in heavy traffic and it's a left turn signal that doesn't last long. People rarely take it as seriously as they should and my blood pressure is spiking just thinking about it. Damn it, I hate those people.
blue60007@reddit
Just make sure you're paying attention to cross traffic and making sure it's stopping. Blasting into the intersection blindly isn't always the best move (or at least around here, the red right runners are rampant...).
Reminds me of getting honked at once by someone who couldn't be bothered to see the construction worker standing in front of me and the giant dump truck backing out of the road construction site.
Nan_Mich@reddit
I tend to wait for pedestrians to have their first foot hit the curb before I make a right or left turn and the pedestrian ends their crossing on “my” side of the street. I refuse to budge at all, so the pedestrian knows it is safe. No inching forward, even. Folks behind me be damned. My sitting there is their signal to look and see why and NOT make their turn in the lane next to me and hit the pedestrian.
JMLobo83@reddit
Oh my god. In Spokane, WA, you have to wait a good 3-5 seconds unless you like getting t-boned.
bravesirrobin65@reddit
You don't have to worry about it in Chicago. One nanosecond after it goes green, some guy five cars back has already let you know.
HeddaLeeming@reddit
Every person I know who used to act like you eventually got hit by someone running the red light.
redbuds@reddit
In Paterson, NJ people will regularly come up from the righthand/straight lane and swerve in front of me to turn left! As a regular driving occurrence, not a mistake. It’s amazing.
E_sand80@reddit
Until you get t-boned by the semi that can’t stop in time. It’s absolutely mental to go immediately.
ComStar_Service_Rep@reddit
I started to go immediately once and almost got hit by a semi plowing through the intersection with brakes smoking, he was coming down a long steep hill and had a partial brake failure, he actually had to jump out with a fire extinguisher.
JeddakofThark@reddit
Water is wet. The sky is blue.
JMLobo83@reddit
It’s the left turn signal at the giant intersection that kills me. So help me god I’m not sitting here another 10 minutes because you’re swiping around on Tinder.
emilybg78@reddit
Metro Atlanta resident here, and we are kindred spirits. It makes me mental.
RaccoonInVPN@reddit
Exactly stay too long and people assume you’re scrolling instead of driving.
travelinmatt76@reddit
I was behind somebody who did it at 2 lights in a row
deej-79@reddit
Driving home last night some car was going two or three lanes at a time, cutting people off trying to get no where fast. She ended up in front of me at the first stoplight, had to honk because she wasn't moving at the green. She turned in the wrong lane and cut a few people off to get in the one she wanted, then was on her phone again when traffic started moving.
r2d3x9@reddit
They are a very important person
The_Troyminator@reddit
Yeah. They want you to do both at the same time like they do.
Mrlin705@reddit
The reason I honk in the first place is not because I'm in a hurry, it's to express my disapproval of you likely on your phone.
Floppie7th@reddit
And, from a purely practical standpoint, to distract you from your phone long enough to notice the light is green
Ok-Selection4206@reddit
That's why I installed a train horn on my truck. My hope is to scare the idiot on their phone enough to shit themselves. Then, hopefully, they will think about it next time.
Leading_Sir_1741@reddit
And I always am…
0O1lIil0O1lIil@reddit
I guaruntee every stoplight in my city has at least one person on their phone. See them all the time.
PlayingDoomOnAGPS@reddit
It's so bad at certain intersections in Jacksonville, I'll sometimes honk right before the light turns green so all the idiots look up from their phones as it turns.
Bundt-lover@reddit
Ha! That's enterprising of you.
Lopsided-Ad-6696@reddit
I've gotten in the habit of counting to 5 before I honk just because I know that I am one of those people that watches the light change in the opposite direction so I let off the brake before my light turns green.
SillyAmericanKniggit@reddit
I always take a couple of seconds to make sure nobody from the crossing road is running the red light. That habit has saves my ass more times than I can count. I never get honked at for it, though, because my foot is off the brake as soon as it’s green; I’m just checking while I get first gear.
Neuvirths_Glove@reddit
A brief glance. A couple of seconds is way too long.
Park-Curious@reddit
I think you’re overestimating the length of a second. No one goes immediately. What am I Spiderman?
Neuvirths_Glove@reddit
I've worked in human factors. A person can react and take action a quarter of a second. In terms of driving, that means seeing brake lights go off in the car in front of you in a quarter second. If I see brake lights for two full seconds after the light changes, yeah, you're gonna hear my horn.
Park-Curious@reddit
But the reality is that most people don’t react that quickly to a green light. If you’ve worked in human factors, perhaps you have some ideas on how to improve the efficiency of a 4-way traffic light.
Neuvirths_Glove@reddit
No, but before a full second is up, most people are off their brakes. Someone who waits two or three seconds is going to get honked at.
There's a very simple way to improve efficiency of a 4-way intersection but people in America at least are not ready for it or can't handle it: Roundabouts. In Europe they're everywhere and even at major intersections you see cars don't stop at all or pause only briefly. But here in the U.S. we have traffic signals that, except for very busiest of traffic, do not allow any movement through the intersection for the majority of the time (i.e., the traffic with the green clears through and the rest of traffic waits and waits and waits until the signal cycles).
SparklingDramaLlama@reddit
No, no, the Flash. He's faster than Spiderman.
SophisticPenguin@reddit
It you pay attention to the intersection before it turns green and you don't really need to do this.
abstractraj@reddit
I think you’re underestimating what’s going on. We’re not talking about one car barely running the light. We’re talking 3 cars running the light a full 3 seconds after it changes
SophisticPenguin@reddit
If you're worried about cars going through an intersection illegally well after the light changes for you and you're not going to be aware of the state of intersection before and while crossing, just stop driving and take a bus?
abstractraj@reddit
I wish I’d taken some photos of the collisions I’ve seen well after the light change. No one respects the light… at all. I’ve come to a stop at a red and had multiple cars and trucks go around me to purposefully run the light. So the other people at the intersection would’ve gone ahead because they saw me come to a legal stop.
How would they predict multiple cars and trucks down the line would go around the legally stopped people? Like I’ve seen them drive onto the opposing lanes to overtake at a red light.
I grew up in the north. I’ve never seen anything like this. It also doesn’t help they don’t do traffic enforcement here and they’ve turned off all the traffic cameras.
_SmashLampjaw_@reddit
Exactly.
You can also start entering into the intersection as you're looking so you can get a better view.
If your tires aren't moving within a generous 2 count, I give a little beep.
abstractraj@reddit
I think you’re underestimating what’s going on. We’re not talking about one car barely running the light. We’re talking 3 cars running the light a full 3 seconds after it changes
JimVivJr@reddit
A second or two is understandable, even slowly pulling out into the intersection is a safe idea and will help the people behind you know you are paying attention. It’s the phone idiots that actually drive us crazy, not cautious drivers.
Frosty_Extension_600@reddit
Also depends on where you’re at. I’ve found that in big cities they honk sooner than in smaller towns.
okayestcounselor@reddit
This
tea-wallah@reddit
Except in Georgia where they are too polite to honk until it’s been at least ten seconds. They’re afraid of upsetting people.
Zakumadness@reddit
To be fair the sheer amount of people who are blowing through red lights with out even slowing down is unreal (at least here in indiana). I'll take my chances with the impatient, small dick guy behind me blaring his horn the moment it turns green vs the guy flying through a red light going 50
Psyko_sissy23@reddit
Then you get the occasional impatient person behind you who honks as soon as the light turns green and you are 10 cars back from the front
misterlakatos@reddit
Absolutely. No one has time for this bullshit.
Fearless-Weakness-70@reddit
Haha we do in Utah. Huge conversation rn about whether even the short honk is too much. Usually has to be 5-10 seconds of not moving
Randompersonomreddit@reddit
10 seconds? The light will turn back to red!
drsfmd@reddit
Exactly. Our lights are between 15 and 30 seconds if you're on a side street looking to turn onto a bigger one. If I wait 10 seconds to honk the horn at someone not paying attention, it means 3-4 cars get through the light instead of 8-10.
OP: Light turns green, take a quick glance to make sure no one is running the red light, then move your ass... don't make the people behind you wait.
NarrowAd4973@reddit
That's longer than the left turn signal at the last intersection I go through on my way to work. And it's illegal to turn after it changes. Not to mention you're not getting a break in traffic to fit through on that road.
Sitting is not an option. If you're not moving in 2 seconds. I'm laying on the horn, and I'm not letting off until you're out of my way.
misterlakatos@reddit
Agreed with this.
Beefgrits@reddit
don't even need to wait the 3 seconds, you can see their head down and already know they aren't going without external influence.
jlt6666@reddit
If they look like they are on their phone they do not get the courtesy 1s before I honk
NationalAsparagus138@reddit
Well yeah, when else am I supposed to reply to your post? While I am moving? That would be irresponsible.
KickEffective1209@reddit
I usually wait 3 seconds till a gentle honk. If I know the light only stays green for a short duration, Ill toot faster than your papi.
Yota8883@reddit
I was not behind someone. I was alone on the road. My last traffic light that at that early in the morning is only triggered if there is a car. My light goes yellow and I stop at the red. There's no car to the left coming out. There's no car opposing me in the left lane that triggered a left signal. As I drifted to my stop, I see the lady to the right who triggered the light, hidden at first by some landscaping of a business.
And her light turned green. Then it turned yellow and of course, you all guessed it, turned red. My light turns green and keeping an eye on her, I continue on my way. She instafacegram texted through the whole green light cycle that she triggered. I drove away hoping that the light now won't see her as she now isn't driving up to the light and she sat there a very long time for unnecessarily stopping my progress of getting to work.
Old_Bird4748@reddit
Depends on where you are. Growing up in NYC, often you will get a light horn tap from drivers behind you a second or two BEFORE the light turns green. Sort of a 'wake up, the lights about to change'.
Celistar99@reddit
Yep, if you don't respond to the polite 'blip' that just means "hey, the light is green, just letting you know" you get the longer beep that means "pay attention and go!!"
year_39@reddit
When I lived in CT, it was an angry honk two seconds before the light turned green almost every time
Celistar99@reddit
Yeah that's not abnormal here lol, I just try not to do that because it's super rude and you can't trust people to not get road rage at you. I had it happen to me once where a car sat at a green light for a few seconds so I gave a tiny beep. He still sat there, so I gave a longer beep (probably like 1.5 seconds, not laying on the horn or anything) and at the exact same second I beeped, he started to go. He slammed on his brakes and started yelling at me through his side view mirror. I laughed at first cause like what the fuck, if you get that angry for getting beeped at you shouldn't sit at a green light and ignore the first beep. It was actually scary because the light turned red while he was yelling at me and I had to sit an entire cycle behind him with a line of cars behind me. So if he was angry enough to get out, I couldn't have gone anywhere.
rilloroc@reddit
3+ seconds and I'm going to your house and giving you an upper decker for the next 3 years.
bobzilla509@reddit
I'm usually contemplating... Do I really want to go to work today
proscriptus@reddit
I think people here in Vermont are likely to give you a few more seconds—I've seen people wait politely behind someone for an entire light cycle—but that is generally your experience here too.
cheddarsox@reddit
Moved recently and question myself at intersections all the time. Dark tint means I can't see in their cars but routinely the light turns green and nobody moves for 3+ seconds. I always assume theres a cop or ambulance coming. Theres never any reason they aren't going except they aren't paying attention. Its weird seeing cars 3 wide and nobody is moving because they're playing a game or something.
Samson_J_Rivers@reddit
If somebody honks at me the second it turns green. I'll wake the fucking green out. You get punished for bad behavior.
trowdatawhey@reddit
Why is your foot not off the brake pedal the instant the light turns green?
abstractraj@reddit
At least in Texas many people run lights, so you definitely want to wait 1-2 seconds to use your eyeballs and make sure it’s safe. The lights mean nothing here
trowdatawhey@reddit
You do that before your light turns green.
abstractraj@reddit
I think you’re underestimating what’s going on. We’re not talking about one car barely running the light. We’re talking 3 cars running the light a full 3 seconds after it changes
Samson_J_Rivers@reddit
There it is.
pinniped90@reddit
Put down your phone and drive already.
MrPlowThatsTheName@reddit
Stay out of Massachusetts, for your own good
LupercaniusAB@reddit
I mean, you’re from Nebraska, it’s not like you have to be somewhere…
Oceanbreeze871@reddit
There was an afternoon drive radio show years ago that used to have a game where they’d get 3 people to call in from a turn lane and purposely sit snd miss the turn light, and they’d count the honks for amount and volume and the most angered drivers behind you would win you a cash prize.
Pretty sadistic
pinniped90@reddit
Holy shit I could see that ending badly.
Oceanbreeze871@reddit
Yeah it’s inviting road rage for like $100 lol
LavenderKitty1@reddit
I have a couple of intersections where I will always wait two beats when the light turns green. Because I know that someone is going to run the red light and if I move immediately I’ll get hit.
Yes, I get beeped for it. But I can handle the rudeness if it means I avoid an accident
And if I can hear emergency sirens and I see an emergency vehicle coming I’m waiting for the ambulance to go ahead of me. Because I am paying attention.
polandonjupiter@reddit
sometimes i wait the 3 seconds to make sure i dont get obliterated by red runners 🥲 i had a close call once and now i have to do it
_SmashLampjaw_@reddit
You can watch for crosstraffic while stopped at the light.
In fact, it's kinda your responsibility to maintain situational awareness so you're ready when the light changes.
bearcatdragon@reddit
I always wait a few seconds because Houston drivers are known for running red lights. I have seen so many accidents and near accidents since I moved here 20 years ago.
cydr1323@reddit
Atlanta has the same problem. If it’s rush hour or the traffic is bad I will give wait a a few seconds bc people are wild drivers. I’ve definitely avoided a collision by waiting
JerikOhe@reddit
Me and my wife lived in Houston for a year about a decade ago. To this day, if we are ever rolling up to an intersection and the light turns yellow as were crossing, we obligatorily shout "Houuuustoooooooon" press the gas and keep on going.
Which is kinda the opposite as I've seen people in Houston run reds going 10 miles under; just cruising.
Sadimal@reddit
There is one intersection at my hometown that is known for accidents. If you don't wait a few seconds at that light, there is a chance you may get hit.
Of course my town was like let's expand the road near the intersection. Maybe that'll help. It didn't. It just made it worse.
BriefPollution7957@reddit
Yeah. Depending on the area I’m driving I’ll wait for everyone at the intersection to come to a complete stop (rather than simply checking that nobody is in the way) so that I don’t get t-boned
Flat_Sea1418@reddit
My grandmother taught me to always look both ways before going at the green light because of an accident her and my grandfather were in. Has saved me quite a few times.
No-Resource-5704@reddit
In some neighborhoods the car behind may pull out a 🔫
Froglesby@reddit
I’ve never seen this in California or Arizona. People generally wait a few, maybe three, seconds and then give a short polite honk.
When I first moved to Korea I experienced a bit of culture shock because drivers seemed much more impatient like the German OP described.
jaws343@reddit
Especially when traffic is busy, every second waiting to go is practically another car that doesn't make the light.
Vegetable-Parking747@reddit
Lately I’ve been seeing the person in front flip everyone off if there’s any honk at a green light after a few seconds. Feel like I’m missing something whenever I see it because that’s definitely not my first reaction whenever I mess up and screw other people over.
gumby_twain@reddit
Exactly. Especially if there is a line of cars at the green light there is. Nothing ruder or more entitled than sitting there playing with yourself when other people have places to be.
If you’re having trouble paying attention, then feel free to pull over and take a nap to restore your concentration.
mealteamsixty@reddit
Yeah if its more than 3 seconds im going to hold the horn until you fuckin move. And I hate feeling impolite.
Fun-Confidence-6232@reddit
Some green lights are only about three seconds. If I get stuck at a second redlight because someone couldn’t be off their phone, imma be mad
Grilled_Cheese10@reddit
It totally depends on where you are. Now that my area has multiplied its population astronomically, I've had it happen enough times at certain busy intersections near me that I've begun to wonder about it, myself. My daughter has experienced the same. I'll see the light change and I'm immediately moving my foot to the gas pedal and I'll get a honk. Like I can't literally be moving any faster. Are they just leaning on their horn waiting for the light, or what? A few years ago I would literally drive to the next intersection purposely 5-10 below the speed limit to tick them off, but I don't do stuff like that any more. If I was just sitting there spacing out, I would understand and feel a bit sheepish, but sheesh.
drillgorg@reddit
There's a whole movie about Russell Crowe hunting a lady down because she gave the long honk instead of the polite honk when Russell Crowe didn't go.
Robossassin@reddit
Do you though? Because this keeps happening to me when there's someone in the crosswalk or another vehicle in my way, and it's driving me insane.
Auditory_Whiplash@reddit
100%
wedstrom@reddit
The aggression/impatience of drivers varies a lot from region to region an even city to city, with larger cities and states having more impatient and aggressive driving cultures(it's very stressful driving in high traffic areas).
In my small town, it's closer to 3 seconds and usually a friendly honk blip, but I've seen a driver still fail to move and get a second, more aggressive honk before.
WinnerAwkward480@reddit
Georgia here , light turns green and it's a minimum 10 second wait then they take off nice & slow don't wanna press that accelerator to hard you know , the ole pretend there's a egg between your shoe & pedal . Yesterday we were on the interstate it was only 2 lanes and a shit load of Semi's . Traffic is really backed up . After about 4 miles we finally get rolling , there's some lady in the fast lane doing about 45 mph in a 70 . But they are all super nice & friendly type folks .
Unusual-Major-6577@reddit
If you’re not moving before the light changes to green you’re getting a honk. Watch the lights. predict the flow.
WinnerAwkward480@reddit
Most definitely, move your ass .Ive got places to go , ppl to see , things to do !!!
OfficePicasso@reddit
Yes who the hell wants to wait twice at the same red light if they don’t have to
Fuckspez42@reddit
Absolutely.
I’ve often joked that you can accurately measure the speed of light by timing how long it takes between the light turning green and when the jerk behind you lays on the horn.
That said, I live in a very affluent, urban area; like everything in the US (including politics), it varies widely based on where you are.
danger_zone_32@reddit
Really depends on where you are at in the states. I’ve driven extensively all over this country and you’ll see this a lot in the north east in states like Massachusetts. You’ll see it somewhat in states like Colorado or Texas. I’m in Minnesota currently and almost never hear a horn honk. But I spent a week driving around Florida earlier this year and I’ve never heard a car horn so often in my life. I cannot tell you how many times I was honked at in an intersection even before the light had turned green. Them folks are assholes down there.
swampy138@reddit
Sometimes. People here like to tailgate. Luckily I drive an 01 cummins that rolls a lot of coal if I stomp on it.
Salty-Plankton-5079@reddit
I don't understand why someone who isn't distracted would take a full two seconds (or even one, frankly) to react to a light
Igreatlyadmirecats@reddit
Yes.
DontH8DaPlaya@reddit
We have more guns here.
beach_bum_638484@reddit
Depends where you are. SoCal, you’re definitely getting honked at. Texas, people are generally less likely to honk
Irresponsable_Frog@reddit
Where I live you do get short burst horns to tell them to go. Usually a couple seconds after it turn green. But there are also specific intersections that locals never honk because they’re known accidents waiting to happen areas. And if someone does honk? Us locals look at them rudely!🤣 Every day multiple people run that light and weekly if not more, someone is T boned in that intersection!
la-anah@reddit
My people are not called Massholes for nothing...
Randolpho@reddit
We nutmeggers are no better. I’ve witnessed pre-green honks around Hartford
garden__gate@reddit
I had to do some real adjusting when I moved from Boston to Seattle. People are much more likely to space out at the light here AMD honking is pretty frowned on. My compromise is that I wait a beat and do a light tap. I’ve still gotten the bird for that!
Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit
Yes! I moved from CA to Boston (for 7 years) and now am back in CA again. I got used to pushy Boston drivers, and when I came back to CA I was first at an intersection and stalled my dad’s vintage Porsche. I panicked, sure the cars behind me would rear-end this beautiful (borrowed) car, or that someone would get out and start yelling at me. But…nothing. The six cars waiting behind me just waited patiently. I got the car started again and continued on.
That was a pretty stark reminder of how different (small city) CA and Boston drivers are!
HighTechLackeyMH@reddit
It must be northern CA because LA drivers are more intense.
garden__gate@reddit
Awww that’s a lovely story! I do get annoyed at how lackadaisical drivers can be here, but it’s also nice to not have to deal with constant road rage.
Low-Topic-8221@reddit
The bird ain’t so bad.
Try a thumbs down from a really disappointed grandma, that shit still burns
IDrinkMyBreakfast@reddit
I give thumbs, not fingers. It feels better too
garden__gate@reddit
Oooh yeah, that hurts.
mrlolloran@reddit
That’s ironic.
If my window was down they would so regret that but it reminds me of driving behind a car just off RT 1 in Saugus last week and this lady had so many bumper stickers about braking for things and taking it easy.
I saw her flip off three different people, once hanging partially out of the window to do so, after driving 10 mph under the speed limit for like 2 miles.
I laughed my ass off the whole rest of the way home thinking about that lady. Apparently those are things she’s aspiring to be, but is not yet herself. TBF one of the guys kinda deserved it but the other two were just straight nonsense
MrPlowThatsTheName@reddit
Behold, the duality of Massholes
keithrc@reddit
I had a very entertaining ride on an MBTA bus last year during rush hour, listening to everyone that the bus driver honked at, including children in a crosswalk and other MBTA buses.
sobangcha3@reddit
people road raging with the green line is always glorious
wiserTyou@reddit
I'd say laying on the horn after 1 second would be excessive by Massachusetts standards.
Fabulous_Lab1287@reddit
Please keep the massholes there before Maine has to build a wall
wiserTyou@reddit
Hey, we only come up for vacation.
Fabulous_Lab1287@reddit
We’ll setup a limited visa program for Ny and mass
More_Cowbell_@reddit
Lol, what? I’ve driven in 45 states and the Boston area is the only one where I’ve had people (multiple times) honk at me BEFORE the light turns green…
AcidaliaPlanitia@reddit
Lived here my whole life and I've never seen that once.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
In Boston? Seriously?
AcidaliaPlanitia@reddit
Actually honking before the light changes? Absolutely not.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
I had it happen to me in Boston. And I don’t even live there, I was just working in town for six weeks.
wiserTyou@reddit
I'm in the western part of the state, we're slightly better massholes.
RegressToTheMean@reddit
Totally agree here. I spent the first half of my life just south of Boston. You need to anticipate the green or people are going to be pissed.
Now that I'm in Maryland, the opposite is true. I've never seen so many people just blatantly rip through red lights at high speed.
I still have my Massholes tendency to want to anticipate the green, but I also don't trust people to stop at a red light
MrPlowThatsTheName@reddit
Maryland drivers are the absolute worst
realityinflux@reddit
Do you mean, like, they're expecting you to run the red light?
LupercaniusAB@reddit
Yes.
More_Cowbell_@reddit
Lol, wow as a follow up, read the other comment that replied to me
More_Cowbell_@reddit
I literally have no idea how else to interpret it. But I’m talking both times (and I don’t drive there often) it was the car behind me at a red left arrow that was about to change to green.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
I had a motherfucker at South Station honk at me for not making a left turn when I had the red “No Left Turn” arrow, as well as a full red light!** That crazy bastard went around me into the oncoming traffic lane, and made a left turn onto whatever that big road is, through the crosstraffic. I wasn’t even mad; I was impressed.
EvilCodeQueen@reddit
Well, were you going to be turning left? Some intersections are so tight, with no protected left turn signal, if you don't almost jump the light to turn left before the opposing traffic moves, nobody gets to go. I've even heard this called a "Boston left".
Physical_Yam_1079@reddit
Same! Or honk when I won't turn right on red when there's a GIANT SIGN that says no turn on red. Or honk at me when I slow down to turn into a parking lot. Or honk at me when I have the audacity not to let them cut me off after they used the breakdown lane or turn only lane to skip traffic.
NelPage@reddit
Like Brooklyn
More_Cowbell_@reddit
Not in my experience, no. Brooklyn drivers are more aggressive, but that translates to them not hesitating. Every open space will be taken.
But that becomes more predictable and easier to drive in, once you know the rules.
NelPage@reddit
I never like driving through that borough!
More_Cowbell_@reddit
It certainly takes getting used to…
Curmudgy@reddit
I’ve only ever experienced that once, but I avoid driving during rush hour within Boston city limits.
Usually a quick beep 5 full seconds after the light turns green is adequate to wake up the sleepers.
thebadyogi@reddit
What is the shortest measurable unit of time? The time between the light turning green and the New York cabby hitting his horn
_that_dude_J@reddit
Laying on the horn after 1 second would be excessive regardless of the place.
GeneralJohnStark@reddit
Yeah, you guys even have that game where you see how many of you can squeeze through the red light before the car with the green decides to go.
Azariah98@reddit
Who is the Masshole in this case? The person who thinks it’s ok to block other people from going about their day simply because they’re not paying attention or don’t feel like moving or the person who gets fed up with that and lets them know that this isn’t acceptable behavior?
MollyOMalley99@reddit
Found the guy who is laying on his horn 0.0001 seconds after the light turns green.
killingourbraincells@reddit
Your foot should be ready to come off the brake before the light even turns green /s
There's A LOT of lights where I live that are about 5 minutes long. I get its hard for people to be alone with themselves for that long so they just start scrolling on their phones. But god dammit y'all can't be zoning out like that.
There's often times I'm the 3rd or 4th car back, and we're just sitting there for 10+ seconds. 10 seconds is pretty generous when you get less than a minute to clear the intersection before the light changes and it's another 5 minutes. Traffic backs up even further. My generosity goes down further. You can spend 10-15 minutes at one intersection down here.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
Five…MINUTES?
killingourbraincells@reddit
Yeah. :') it's usually faster to go right and make a u-turn.
There's one light I can't do that at tho. The right turn gets backed up about half a mile to a mile.
Florida intersections for ya.
LupercaniusAB@reddit
Damn.
Signal_Republic_3092@reddit
There’s a light by where my parents live in SoCal that is a 3 way intersection of 2 main roads. The main road going through the intersection gets a few minutes to pass through it, while the one coming to the intersection only gets 5 seconds to turn before it turns red. Probably the worst light I’ve ever encountered
TheyVanishRidesAgain@reddit
Found the guy who thinks the light just turned green 0.0001 seconds ago.
GullibleAudience6071@reddit
Typically the masshole will be the one who swerves across 3 lanes of oncoming traffic to honk and give you the middle finger while yelling something incomprehensible.
Signal_Republic_3092@reddit
Probably “Go back to New York, asshole!”
Anustart15@reddit
Yes
gus_in_4k@reddit
Username checks out
hpfan1516@reddit
The way you phrased this is absolutely sending me, 10/10 no notes
worrymon@reddit
Who is more Massholeish? The Masshole or the Masshole who follows him?
illyria817@reddit
Except you don't know and they MIGHT be paying attention and watching a car coming from the side street that's clearly about to blow a red light. In a busy intersection, it's expected you might take 1-2 seconds to verify that the way is actually clear. The asshole behind you can honk all they want, they are not the one that's gonna get t-boned if you go the second the light turns green.
DarwinGhoti@reddit
That happened to me just yesterday! I stopped at an intersection to let an emergency vehicle through, the the guy behind me was honking. Like Do you not see this whole cacophony happening right there??
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
We've got one intersection where the lights are out of sync, the locals have given up hoping that TXDOT will come out and fix it. So eastbound traffic has learned to wait to the count of 3 to allow the southbound traffic to get through. It's rare anyone honks.
Every other intersection in town, however, you will get honked at if you don't move within 2 seconds.
dwhite21787@reddit
That’s when you drop it in reverse to light him up, then pull away while they’re wincing
therealbellydancer@reddit
Exactly
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
99% chance they’re just on the phone.
Honking at someone doesn’t have to be offensive. It’s communication. Communication brings people together.
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
In medieval England, the right of way on the king’s roads was sacrosanct. If grazing hogs impeded the right of way, any subject had the right to slaughter them, with no compensation to the owner.
A simple honk seems rather polite in comparison.
posierahraaa@reddit
I feel like if you slaughter the hogs, they're gonna be in the way much longer. Also, that is a lot of work.
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
(I can’t find a source but my understanding is that the law would incentivize hungry peasants to kill and eat livestock that strayed onto the road, and thus incentivize farmers not to allow their animals onto the road. Not that travelers would take the time to kill and eat the hogs themselves)
bit_shuffle@reddit
Their lateness is not anyone else's problem. Everybody drives their own car only, not other people's.
blueyejan@reddit
I take it you've never driven in Eastern Mass
DarwinGhoti@reddit
Yes.
misterlakatos@reddit
NJ and MA drivers are very similar and I must chime in to say the person wasting everyone's time by not paying attention is the asshole.
jwismar@reddit
I lived in MA for a while and found the drivers refreshingly predictable. You could bank on them doing the most aggressive thing possible, every time. (101% of a car length between you and the car in front of you? This guy in the next lane with his blinker on is GOING to merge, so you should adjust accordingly.)
I preferred this predictable aggressiveness to the completely random craziness I have found in other places.
pmonichols@reddit
Indeed!
blueyejan@reddit
I have never met angrier drivers than the ones tailgating me around Eastern Mass.
I moved from there to Brunswick Maine. It took a few months for me to slow down.
I could always tell the Massholes in disguise, they'd drive super aggressive but have New Hampshire plates.
Bubbly_Safety8791@reddit
You misunderstand. They’re not angry – they just want to share some advice to make you a better driver. “Move asshole!” is just generously-offered free instruction in how to interpret road signage.
blueyejan@reddit
🤣😂😅
Bubbly_Safety8791@reddit
Massachusetts you’ll get honked at a red light if the guy behind you thinks you coulda made a right turn already. Even if you aren’t turning right.
FitDingo7818@reddit
They're lovely people. They drive terribly but at speed. Compared to driving terribly and slow like other places
worrymon@reddit
To be fair, it's not just your driving!
AdamOnFirst@reddit
I’m from a place that’s notoriously polite and we honk too. Move the car, we’re done with the waiting part.
Squire-Rabbit@reddit
The American talk show host Johnny Carson once told a joke that went something like this: What's the shortest interval of time known to man? The time between a traffic light turning green and the New York cabbie behind you honking his horn.
chaamdouthere@reddit
One second is usually fine. In fact, in a state where running red lights is pretty common, waiting a second or two is recommended. But if you are there three or four seconds then you will get a honk.
MadMadamMimsy@reddit
It depends where you live and the time of day; more rural and lite traffic, no honk. Big city and rush hour; off. Nasty honk.
Key_Matter7861@reddit
People here (Philly) honk before the light turns green
Nan_Mich@reddit
When I moved to NJ in 1980, the first person in the left turn lane across from you at a red light would turn left in front of the oncoming traffic as soon as the light turned green. Sometimes, more than one car would do it. It was dangerous for traffic going straight to be fast off the blocks when the light turned green. I wonder if they ever stopped that nonsense? I left the state in 1886 and have not been back.
brobo_braggins@reddit
Different regions have different driving culture. On the west coast, horns are pretty rare tbh, in my experience. At a light it’ll 99%of the time be a polite toot after a couple seconds if you don’t go. Horns are usually saved for bigger offenses. I’ll drive for weeks without hearing a honk in my general area.
When I visited New York, it was a rude awakening. There was more honking just at the airport than I’d heard in my entire life lol
EtchingsOfTheNight@reddit
This feels pretty true to most midwest states I've driven in too. Little toot for not getting a move on. Big horns saved for really egregious errors/stupidity.
Nan_Mich@reddit
Or, warning! When you see someone about to do something to cause an accident, lean on the horn and hope it makes them stop or look around.
SereneDreams03@reddit
Yeah, honestly I don't think people honk enough on the west coast.
The thing that seems to be getting worse is people running red lights. That shit is dangerous, and when I see it, I honk.
katrinakt8@reddit
Agreed! I’m on the west coast and I honk at people. Hardly anyone else does. I’m not aggressive (generally), but even when I do a light honk after waiting a few seconds my husband, mom, who ever is in the car, acts like I’m ridiculous!
Red light runners get a long loud honk.
TechieGottaSoundByte@reddit
Yeah, people in WA (Washington State, in the Pacific Northwest) can be too polite. I joke that we're wanna-be Canadians
Not always in Seattle, though. Big cities have less patience for that kind of thing - makes sense, since clogging streets impacts more people
ponyboycurtis1980@reddit
Visiting D.C. convinced me I could not live there and drive while staying out of prison. People there are 25 times more likely to use their horn than their turn signal
clownamity@reddit
We have to wait for the red light runners to go first where i live, other wise you will get plowed
Specialist-Two2068@reddit
Somewhat region dependent, but yes, this happens in the US; If you're not moving the instant the light turns green, you're getting honked at.
Girthy-Squirrel-Bits@reddit
Well...not everywhere. Lots of people road rage when getting even a baby honk.
silver-vixen@reddit
I grew up in NY, where aggressive honking is the norm. I now live in Texas, where barely anyone honks. It could be that people are more polite, but I just assume it’s due to the number of gun owners here.
Nan_Mich@reddit
When I moved to the NJ/NY area from the Midwest in 1980, I assumed that there were so many more honkers in NYC because so many more transplants from countries that use their horns aggressively lived there. The closer you got to NYC, the more horns you would hear.
Girthy-Squirrel-Bits@reddit
Same in Minnesota, so many fragile ego man babies out there. Just pay attention, and get off your phone, not that hard.
GeologistLess3042@reddit
Honked at a truck once. Guy got out and started marching towards me. Dunno what he thought he was gonna do with a locked door and a closed window besides break his hand and cry, but I never found out.
The light turned green and I pointed at it. Dude turned red and hustled back to his truck while I drove off.
Road rage is often funny to me. Like congrats little buddy, now I'm in a car and you're not. You really got me, man.
Warm_Objective4162@reddit
As a Philly driver I was taught that your foot had better be hovering over the gas, ready to go
Specialist-Two2068@reddit
Even in the suburbs (where I live), you'd better be going the instant the light turns green.
rando24183@reddit
Philly is where people honked at me before the light turned green.
Javi1192@reddit
First person at the light has the obligation to watch the light going the other way so we can get rolling before we go green
shelwood46@reddit
Also yellow means speed up and beat the red.
00zau@reddit
If you're first in line, you better be looking at the lights for the pedestrian crosswalk and/or the lights for the cross traffic so you know when the light is about to change.
ToastWithoutButter@reddit
This is somewhat related and you just reminded me...
I don't drive through Philly often, but one time I had an oddly aggressive driver behind me. It was late like 9 or 10 pm and I was driving down a street with 2 and 4-way stops every block.
This dude behind me I guess decided I was taking too long because he honked like 3 separate times when I would come to a stop at the stop signs. Then he eventually passed me on a wider stretch of road where he then proceeded to drive exactly as fast as I had been. Like I followed his dumb ass for another 3 or 4 more miles. I imagine he also loses his shit when someone isn't pre-rolling into the intersection on a red light.
MessoGesso@reddit
I haven’t had it happening in Orlando.
AmorphousSolid@reddit
We don’t honk in GA.
Legend13CNS@reddit
I think down here in the South people can tell I didn't grow up here from the fact I use my horn at all. Left to their own devices I think people would sit at green lights for multple hours without honking. Even in dangerous situations (i.e. someone over the double yellow on a two lane road) people don't honk and get mad if you do.
rylnalyevo@reddit
Alternatively, taking off the instant the light turns green in Houston is just asking for a guaranteed t-boning.
Mypizzasareinmotion@reddit
Where I live, people run red lights on the regular, all over the city. And not the oh yikes I barely missed it when it was yellow, the kind where it’s been normalized to enter the intersection good one or two seconds after it turns red. Traffic enforcement is not there. So if you hit the gas at the moment the light turns green, you’re taking a decent risk of getting T-boned. I’m not willing to chance that, so yeah, I’m waiting an extra second or two to make sure one of these idiots doesn’t kill me.
SRC2088@reddit
I try not to be the asshole that honks immediately when a light changes, but if it's been 3-4 seconds since it changed and your brake light is still on I'm holding a honk until you get through the intersection.
Night0wlGamer@reddit
Yes, I think impatience is a universal human trait.
We have "right turn on red" here if you yield first and it is safe to do so, and people get mad and honk the horn if I don't turn immediately.
RupeThereItIs@reddit
I don't think this is about impatience, it's about a failure to keep up with your responsibilities as a driver & the selfishness of impacting others without care.
As a driver, you are responsible for driving the vehicle safely and predictably. A delay in moving after a light turns green (outside of a traffic issue causing your delay) is a failure to drive responsibly.
By not reacting to the light in a timely manor your not simply inconveniencing everyone behind you for a second or two, you are likely causing a number of drivers to have to endure another cycle of the light. In heavy traffic you could be impacting hundreds of people as it could trigger a chain of backup into other intersections well after you've left the intersection.
tl;dr You can't excuse your shitty driving by calling me impatient.
Nan_Mich@reddit
You should never enter an intersection in stop-and-go traffic until there is room for you to get out of the intersection on the other side.
Low_Attention9891@reddit
You’re not required to move if the light is red. It’s not the same thing as moving if the light is green. If it’s green, stopping in the intersection is a traffic violation, right on red is at the driver’s discretion.
RupeThereItIs@reddit
Nine times out of ten, they are distracted & you can usually tell this by the fact you can see through their back window that they are not looking at the road.
They are required to go, if it is safe, not doing so is obstructing traffic.
Low_Attention9891@reddit
This is a the part of the Michigan vehicle code that makes right on red legal. The key thing to notice is that it says that a driver “~~may~~ make a right turn from a 1-way or 2-way street into a 2-way street or into a 1-way street”, not “shall”. In fact, right on red wasn’t even legal in Michigan before 1975 when many states implemented right on red as a way to save fuel during the oil crisis.
RupeThereItIs@reddit
Right on red is a separate issue, I"m mostly talking about what OP mentioned.
Light turns green, idiot at the front is playing with their phone.
Low_Attention9891@reddit
You responded to a comment talking about right on red, that’s what I assumed you were referring to.
Night0wlGamer@reddit
That's not what was asked.
You're talking about not moving in a timely manner.
OP was asking about not moving immediately.
Not everyone can move from a complete stop immediately. Sometimes, there are pedestrians that are not visible to anyone behind the lead car.
Additionally, your tl;dr was unnecessarily hostile for someone claiming not to be impatient.
GulfCoastLover@reddit
It's. Not just yield. You are required to first come to a complete stop, before turning right on red. Sadly in most locations that means risking getting rear-ended.
Nan_Mich@reddit
“You are required to first come to a complete stop, before turning right on red.” Same on left turns with a flashing red arrow. NOBODY stops! They look and if it is clear, proceed without stopping. These are relatively new in Michigan. You ARE supposed to stop, right? If it was a yield, wouldn’t the arrow be, like, yellow?
midimummy@reddit
This happened to me a few years ago. I pulled up to a red light and stopped with my blinker on. Rush hour morning traffic with people weaving in and out across four lanes so I assess, “yeah, no chance I’m getting in there yet. Let me wait a second”.
Construction truck slams into the back of me, kid ranting on about “you STOPPED. why did you STOP?”
Night0wlGamer@reddit
You're right. I was trying to write "stop and yield to pedestrians, but i am on mobile and it got messed up.
TooManyPaws@reddit
But are you stopped at a green light while posting?
Night0wlGamer@reddit
I'm sick in bed with COVID, actually!
RupeThereItIs@reddit
The number of times I've nearly been killed in a crosswalk by people who do NOT understand this is not small.
mst3k_42@reddit
Even better when someone behind you lays on the horn where there is a giant “no right turn on red” sign.
AdInevitable2695@reddit
When I'm in my convertible with the top down I will point at the sign lol
Nan_Mich@reddit
I point even though I am not in a convertible!
ChemistAdventurous84@reddit
Index finger?
AdInevitable2695@reddit
Two fingers like Walt Disney.
ChemistAdventurous84@reddit
One hand on the wheel?
AdInevitable2695@reddit
Nah I point with my left, my right hand doesn't leave the shift knob at a red light. I like to get out of the way quickly.
tagun@reddit
Conversely you'll see a "No turn on red while pedestrians are present" And people won't read the second park. There are no pedestrians. GO.
mst3k_42@reddit
They had to change a bunch of traffic signs in downtown Raleigh to just no turn on red because pedestrians kept getting struck.
KinkaJac97@reddit
Someone did that to me once. I rolled down the window and pointed at the sign. The dude got so mad, lol.
TheTooz72@reddit
I get honked at when I have to wait for an emergency vehicle coming into the intersection.
mst3k_42@reddit
Yes! I was first in line to turn left on a green arrow but I paused to let the fire truck with lights and alarms blaring through. I got honked at. And people said, well maybe the guy behind you didn’t see it. I’m not sure how…
TheTooz72@reddit
I'm sure he heard it unless his music was too loud.
RegressToTheMean@reddit
Hard of hearing people exist. I wear my hearing aids, but they are expensive. Most insurance doesn't cover them. My insurance is "good" and covers $3,000 every two years. My hearing aids cost $6,000.
Fortunately, I can afford them. Lots of people can't
edwardw818@reddit
I had a job that would dispatch me to all over the US. One thing I noticed in some parts of the south is that their driving is a bit more arrogant, and most notably, a lot don't care to yield for emergency vehicles at all.
I was in North Carolina for a while, and there was an ambulance and a firetruck; both had more emergency lights than Ecto 1 lighting up the night sky, so it's impossible to visually miss.
For the audio aspect, the firetruck had a compressed air siren (louder than the digital one) and the air horn blaring, and the ambulance had a rumbler siren so that you can even feel it.
In other words, with 3 senses at the exact same time, there's ZERO excuses left anymore to miss them.
But yet, 3 cars in a row still ignored it and zoomed through the intersection. If one has hearing impairments, sure, but there's also the visual aspect; how do you miss that? However, I'd buy a lotto ticket if all 3 of them happen to have hearing/visual impairments!
RegressToTheMean@reddit
For sure. I was merely responding to the suggestion that it was almost impossible to miss the siren
TheTooz72@reddit
Yes, I have hearing aids also, but without them, I can still hear the loud sirens. I hold my ears when they come by even though I turn my aids off. With insurance, my hearing aids cost me $1200, and they are wonderful.
shelwood46@reddit
That's why my fire company in NJ installed those lights (Opticon) starting in the 90s that turn the light green only for the emergency vehicle, red in all other directions (we also had/have fire police who respond to busy intersections physically).
TheTooz72@reddit
Brilliant!
Alarming-Ad9441@reddit
Not to mention the serious problem of people running red lights! I always wait a beat before pulling out when the light turns green and I can’t even count how many times that 1-2 seconds has saved my life! A couple years ago I was leaving downtown Charleston and one of those giant Ford pickups pulled up behind me. You know the ones that look like a mini big rig truck? Well, he had one of those electronic train horns and I didn’t even have time to move my foot off the break pedal before he laid on that damn horn! Then to make it even more fun, he had a loud speaker as well and when the 3 lanes of traffic didn’t pick up speed quickly enough for him he got on the bull horn and started screaming at people to get out of his way. I’m still determined to find that douche bag and throw roofing nails all over his driveway.
q0vneob@reddit
I once got honked at by an emergency vehicle for not running through a red into cross traffic
omgwtfbbq0_0@reddit
There’s an intersection in my town that has 3 separate signs saying “not turn on red” on top of a red arrow light, and I’ve still been honked at more than once for not turning 🤦🏼♀️
jda404@reddit
Yeah there's one of those in my area because it's at a crest of a hill and you can't see the cars coming up the hill until they're right on you. People still turn right on red despite the sign saying no turn on red.
Then I feel like I am holding up the line when I am first in line there and won't turn on red, but I'd rather annoy the person behind me for a few seconds rather than be t-boned for turning right on red when you're not supposed to.
AdventurousRope6830@reddit
I got honked and raged at once by the person behind me for not pulling up and blocking an intersection. And it wouldn't have helped them get anywhere sooner if I had.
karlnite@reddit
I like when you’re turning out of store parking lot, and the car your waiting for has it’s signal on so the person behind starts laying on their horn, but the car with the signal never slows down then blows pass without turning. Then you look back at the honker and they still just look smug as shit like you should have crashed for them.
GoCardinal07@reddit
When someone does that to me, I reach my arm out of the window and point at the sign - with my middle finger.
TiffanyTwisted11@reddit
Thank you. It’s kind of frightening how many people don’t realize that if there is a light specifically for making a right turn and you go through it when it’s red, it’s considered running a red light.
any_old_usernam@reddit
In those sorts of cases I generally just honk also, like "congratulations you've made a noise we're all very proud of you"
AZJHawk@reddit
When I was living in Miami, someone laid on their horn for me to go right on red while I was yielding to a kid walking across the street. I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt and think they didn’t see the kid, but it was Miami, so you never know.
Meattyloaf@reddit
I've been honked at in the drive thru for waiting on my food from the pick up window. Hell I've been honked at for waiting at a red light with heavy traffic crossing the intersection.
SphericalCrawfish@reddit
Ok but I had a whole silent argument with a lady over this she was stopped at a green arrow with a no turn on red sign.
ITrCool@reddit
A lot of morons think those are optional or don’t care and get mad when others obey it.
I actually had an UBER driver pull out of his lane, drive up the shoulder of the yield lane at a busy intersection with these signs, give me the finger, and peel out into busy traffic, taking honks from people in the process. He nearly caused a major wreck……because he assumed the sign was optional and didn’t want to wait.
Lothar_Ecklord@reddit
There’s a street near where I work which is very simple - it’s two lanes: one straight, one turning right; it’s the intersection of 2 one-way streets. Right lane turns right, left lane goes straight; right turn has a red arrow and then a green arrow, while straight has a red arrow or a green arrow. It’s as clear as can be. Yet people still make the right on red arrow. And people all jam into the right lane to go straight. Why. And then people will lay on the horn if people aren’t blowing the red lights. This is also New York, where turning on red is never permitted.
kreativegaming@reddit
Ive had people honk at me for not turning when it says no right on red....
Night0wlGamer@reddit
Me, too. It's optional if you feel safe doing it, and people treat it like you are required to turn on red.
Leading_Sir_1741@reddit
Quite often you have a Tesla asshole going straight but staying in the right lane though, preventing this gift-of-God maneuver.
PraiseTalos66012@reddit
Screw those people. Right on red isn't required, if someone wants to honk bc I didn't rolling stop through the red then imma just sit there till it's green.
pohart@reddit
I'm pretty sure I've been honked for not turning turning right on red for too long when there's been no brake in traffic.
moomooraincloud@reddit
It's dangerous to be in traffic with no brakes.
pohart@reddit
Lol fixed
Night0wlGamer@reddit
People drive with emotions, not their brains, sometimes.
womanaroundabouttown@reddit
Not everywhere! It’s one of my most obnoxious stereotypical New Yorker traits that if someone turns right on red (illegal in the city) when there are people waiting to cross with the pedestrian light or crossing, I will yell at you.
Tayrooh@reddit
I was in NYC over the weekend, and this happened constantly. I would slow down and stare at them, making direct eye contact while resisting the urge to give their bumper a love tap with my Doc Martens.
blueyejan@reddit
Hey! I'm walking here!
nasadowsk@reddit
Illegal unless otherwise signed.
womanaroundabouttown@reddit
Which is almost nowhere in the city, to be clear. I think outer Queens and Staten Island have the most signage and that’s still minimal.
RonMcKelvey@reddit
Do you do it like Ratso Rizzo?
womanaroundabouttown@reddit
Unfortunately I am probably either shrill or overly bitchy. Don’t have the Rizzo swagger.
Yesterday a woman almost hit me while I was crossing (with the light), and when I threw my hands up (in a “what are you doing?” stance), she waved and like, hyper cheerily smiled at me and that was maybe the most infuriating encounter I’ve ever had. Lady, you weren’t looking as you turned against the light and you literally almost hit a pedestrian, stop being such a fucking bitch.
Night0wlGamer@reddit
Yeah, I live somewhere where you can turn right in some places but not others, and people get mad at you if you don't do it where it isn't allowed.
LichenTheChoss@reddit
impatience? if you're at the front of the line at a light, you have an obligation to get off the line. no distractions, please, just be ready to drive when the light turns green.
Night0wlGamer@reddit
Yes, but some people need a minute to go from a dead stop to moving. OP specified about people honking immediately when the light changes.
ChallengeRationality@reddit
It definitely varies the amount of patience across the US. In Philadelphia the drivers behind you start honking before the light turns green.
In Florida outside of Miami I have been shocked how frequently the light changes and no one honks. I have even turned around on occasion to see that the driver behind me is okay.
In Miami red and green lights have no meaning
555-starwars@reddit
I often don't turn my turn signal on in these places u till all pedestrians and traffic have cleared, just to avoid the impatient honk.
theyoyomaster@reddit
I would argue that the issue isn't impatience but selfishness. You share the road with others, when you take up 10-20% of a full light cycle to get yourself through it because "well I got through so that's all that matters and fuck everyone behind me, even if they have somewhere to be" then it's on you for getting honked at.
FeelTheWrath79@reddit
I had someone get mad at me for not turning when it was a no turn on a red light.
flyingbarnswallow@reddit
Not only that, but in Oregon you can turn left on red so long as the street you turn onto is a one-way and you turn into the lane closest to you. Yes, this is legal even from a two-way street. I do not see people do this even though the law is on the books because it frankly feels insane
Night0wlGamer@reddit
I can understand people being hesitant to do that. It sounds scary!
Haifisch2112@reddit
I actually did that once because I didn't notice the sign. A guy was in front of me in the turning lane and I gave him a quick double tap as if to say, "You know you can right on red?" He then pointed up at the sign on the telephone pole on the corner. I just kinda sat there since I knew I fucked up lol
Edge-Pristine@reddit
Let alone if you give way to a pesky pedestrian
WrongJohnSilver@reddit
California, no. New Jersey, yes.
Granadafan@reddit
People honk here in LA. Most of the time it’s not an issue but occasionally you’ll see an unhinged person acting as if a honk was a personal attack. However when I was in the east coast I was shocked at how much honking there was
CalmRip@reddit
Yeah, it's all them furriners from the other side of the Big River
blankblank@reddit
Ha, my family member from SoCal visits me in Jersey and comments on how quick to honk we are here.
TheSwedishEagle@reddit
Too many crazy people in LA
misterlakatos@reddit
In the case of NJ, the traffic lights here are frequent and many of them will turn yellow and then red when there are no other cars present. There are times when several cars will be forced sit at a red light and there's no cross traffic. Not even a single car. It's infuriating.
While I will not lambaste all slow drivers, I will say that the maniacs that drive recklessly are always dangerous.
eman00619@reddit
If there's not a "no turn on red sign" I'm honking after looking for pedestrians and giving it 2 secs of not seeing the person giving it an effort to take the right turn.
misterlakatos@reddit
Exactly. I appreciate the no turn on red signs that have the hours listed. Nothing worse than being forced to wait at an intersection that is not always busy.
WiggingOutOverHere@reddit
I think it’s probably more relaxed, based on your description. If someone is camping at the light long enough for me to think that they are looking at their phone or elsewhere and didn’t notice it turned green, for sure they get a honk. But honestly, people SHOULD still look both ways before going and not just trust the green. I’ve seen far too many people absolutely blast through red lights to just go without double-checking first.
I will say, I wish that cars came with two different horn sounds, because I feel like there needs to be a cutesy little “toot-toot” option for when it’s just like “pardon me, but it’s turned green! 🤗” and an obnoxious “HONK” for when it needs to be “Oi, I’m drivin’ here, motherfucker!!!” Lmao. I feel like my horn always sounds aggressive even when I’m just going for a friendly little “toot-toot”.
hawkwing12345@reddit
“The shortest unit of time in the universe is the New York Second. It is defined as the time between the light turning green and the car behind you honking.”
Graffy@reddit
At the very least I should see your brake lights off after a second because maybe you’re making sure there’s no red light runners but if it’s 3 seconds or more I assume you’re not paying attention. If I see clearly in your mirror or through your rear window that you’re in your phone I’m not waiting more than a second period.
SailingBacterium@reddit
The situation you describe will be a short non aggressive honk where I am.
When I honk loudly is when someone just stops in a turn lane because they decided they actually wanted to go straight instead of turn, then everyone misses the light.
catladyorbust@reddit
It's your sacred duty at a left arrow and I will honk at you if you don't move it immediately. Regular green light gets a lot more patience from me.
Do_Will@reddit
I don't see it much in Missouri. People are generally laid back. But, there are some drivers who are constantly impatient. They are rare.
Lonsen_Larson@reddit
Varies regionally. Here in Oregon they tend to give you a couple of seconds grace period before the horn, east coast not so much.
feochampas@reddit
I'm making sure that tail end charlie isn't about to run a red light and t bone me.
gman2093@reddit
It's about 10 seconds in Wisconsin, about 3 seconds in Chicago before the tap
wrkacct66@reddit
The USA is a big place and it'll be different region to region, or even different regions of different States.
In the Midwest, it'll probably be a short honk if it's just a couple seconds, but more than that and people are going to assume you are on your phone and give you the long angry honk.
TheEmoEmu95@reddit
As my mother says, “are you waiting for a different shade of green?”
HardTellinN0tKnowin@reddit
Well lesson #1, literally nothing is more relaxed in America compared to the rest of the world, except for gun laws.
I’ve been driving in the U.S. for right around 17 years, and what you’re describing has become increasingly common in my experience in the last 5 or so years, and especially so in the last 2.
But I’m more referring to just general impatience with every aspect of driving.
The biggest things I see are:
Drivers behind become annoyed if you don’t instantly turn right on red. Even though they have no idea whether you’re clear to actually make a safe turn or not.
Similar to item #1, drivers will honk and become angry when you don’t turn right on red when there is literally SIGN telling you it’s illegal to do so.
Drivers will race up to 4 way/all way stops (which are first come, first served) very quickly, then jam on the brakes in an attempt to physically stop before you. Even though you’re stopping AT the sign, and they’re stopping 15 feet short of it. So you’re technically way ahead of them. But since they raced up then slammed on the brakes to come to a stop before you somewhat close to the sign, in their head, they’re first. So they then proceed to race through the intersection.
Left lane campers who then speed up and become aggressive, or pace another car to block the road when you try to overtake them on the right.
Impossible_Month1718@reddit
This type of light honking is common in NYC
denisenj@reddit
Yes, absolutely in my state (New Jersey). The drivers here are so aggressive, it’s awful.
Indiesol@reddit
Green means go. I get taking a second to look both ways for cars that may not stop for their red, but there's really no reason to be sitting at a green light for more than a second or two, tops. And when you're in the middle of the line, and everyone in front of you starts moving quickly, and you don't, yeah, you get the asshole honk, because I know you're playing on the phone.
CraftyClio@reddit
Depends on the state and region. From my area of OK, its unlikely you’ll get honked at for not going immediately at a green light, only if you wait more than a few seconds. My area is known for a lot of auto accidents, so waiting a few seconds after a green light to make sure everyone else if halted is common.
Feisty_Reason_6870@reddit
Depends on where you are. Some areas are aggressive. Others are genteel. I’d say 15 seconds and a gentle honk. Just in case they are thinking of something else. It’s a smaller community here. So there’s not a reason to be rude. You never what someone else is going through and being mean just causes a chain reaction. Grace is a much better answer.
JokullTheWolf@reddit
It depends on where you are. I’m a Jersey boy so the horn comes very naturally to me ☺️ People in NJ won’t hesitate to honk if you don’t move as soon as the light turns green. I live in Texas now and it’s the same way here.
However, I’ve also lived in California and Michigan and in both places, my friends either laughed or called me out for being rude every time I used the horn. In both of those states (except for LA), it’s considered very rude to honk at people. That’s why I loved honking while I lived in those places!
R0ck3tSc13nc3@reddit
If you review the laws in the USA for traffic, if you do not move when the light changes, you can actually be ticketed for obstructing traffic. Yep, it is actually illegal in the USA, but the definition of it is somewhat subjective, there's not a listrd time there's just a statement about impeding traffic.
In the USA, we have a huge problem these days with people using their cell phones while they're driving. They are worse than drunk drivers cuz at least a drunk driver as an excuse for being an idiot and a bad driver. People who are using their cell phones while they're in traffic have full mental competence and they don't choose to use it. Due to this, they're on their phone answering texts or watching the video and the light changes and they're not even looking at the light. This happens often enough and you can see people on their phones not looking at the light that whatever was bad before is worse now because a lot of other people are sick of people on their phones not paying attention to the lights. And that manifests in immediate honking
We actually have some major issues in the USA because we permit a right turn on a red light when traffic is clear after a full stop. Well you can guess that goes wrong a lot, people are looking left, not at the pedestrians on the right in the crosswalk, and they make the turn at the red light without ever even stopping. It's just ridiculous. I remember when the law changed, I'm that old, you used to not be able to make a right turn on red and in some places you still can't. The people run the red lights going right through them here a lot also, it's not as bad as Beirut Lebanon but it's not great. I don't know if you've been to Beirut, but the traffic lights there are kind of ignored, and if more people want to go in one direction then there is lanes, they start to drive in the opposite lane of traffic. I remember going down a hill in Lebanon and there was one lane downhill and it was five lanes uphill because that's rush hour for you. Of course they didn't change the paint on the roads, the drivers don't really pay any attention to the lane controls
ReflectP@reddit
The only difference between Germany drivers and American drivers is that Germany drivers have their eyes open. Other than that it’s the exact same behaviors and attitudes.
Independent-Put-6605@reddit
Why are you waiting even one or two seconds? Do you have something more important going on than paying attention to the traffic lights?
VanManDiscs@reddit
Better question- why aren't you paying attention? It's rather inconsiderate to be distracted like that. You aren't the only one on the road so be aware
Solid-Olive-3200@reddit
No everyone is just on their phones
Mikeseddit@reddit
I like to let them sit, the longer the better, so they can stew in their own shame when they finally look up and realize the light turned green four seconds ago. Also, you never know what other people are going through. Maybe their mom just died and they’ve forgotten what planet they’re on and what the rules are.
AXLinCali@reddit
Not just the front car, ALL CARS should be moving on the green rather than the all to common, light has been green for 10 seconds, 1st car is barely in the middle of the intersection and 2nd car is starting to move. Many light cycles in LA are 45 seconds and sometimes only 3-4 cars go through. I cannot wait for autonomous cars that are all interlaced and communicating. Remove the human element as fast as possible.
RobotShlomo@reddit
Where I'm from I've seen drivers run red lights, and blow their horn to warn any oncoming traffic.
BizarroMax@reddit
You get about a 1-2 second grace period then you had better move your ass.
Designer-Carpenter88@reddit
Hell yeah. “FUCKING GOOOOOOOO!!!!”
First_Code_404@reddit
In Chicago, you have roughly 200ms to move after the light turns green, especially if turning left, before someone honks
Difficult_onion4538@reddit
I’m having trouble wondering why it would take you so long to get moving once the light starts changing considering in Germany they go red-yellow/red-green. You know the green is coming. Get off your phone
PatataMaxtex@reddit
Where in Germany are you driving? I dont know if I ever heard someone honk aggressively after 2 seconds.
NetFu@reddit
This is an interesting question, because having lived and traveled to different parts of the country, from New England to Texas to South Dakota to California, I can say it varies greatly from region to region within the USA. So, like a lot of things, you can't just ask if Americans do, say, or act a certain way.
In South Dakota, a very rural state where I grew up and lived for 20 years, people practically never honked at you at a street light. Even in larger towns, like 45000-70000 people, it might happen, but very rarely. People were generally careful not to annoy other people.
In California, where I've lived for the last 35 years, people rarely honk at you at a street light, unless you sit there for at least 3-5 seconds when it's green, not moving. Then you get a quick "beep" to wake you up. I make sure I wait a full 5 seconds before honking, because I know some people are just slow to react. And, of course, in California there's the unwritten rule that you wave at the driver(s) behind you if you mess up. So, often, if someone gets honked at at a red light, they'll wave their apology. I learned this unwritten rule when I kept wondering why people were waving after I first moved to California.
In Massachusetts, and in many other urban areas on the east coast I've seen, but not driven, people honk all the frickin' time. You can be sitting in traffic that's not moving and has no chance to move because of some dire problem down the road that you can't see, and many people will honk over and over and over again. Like, they'll honk every 5 seconds until traffic starts moving, even if that's over 20 minutes. You can almost time the 5 second interval. Being in a traffic jam can be increasingly frustrating because every honk just aggravates you more. So, at a stop light, if you don't move in 1 second, you will get a honk, sometimes a long honk, depending on how frustrated the driver is. Often multiple honks.
In Texas, urban areas are generally similar to California on this. In fact, you can probably divide up the behavior above as West Coast, East Coast, and Rural.
Commercial-Catch-615@reddit
We got honked at a few times in Germany and couldn’t for the life of us figure out what we were doing wrong 🤣
Spare_Board_6917@reddit
Yeah, stop jerking off and move you can jerk off when you get home.
gettoastee@reddit
When I lived in Texas hardly anyone honked at lights unless it was reaaaaally pushing it. Moved up north and an ounce of hesitation earns you a honk
Zealousideal-Lie7255@reddit
When I lived in suburban metro New York people gave you a short honk the moment the light turns green. I live in metro Atlanta now and people will generally give you one to two seconds before you get a short honk. Sometimes they’ll wait longer and not honk at all. It all depends on the person behind you.
catiebug@reddit
Not quite that aggressive. We'll do a light tap if it's been a couple of seconds. An aggressive honk won't come until after you ignore that.
Aggressively honking straight out of the gate is likely to get everyone in the other car saying "jeez what's that guy's fucking problem".
And as always, this is regional. Most of my driving is suburban to rural. Expect different treatment in like Manhattan or downtown Philadelphia.
gsarducci@reddit
Sounds like New York drivers.... Hell, New Jersey drivers will see the light for the cross traffic turn yellow and start honking in anticipation of a green light! It'd be funny if it wasn't a major source of noise pollution out there.
No_Education_8888@reddit
If someone honks at me, I’ll make sure to go extra slow for them. Some people need to learn patience
r2d3x9@reddit
Little honk maybe after a second or two. “That b— is on her cell phone”. Gotta make sure no one is running the red light
RunExisting4050@reddit
There are intersections I interact with on a weekly basis where it's common for people to run the light. If you pull out immediately, you might get t-boned.
NigelLeisure@reddit
I need to move to Germany. I want to lay on the horn but it's not socially acceptable.
Pls-Stop-Taxing-Me@reddit
In San Diego in my experience we don’t even short honk until at least 5 seconds of afk
starjammer69@reddit
The shortest measurable length of time is the amount of time that passes between the light turning green and the person behind me honking their horn.
Embracedandbelong@reddit
Depends on the city TBH
smurfe@reddit
I live in Louisiana. If you don't hole shot it from the green light like a drag racer, you get honks within a couple of seconds.
PoppyPoppyPopcorn@reddit
Yeah, some will honk the very second it turns green. Most people I find(at least in my area) will at least give you a few seconds before honking at you. Like someone else said, we know you're on your phone... Lol
hacksaw2174@reddit
As with most things in the U.S., it depends. Drivers are more aggressive in some parts of this country than in others. Where I live, people are reluctant to use their horn, it is considered rude. In other areas though, you're not doing it right if you don't honk constantly.
Master_Grape5931@reddit
Come on siting for 2 seconds at a green light is rude af.
Pay attention when driving, put the phone down.
Fishshoot13@reddit
I haven't driven in Germany, buy it have driven in Spain and all over Mexico, central America and the Caribbean. My experience is that Americans are the most "pressure" driving.
ZealousidealAd4860@reddit
Yes others want you to move on when the light is green .
Tacklinggnome87@reddit
Yes. And personally, I get uppity when people in the left turn lane do not engage the intersection when the light is green but they have oncoming traffic they are yielding to. ENGAGE THE INTERSECTION.
glendacc37@reddit
I think in high traffic areas around big cities, people are less patient and honk quicker and more aggressively.
Where I live (Midwest), people pick up their phones at the light.and get totally distracted. I wait 5-10 seconds, do the friendly tap on my horn to get their attention, and they act like I've laid on the horn, insulted their mother with every 4-letter word I can think of, and kicked their puppy. Makes me CRAZY!
Echterspieler@reddit
Yes it definitely happens this way. Had it happen just yesterday. I was riding with a friend and the guy ahead of us got the green light. Didn't go. So my buddy leaned on the horn. The guy keeps trying to brake check us and he even slowed down and called my friend a "fat woodchuck" 🤣 he was totally being a man child.
Ekimyst@reddit
Especially if it is a long wait for the next green. Also turn arrows. They don’t last long so get moving
Helpful-Nerve4515@reddit
I'll honk from two cars back!
OceanicCowStorm@reddit
I got the slowest reaction time imaginable so if I see a light turn green it takes me like 2 seconds to register that I can go then my car likes to start nice and slow because it naturally has no in between I'm either gonna be going 5mph for the next 10 seconds or 60mph 😂
Nodeal_reddit@reddit
A polite little honk if I think you’re looking at your phone.
ifyoucantakeit@reddit
Could it be that you don’t turn right when the light is red? (Not allowed in EU but common in the US)
beeredditor@reddit
I rarely see this in California. But, I also rarely see people not promptly proceeding on green lights either.
Tacoshortage@reddit
Is it because of the weed? Are you all high and so you just don't care to move on?
HighTechLackeyMH@reddit
Stupid inaccurate stereotype about weed — it’s cuz we are all coding the next AI SW stream designed to eliminate your job.
xiouxioux@reddit
Red light runners. Better to wait that 1 second.
gnorrn@reddit
What part of California are you in? It can't possibly be the Bay Area.
beeredditor@reddit
SoCal
xiouxioux@reddit
Seriously. OP doesn't understand how important it is to wait 1 second after it turns green. There is a higher chance of red light running than honking. I'm not taking that chance.
jkreuzig@reddit
I’ve lived in SoCal my entire 62 years and it amazes me how many people are utterly clueless at stop lights. They will tailgate you and cut you off only to stay stationary at a stop light for 5 seconds after the light turns green. Too busy texting and driving to worry about the road.
I will admit to distracted driving but the reality is that people just don’t pay attention to the road the way they used to.
Am I a grumpy old man? You bet. I only get in my car to get somewhere, not randomly decide if I want to drive today.
IncurableAdventurer@reddit
Yea I was surprised with how many people are saying yes. I figured pretty much everywhere in the U.S. there’s a two second (or whatever) grace period before there’s a shortly honk. I’ve lived all over California and generally that’s what happens
oldfatguyinunderwear@reddit
Well I'm flying out there in two months and gonna screw it all up for ya'll :P
ReconeHelmut@reddit
100% Best drivers in the country. I was pleasantly shocked when I moved there in 2015.
mabus42@reddit
It's basically GTA in my city. You'll get honked at for just about anything. Life is good.
General_Let7384@reddit
I've seen three cars in a row sitting at a green light all on their phones
Smokinsumsweet@reddit
Yeah, I mean you should be moving the second the light turns green. Even a short delay could cause other drivers to sit through another light cycle..
racheld924@reddit
Sometimes.
Rock-Wall-999@reddit
Blowing your horn is to remind them to pull out in front of the cars continuing to run the red light to stop them!
nofunatallthisguy@reddit
Flensburg-born American here. Americans are far less intense about driving. It does not seem that way to Americans, but I think a German driver will recognize it is so.
By way of illustration, in Germany, the stop light goes from red to yellow to green. This is so that you have a (brief) notification of the upcoming green and can shift your car into first gear so that you can get moving efficiently, you god damn delinquent. In the US, driving is a much more relaxed affair.
Instead, be prepared for people to pass on the right, to just kind of guesstimate and/or informally negotiate as to who gets to go first or keep driving at an intersection, and to switch lanes at the last second. To speed by a fair margin and think nothing of it.
Things may have changed in the 29 years since I got my New York driver's license, but in my day, the road test was a 10 minute affair. Go up a hill, parallel park, do a 3 step turn, drive around the block once, et voila. You know who taught me to drive? My parents.
You are far more likely to get honked at, or flashed at aggressively from behind ("Lichthupe") because you are only going 55 on a rural road where that is the speed limit than you are for not immediately hitting the gas when the light turns green. Like people are saying, if you're lost on your phone, sure, but not if you're just moving your foot from the brake to the gas pedal. Take your time, change the radio station first, it's fine.
Something that may not go for the whole country, but boy, does it ever for the northeast, is that we don't just do some kind of a zipper maneuver when there is a traffic blockage and the roadway goes down to one lane. You're more likely to have a fender bender because you kept going at the intersection because there was no yield sign while the other driver just assumed that their road is clearly the main one and yours the side street.
stephsationalxxx@reddit
Yup I usually give them a second but if not, then they're clearly not paying attention so they get a light honk, if no movement right away, they get a long obnoxious honk. And if they accelerate too slowly, another honk. I'm in the car because I have places to be, pay tf attention and go!
Willing_Recording222@reddit
Oh yes!!! Which really sucked when I was re-learning how to drive a manual! I was constantly screaming, “I’m TRYING to go!!!” 🤣 Yeah- no patience whatsoever!!!
maybeiam-maybeimnot@reddit
One time my car stalled (and died) at a stop light. I had to sit there and wait for my friend to come give the car a jump... no battery, so no hazard flashers.
Every single time the light turned green I had people blare their horns. The first person, I totally get because they thought I was just not paying attention.. the second person, maybe... but nearly every single person, as they passed me in the other lane, blared their horn while glaring at me as they passed.
What did they think I was doing just sitting there? What if I was having a medical emergency and was unconscious and thats why I wasn't moving? Like... what???
People are dumb.
KONG3591@reddit
The 2 second rule for safety applies here so you don't get T-boned. That's approximately the time it takes to move your foot from the brakes and hit the gas. Not unreasonable. Any longer you get the horn.
DrAniB20@reddit
Where I live people usually give some grace because other drivers are known to run the red WAYYYY after it changed. I count to five, looking both ways, before I actually hit the gas. I’ll usually take my foot off the brake so the person behind me knows I’m aware the light changed, but that count has saved me at least twice since January, and people around here are very aware of the necessity.
shriekingintothevoid@reddit
I think this is gonna be pretty dependent on where you live! If you’re sitting at a light for more than a few seconds, you can expect to get a honk. I live in a pretty rural area in upstate New York, so it’s likely to be a pretty short honk, and it’s not usually gonna be paired with much, maybe a slightly annoyed face. However, down in the city, you’d probably get a barrage of angry drivers laying on their horns until you move, in combination with a tirade of cursing and righteous fury lol
EbbPsychological2796@reddit
I think it's pretty much universal everywhere... It's so somebody behind you and you're making them wait for no reason they are going to honk at you... How you perceive the honk versus how they meant it is entirely up for debate.
wcwood92@reddit
The vast majority of the American economy and the American civilization moves by road. If the light turns green and you don't move, you're holding up all of civilization.
So yes.
FineMaize5778@reddit
Why wouldnt you move when the light turns green though? Wtf
Potential-Ganache819@reddit
People jump their horns 0.003 seconds after the light turns green here all the time.
Guess who's left turn just went from a quick left to a 15 second career move?
TheSwedishEagle@reddit
Not here in LA. First, going on green is a good way to get hit by someone running the light. Second, honking is a good way to get shot.
Simply_Sloppy0013@reddit
That's a prime example of a New York minute.
froggyforest@reddit
in the US you’ll often get one short beep, and then a long one if you don’t get moving immediately after the first one
BairyHalsack@reddit
1-2 seconds to ensure the intersection is actually clear, no issue. 3 or 4 gets a polite honk from me. If you're there for a full 5 count, you get a solid honk
Dazzling-Climate-318@reddit
Where I live honking is not routinely done. It may happen if a person does not react for a very long time, but it’s rare that people don’t react promptly.
h2ok1o@reddit
Ive got no horn so sometimes I miss lights completely because dude in front of me is not paying attention
aoeuismyhomekeys@reddit
Yes but it's not quite as aggressive as you describe. There's a bit of a longer delay and a more polite honk, basically just a coutesy tap on the horn, generally to let the driver ahead know the light has turned green.
Equivalent_Sale_3974@reddit
I live in DC, home of gridlock! No one is paying attention to anything!
jredland@reddit
It’s much chiller than in Germany generally. However, there are less consistent social norms and less emphasis on driving in an efficient and skilled manner.
erilaz7@reddit
When I was growing up in California, I heard the term "split second" defined as the amount of time between the light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn.
myownfan19@reddit
Yes people will honk. Wait until you determine it is safe and then go. In some places pedestrians take their sweet time or the cars in cross traffic think they are too important to stop and assume that the first five seconds of a red light is fair game.
Imaginary-Mechanic62@reddit
Too much honking could lead to road rage. Always be polite - you never know who is packing.
BubbhaJebus@reddit
Yes, especially in New York City.
The extremely brief time between the light changing and the person behind you honking is known as a "New York minute".
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
For sure.
I notice this a lot driving a manual transmission.
I get no extra time for getting the car rolling lol. But I’m definitely observing the folks behind me. Getting rear-ended by some jack wagon who’s too eager to get going is one of the things I’m most worried about.
sfmikee@reddit
Yes! We do. Pay attention and drive!
Aardvark120@reddit
It's probably different in different cities, but here in the SE, I give you about two, or three seconds and I'll give you a solid, single chirp. But, the next one, after about another second is a good honk. After that I may worry you're incapacitated.
ColterMarie@reddit
When I lived in Jersey, everyone knows they're gonna get honked at anyway so they play on the phone until they get a honk. It ain't no courtesy honk either. They let you have it
FrostnJack@reddit
LA/SoCal. It you’re not layin’ rubber the instant it’s green… we blame all the Texans and Floridians bringin’ all their aggro here.
Kyuubabe@reddit
If you’re in New Jersey and don’t move right away you’ll get the long honk immediately. And god forbid you have to look for change at a toll.
ActiveDinner3497@reddit
They did a study and the further south you go in the US, the more aggressive the honking at green lights becomes. My kiddo who is learning to drive even got one and they waited maybe 1 second. Tons of stickers on the back saying they are learning and still dealt with a masshole.
ambirch@reddit
It kind of depends on where you are. Generally the bigger the city, the more aggressive people are they won't give you a second and a lot of the bigger cities. Smaller towns and rural areas will usually give you a lot more time before giving you a honk.
usr_pls@reddit
Wisdom dictates that just Like everything in life "it depends"
in this case (as to your question) your location within the US will depend on the result.
in new York, closer to the city will get that honking behavior (with the caveat of there are some streets in NYC with noise ordinances that fine people for honking)
"New York City has distinct regulations regarding vehicle horns, which are stricter than many other areas. According to New York City Traffic Rules, Section 4-12(i), a driver is prohibited from sounding a vehicle’s horn unless it is necessary to warn a person or animal of danger. This rule is primarily in place to mitigate excessive noise within the five boroughs, contributing to a quieter urban environment. "
NYC honk law
in Seattle, there's no honk law like that, but people are terrible drivers so I have seen many people wait for others for 5 seconds to get their shit together without honking (typically because dude #2 isn't doing their job in the light queue, probably also on their phone)
My car has the auto off to prevent idling, so it has an engine start up noise when I let up on the brake when I see a green light. Usually this sound is enough to indicate to the folks in front of me that we should be moving
EddieHeader@reddit
I typically move immediately after the light turns but if you honk at me im just gonna wait till it turns yellow before I go. Who ever honks clearly has less time than I do so I can always spare more time to go slowly than they can spare to be behind me, so good luck coming out ahead on that one.
Longjumping_Pitch168@reddit
yep
canadiuman@reddit
Yes. But our drivers are poorly trained and going the moment it turns green risks getting t-boned by a red light runner.
I count to 2 if I can't clearly see it is 100% safe.
Another way to avoid the honk is to move your foot off the brakes but not accelerate until 2 seconds. That way they know you know it's green.
devilscabinet@reddit
It varies from place to place. In some parts of the country people lean on their horns the minute the light changes. In others, that is considered extremely rude and aggressive. One of my past co-workers moved from New York down here to Texas and was shocked at people's reactions when he started honking immediately after the light changed, even in the larger cities.
optix_clear@reddit
In Northern Virginia, it’s best to wait, we have a lot of red light runners. Some do not care about others on the road.
Big-Ad4382@reddit
The rude honk is likely less h th a Germany and varies from state to state. I can see it happening in NYC but rarely in the western states or the south.
HeyT00ts11@reddit
Courtesy beep followed by a longer honk if you're not moving.
ossifer_ca@reddit
Depends on city. In New York, there are expectations that cross traffic will run red lights for a second or two. In contrast, in Montréal (yes I know: not USA), drivers gun it as soon as they see yellow for the cross street traffic.
legallychallenged123@reddit
Yes. Why wouldn’t we? I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to wait at a light twice because some asshole wasn’t paying attention. That feeling you get as you are finally about to go and the light turns red again. Those seconds matter. If you’re the lead car at a light, you do everything in your power to pay attention.
eeff484@reddit
Not here in AZ. We all wait like 3 seconds after the light turn green because we have so many red light running accidents
Weightmonster@reddit
Yes
Mystery13x@reddit
Same here as there
Kielbasa_Nunchucka@reddit
yes, I do this. esp if you're not even the first car but 3-4 back and might prevent me from making the light if you don't stop thumb-fucking your phone.
cruzincoyote@reddit
Drivers temperament changes depending on where you're at in the USA. We have 50 different states and believe it or not some of those states are like their own country.
Most major cities' drivers are more aggressive. So if you are at a light too long, they'll lay on the horn.
Other places, usually the suburbs or royal areas. You will probably get a couple more seconds and just a little tap on the horn.
fullgizzard@reddit
People are tired of phones and driving….pay attention
Queasy-Flan2229@reddit
If someone aggressively honks at me then I naturally assume they're warning me not to run over the unicorn I didn't notice, so of course I must pause to search for the unicorn just to be sure I don't hit it 🤨
StatementEcstatic751@reddit
It highly depends on what area you're in. I'm from rural northern Wisconsin in the Midwest where we're known for being polite, something overly polite, and it's not terribly common to hear honking at a light unless it's been noticeabley long. I've seen a driver that was so oblivious they sat through a whole green light, and nobody honked. Now, that's an extreme example, but an almost immediate honk would be considered extremely rude here. Most of the time, you'd hear a quick beep-beep and know it was more of a polite "hey FYI the light turned" vs a hard long beeping that you'd just know is somebody having a stroke from fury. Minnesota is similar unless you're in the Twin Cities, but honestly, I haven't noticed that much increased beeping at lights there either, although I don't go to the Cities often. The closer you get to city areas, the less patient people are, although I think even there people from say New York or California would say we don't honk much compared to their home states.
Sdguppy1966@reddit
I mean, that is the purpose of the yellow light. Get ready to go! Two seconds is an eternity.
radicalresting@reddit
in Los Angeles at least, most definitely yes. QUIT STARING AT YOUR PHONE AND MOVE FOR GOD’S SAKE
HeddaLeeming@reddit
Maybe people in Germany don't run red lights like they do here, but I never take off the second the light turns green. Every person I know that USED to do that got hit by someone running the red light.
Unless you wait more than 3 or 4 seconds usually no one honks where I live, and I'm in the Houston area, with HORRIBLE drivers, so I assume most know why I'm not taking off right away.
CornPuddinPops@reddit
There is something called the midwest honk. It is two short beeps. I noticed this in chicago. Now I do it. It is way more pleasant, and less likely to get a gun pulled on you.
In the northeast, there are cities with ordinances against honking it is so prevalent. I’m lookin at you Philly. They start honking there before the light turns green.
Shim182@reddit
When dealing with Americans, the only things we are loose with as a culture are gun laws and murdered children. Pretty uptight about most other things.
No-Assistance476@reddit
If they honk, I'm gonna move a little bit slower.....
DotBitGaming@reddit
Germans will feel right at home in New Jersey.
QuiltedFrodo@reddit
Only if you can tell they are on their phone
srsh32@reddit
Yes, yes they do. I've on a few occasions been honked at despite taking off the very second the light turned green. One time I had fun with it and just tapped the horn every time the light turned green after that. About 3-4 x. It was funny because they were stuck going my same speed in the next lane over given that every single light turned red as we approached.
Unusual-Plan-7134@reddit
What’s really bizarre is people here don’t even pay attention and then everyone seems to run red lights. Goofiest thing ever, a cop told me they had to adjust traffic lights for this!
AugustaSpeech@reddit
I'm currently living in Hawaii - the worst traffic in the US - and I'm not sure that I've heard a single honk. It's definitely regional.
Minute-Of-Angle@reddit
Short delay = short tap on the horn.
After that, it’s on you. Getting a good blast of horn is deserves if you’re still sitting there. Have a plan of action in place for when the light turns green, okay pal?
Imaginary_Pop_1694@reddit
This is SO Boston!
sysnickm@reddit
In my area, people run red lights frequently, so it is pretty common to wait to make sure the intersection is clear before going.
Ph4ntorn@reddit
In my area, opposing traffic sometimes expects that you will let them turn left in front of you. So, I always start moving slowly so I can stop if someone just assumes I’m going to let them go.
Signal_Republic_3092@reddit
I do this a lot in the winter here. When the road is icy, your car will take a while to stop whether you want it to or not. So I’d rather wait the extra second than get hit and wait for a cop when it’s cold out.
undeadlamaar@reddit
There's a video somewhere on here where a truck barrels through a red light into about 3-4 lanes of traffic who all had the green light and went as soon as it changed. I think something like 8+ people were killed in that accident.
After seeing that I ALWAYS wait when the light turns green to make 100% sure the cross traffic is at the very least showing signs of slowing down. And even if I'm going through a light that's been green I try to give a quick glance both ways as I approach the intersection and go through it.
One of my earliest memories is a giant diorama my dad built for a lawyer who was defending an ambulance that went though a red light in an emergency and t-boned a car that had a green light and the whole idea of someone getting fucked up cause you didn't at least look as you cross the intersection stuck with me.
Aggravating_Bell_426@reddit
Yup, that's why I wait a solid 2 seconds after the light turns green.
Anxious_Cry_855@reddit
Dont the lights near you have a 1-2 second all red? I thought it was standard across the US for all lights red because most red light runners are just not paying attention and following the guy in front. Waiting a full 2 seconds after green seems excessive. I am paying attention to the cross traffic before the light turns green and can always tell if there is going to be a red light runner or not. (Fortunately, usually not). This isn't quite the same thing and actually reinforces your argument, but: One time I was making a left turn and was already in the intersection when my light turned red I could see a big tanker truck coming and could tell they were not going to stop, so I waited and the cross traffic started to honk at me. I felt vindicated when the truck came barreling through. I might have saved someone's life that day. It does bolster my argument that you can tell when someone is going to run the light though.
Aggravating_Bell_426@reddit
Waiting two seconds may seem excessive... until you see the lunatics on the road here..
Anxious_Cry_855@reddit
Are you from New York city, if so, think I understand more what you have to deal with and make more sense now. But dont you get honked at in a New York minute?
Anxious_Cry_855@reddit
Well I am still most likely going to honk at you (lightly) I want a horn like they have on some motorized carts at the airport where they want people to make way. They sound like a cartoon horn so it is more like hey are you paying attention if so carry on, if not thank you for your attention.
sysnickm@reddit
They do, but people still run them. gotta give another 1-2 seconds after the green on busy roads just to make sure. I've seen too many accidents.
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
What are you doing while sitting there for 2 seconds? If the car next to you goes, do you go too or keep waiitng? I have so many questions.
sysnickm@reddit
Depends, I've seen people go and get hit.
Part of me wishes we had red light cameras for this reason.
Aggravating_Bell_426@reddit
That's why I wait the two seconds, and we have dozens of red light cameras anout..
Pitiful_Bunch_2290@reddit
Same. I give people a healthy 2-3 seconds before I tap the horn. I also glance and make sure I'm not missing an approaching emergency vehicle (have done this before and felt dumb for honking).
dohcsam@reddit
I do a crawl for 2 seconds then if I’m clear I’ll accelerate normally
trumpsmellslikcheese@reddit
There's an intersection near my house where multiple lives have been lost (across multiple T-bone accidents) due to this. People are just apparently stupid enough to think that there will be no consequences from them running the intersection because it's only been red for a few seconds.
I have my kids in the car. People can honk at me all they want, I'm waiting until I know the cross traffic has stopped before I proceed.
And many other people around here do the same thing for the same reason, so I've actually never been honked at.
fir_meit@reddit
Yep, here too. You’ve got to wait for all the red light runners to clear the intersection.
Oliverisfat@reddit
Yep Houston area here. People regularly run reds, which is why we also don't try to hang out in the intersection waiting for a moment to turn left (because it most likely will never come).
intadtraptor@reddit
This. The green light gives you permission, but you still have to make sure it's safe. Taking a beat to check for cross-traffic has saved me multiple times. Once I even got the "lights green" horn followed immediately by the "my bad" wave once they saw the car go barreling through on red
wiserTyou@reddit
In Holyoke I always give a 1 second pause, I've seen far too many people get t boned.
cashewbiscuit@reddit
Depends on the area. Usually, people are more impatient in cities than suburbs and rural areas. Also, in some places, the lights cycle on only for a short time. You are more likely to get a honk from regulars when you are on such a light.
Generally speaking, honking is considered rude unless it's used to alert someone if they are doing something wrong. People tend to not use them for something small as taking a second to start at a light.
In India, otoh, everyone starts honking as soon as the light goes green. It doesnt matter if the guy in front of you has started or not. Everyone honks. It's maddening.
anon_186282@reddit
It is regional in the US. Boston drivers are infamously impatient. In some other areas people will sit and wait far longer than they should.
Zombie256@reddit
Where I live (socal) the morons wait for a written invitation to begin accelerating at green lights and stop signs.
anypositivechange@reddit
This happened to me the other day. Light literally turned green and I’m already moving (as in, as soon as the light turned green) but a car three cars behind me honked because while he couldn’t see that i was already moving because a large SUV was in front of him he could see that the light turned green and the car immediately in front of him hadn’t yet moved. 🙄
Live-Ad2998@reddit
It really depends on where you are driving. Nyc, Chicago, LA, big urban areas you get honked at long and hard. Small towns it would be unusual to get a long hard horn.
OkInevitable5020@reddit
West coast you get a short honk usually as a “hey, light is green. Get off your phone”. We only lay on the horn if you’re being an asshole.
LarenCoe@reddit
Most people don't pay attention and sit far too long at traffic lights, especially left turn lanes which only let 3 cars through if every idiot sits there for 3 seconds after the car ahead of them goes an it takes forever to get anywhere. Shut up, quit daydreaming and dicking with your phone or purse and go.
Trees_are_cool_@reddit
Well what the hell are you waiting for?
Easyfling5@reddit
I give a few seconds because of red light runners, I’ve been t-boned in the past because I left the light as soon as it turned green, after that I’ll honk because our red lights are long, greens are short and none of the lights are synced, more often than not they’re not moving from the light because something on their phone has intrigued them
Rexmack44@reddit
Depends what part of the States
Caaznmnv@reddit
Well yeah, if you don't honk, 5 seconds later and person just realizes the light changed, and they think they only made you wait 0.5 seconds. The 2nd issue is lots of cars need to get through the light, if you cause a few cars to have to wait out a whole cycle of lights that's pretty f'up. See this alot on left turn lights. Please pay attention and drive fast through the left light cause your an ass if you make people miss the light cause your taking your sweet time.
supern8ural@reddit
I wish they did. However waiting a few seconds is understandable as running red lights seems to be a local sport (Baltimore area)
hatchjon12@reddit
Yes, and you should go when the light turns green.
vinyl1earthlink@reddit
Some of the lights around here, like a left-turn light at the five-way intersection, are only green for 15 seconds, so you should move to allow as many people as possible to get through. People don't like having to wait five minutes for the next one, and they do get annoyed when you don't move.
Normal_Occasion_8280@reddit
Well Germans have a reputation for short tempered billegerence i think.
dagger_5005@reddit
There was a study done that there’s different amounts of time people wait depending on like if you have a political sticker from the same party or are from the same state. People are way less patient with people who are not like them. It varies by region, I’m from NYC where it’s milliseconds. They expect you to be timing it perfect like you’re a drag racer. Now I’m in Florida and became nicer because I’m in a small town where I might know the person or on the other hand people have guns here.
amscraylane@reddit
Asleep at the lights
Why are people so hesitant to tap their horn when someone doesn’t move after the light turns green? I’m not talking about laying on it -- just a quick “beep beep” to get their attention. I just sat through most of a green turn arrow because the two cars in front of me wouldn’t honk at the guy clearly doing anything except paying attention.
Just saw this post on r/omaha
TieDye_Raptor@reddit
Yeah, it's common here, too. Makes me want to start driving really, really slowly when I start up - mainly the ones who honk immediately and don't even give you a couple of seconds. I don't generally, but I want to. We also have lots of people who follow you closely if you're not driving as fast as they deem necessary. (Usually well over the speed limit.)
frednekk@reddit
Pray Ms Nekk is not behind you!
brownes_girl@reddit
If you are the first car in line, I feel it's your duty to watch that damn light. And if it's a long ass light, everyone keep an eye up. Because I swear to god there are certain lights I'm pretty sure I'm gonna catch a charge at one morning.
MrTPityYouFools@reddit
I used to not really do it, but given how frequently people are sitting at a green light on their phone, my patience for it is gone. Especially when I'm at work, in a truck that sits way above everyone, and can literally see people sitting at a light texting or scrolling socials
Nowin@reddit
15 years ago the polite honk was the norm. If you aren't looking at the light, it's because you are on your phone and fuck you very very much.
ImprovementLatter300@reddit
(USA)Just today the guy behind me honked as the car in front of me started moving! For goodness sakes! And guess what? When we got to the next light, and the next one, there were still cars ahead of us. If I had started moving at the same instant, he still wouldn’t have gotten home any sooner! (I guess you can tell I don’t like this)
GhoeFukyrself@reddit
In my experience, not really. Though it's worth noting that the USA is big, really REALLY big, and it's different in different regions. I moved to Wisconsin and here most drivers on the road would rather die than let you merge into their lane, which is COMPLETELY different than my experiences were in Illinois.
ACriticalGeek@reddit
The New York minute is the time between the light turning green and the guy behind you honking.
Odd because I don’t see anyone waiting a full minute before honking.
fungibleprofessional@reddit
In the suburbs around Washington DC, especially in Maryland, you get a honk the second the light turns green, if not the second the preceding light turns red. I mean a second or a split second before you should legally be moving in the first place. It’s usually a friendly honk like hey, just want to make sure you’re paying attention because I’m 10 cars back and want to make sure I get through this green. I haven’t noticed this in other parts of the country I’ve lived.
Southern_Disk_7835@reddit
A lot of times we want a few seconds to see if it is safe. A driver from the siee or left turner might try to cut through, or a pedestrian might ignore the "Don't Walk" sign. If it takes more than say 5 seconds, then you honk. At least. That is what you're supposed to do.
immaculatelawn@reddit
I spent time in Israel for work. Their red lights tell you when they're about to turn green. If you're not moving IMMEDIATELY when it turns green, may God have mercy on you, because no one else will.
rando24183@reddit
I've been honked at for red lights that were about to turn green.
allan11011@reddit
I always do a quick double check to make sure no one is running any red lights but still go pretty quick at greens.
There’s some impatient people who will think you in .05 microseconds but most of the time it’s only if you’re waiting 3-5 seconds which is a bit much
messibessi22@reddit
Yes haha I think it’s just a universal thing.. well maybe not in Canada
scbalazs@reddit
Depends on the state/region. New Yorkers will honk, but also they know that green means go. Whenever I drive in Virginia, it’s like their brain takes too long to process it and put their foot down, so I honk, but very few other people honk. Here in California, it’s utter chaos whether someone will go or jump the light or make a sudden three-lane turn or just roll into a pole.
Green means go, take a millisecond to make sure nobody is racing through the red but your foot should be down on the right pedal and ready to go.
cryptoengineer@reddit
The shortest time period known to to science is that between the light turning green, and the Manhattan driver behind you honking.
joepierson123@reddit
Here Physicists have determined that the shortest measurable time is when the red light turns green and the car behind you honks his horn.
classicalySarcastic@reddit
It's called the New York Second
AMB3494@reddit
Depends on where you are. In Boston, you have about a tenth of a second before somebody lays on the horn. When I moved to the suburbs in Pennsylvania, I saw somebody sit on their phone for 5+ seconds at a green light and nobody beeped despite there being 10 cars waiting behind him
LilRickyXO@reddit
Depends on region. Most areas it’s a polite honk if it’s just a few seconds, longer honk if it’s obvious you’re distracted by your phone. Florida, it’s no honk unless you’re okay with possibly getting shot. Hope this helps!
mamaMoonlight21@reddit
Maybe, but it can be dangerous to go the very second it turns green because so many idiots run red lights. At least where I live there are notoriously bad drivers.
brtbr-rah99@reddit
You get a yellow light warning it’s about to turn green so you better be moving. We need that shit in America
MessoGesso@reddit
It varies depending where you live. I never heard anyone honk in California for that reason.
Averagejake872@reddit
Sounds like you need to put your phone down and hit your accelerator when the light turns green.
ProfessorBackdraft@reddit
A little off topic, but I once worked with a guy who hated people tailgating him at red lights.
If he was first in line, you could literally push him through a red light without ever touching him just by pulling up to within a foot or so of him, whereupon he’d move up, then you’d move up, then he’d move up, and on and on. It was great sport.
AlanofAdelaide@reddit
I always claim that the British sysytem of red - red+amber - green prepares drivers to move off promptly at green and gives the red light jumpers a safe two seconds to risk everybody's lives
No_Dance1739@reddit
Yes, lots of people would honk at someone. Green means go and if you’re not going, get out of the way.
justadrtrdsrvvr@reddit
It really depends on where you live. One of the evening "news" shows (like 60 minutes) did an investigation on this years ago. They found that the east coast is much quicker to be on their horn more than the west coast and of course big cities much more than smaller towns.
Merkilan@reddit
Here in the southeast honking is very rare for any reason. I didn't grow up here, I'm from the northeast and lived in California for 5 years. Honking was very common if people don't get out of the way. But here in the Deep South honking is looked at as offensive almost. They also take their time moving when the lights turn green. For me, my foot leaves the brake as soon as it turns green. I have already watched the traffic while it was yellow and red and payed attended to traffic still moving when it turns green for me. If all has stopped when it changes or slowing down, I'm the first to jump when it turns green. Unlike many I am not looking at my phone when stopped.
In the states, I believe in most, all lights are red for about a second or two before the next lane turns green. Now some places, like New Orleans the red light is considered optional to stop at. People will blow through even if it has been red for a long time.
cocococlash@reddit
New York City back in the 80s was hilarious. The millisecond the light turned green, everybody was on their horns.
AVDenied@reddit
Depends on the city. Unless it’s Boston then you get honked at the millisecond it turns green.
kreativegaming@reddit
Germans are always so eager to go when given the green light.... there's a ww2 joke somewhere in here...
Slow_Balance270@reddit
I don't know how well this is enforced but in my state, misuse of a car's horn can actually result in a fine.
With that being said, I have done it once or twice, but that's typically because I already missed a green light sitting behind some asshole who isn't paying attention.
crewchief1949@reddit
Not much honking goes on where i am. People get shot doing that. Had gotten worse after covid and now people mostly just wait until the car moves.
Mewlover23@reddit
Yes. Because a lot of drivers seem to get into a trance like state when the light turns green. But then you have those people who will hono the second it turns green and the drivers don't have a moment to react.
thehrsandman76@reddit
Not that much. Concealed carry is a thing in America. Politeness is encouraged.
talulahbeulah@reddit
The definition of a split second is the time between the light turning green and the asshole behind you honking.
Yojimbong@reddit
Today directly after a green light, an older lady merged right behind me within a couple feet from my rear bumper and mouthed “come on, go!” From what I saw in my rear view mirror. Mind you I’m super attentive and urgent when driving so I became annoying and gave her the bird. She returned the gesture and I laughed and went on my merry way to work. Everyone is in a rush apparently.
MegaTreeSeed@reddit
On my state, Georgia, if you are not rolling foreward at least 3 seconds before the light turns green, people start honking. Especially in Atlanta, I have had people honk at me to go before the light stopped being red.
On the flip side, I've been stuck behind people who sat through half of a green light before moving, so I get it.
GSTLT@reddit
We’re all too busy staring at our phones to know that it turned green, no matter where we are in line.
jumpyiguana@reddit
Running the red light is sport where I live in Texas. You always wait a second or two to make sure no one else is coming through.
fireyqueen@reddit
So the US is very big which means there’s going to be a lot of variety. Germany is about the same size as Montana. Some places are like this . Miami is very much like that but travel to a little quiet town and they may give you a moment.
bigpurplebang@reddit
one should only be paying attention to driving or the signs/lights behind the wheel and if you are not on top of things, i will let you know with a short toot. long ones are for those who are on a collision course with me.
Sea2Chi@reddit
Yes, but how long it takes to honk depends on where you are.
I grew up in a small town where honking was considered extremely rude. Sure, they may be wrong for not noticing the light for two seconds, but you were more wrong for honking at them. So people would sit at the light for a goof 4 or 5 seconds before someone decided enough was enough and gave a quick tap on the horn. I've seen people yell out the window rather than honk.
Now I'm in Chicago and if the light turns green and your brake lights are still on a full second later you're for sure getting honked at. They might even honk half a second in if they can see you're looking at your phone. Some people still take offence at it, but most folks here treat the horn like a easy way to communicate if it's a quick tap. A longer beep is more akin to a fuck you though and might cause issues.
roguewolf146@reddit
Can confirm as someone from Chicago as well.
I'm the dude that'll honk when I see someone on their phone. Idk...I've fucking HAD IT with the standard of lazy ass, distracted driving I see on a daily basis, not even just here but across the country as a whole. It's funny because the only people that get offended are the ones sitting there wasting everyone's time because they can't be bothered to drive the damn car, let alone being dangerous as hell because they keep using it when they're actually driving.
Shit, just yesterday, I honked at a lady driving a BMW M-Convertible of some sort after watching her slowly weave back and forth because she had her eyes on her phone. And with her kid in the car right next to her too! Unbelievable! And then she has the audacity to look offended when I honk at her to (hopefully) make her get her shit together after traffic pulled away at a green light. Passed her finally at the next light and I yelled "Drive your damn car and get off your phone!" out my window at her. And she just looks at me all offended and confused again!
So, yeah, don't do that. Otherwise, yeah a horn for the most part is a means of communication. I honestly prefer the driving downtown because most of the time its organized chaos, like yeah maybe it's aggressive as hell and people are honking BUT everyone for the most part drives the same way, so in a way its expected. And I've noticed it's FAR worse in the suburbs as far as distracted driving goes, and hell seems like no one knows what they're doing out there, just kinda doing whatever they want whenever they want and hoping for the best.
Except Uber drivers. Those guys can fuck RIGHT off. Especially the ones in the big limo-type vehicles (think Navigator size) because they drive without regard to ANY sort of road laws or anyone else, literally saw one like two days ago cause a MASSIVE back up because he wanted to make a (very illegal) left turn onto the expressway onto a ramp only built for right turning traffic to enter, meanwhile not giving a single shit about anyone behind him.
Zellakate@reddit
Small town Arkansas here and yes, honking here is definitely considered rude. It doesn't happen a lot, in my experience.
Deinococcaceae@reddit
Same experiences with the same locations. Small town Minnesota? People are practically too generous with waiting several seconds before even a tiny horn tap. Anywhere in Chicagoland and it feels like people have F1 driver reflexes with laying on it.
Dragonflies3@reddit
It someone is obnoxious at a traffic light, I will be passive aggressive and sit a few extra seconds.
Kangaroo-Parking@reddit
Green means go. Honk honk
BobsleddingToMyGrave@reddit
Im in the Midwest, you get a full 5 seconds unless there is an apparent phone.
However, in my area, people run red-lights always. The light turns green and you need to look left and right, twice.
direcari@reddit
So much phone using projection here. 🤣
It's not just me, I'm sick of hearing the horn meant for other people. I don't usually see anyone on the phone. (I'm in the next lane and can see the driver you're flipping out on.)
You guys are just rationalizing being jerks. And, now you're the 3 second victims of suspected phone perps?
DARVO much?
Crimsonfangknight@reddit
Polite short honk to alert you that the light changed
If you still stay there stopped then you MAY get the described response but most will just go around you.
German drivers seem hyper aggressive but if your constantly just park at green light and delay people your also being a dick
direcari@reddit
I live in the Cleveland Ohio area, and I think drivers here are insane, as well as being honk happy A-holes.
Every trip out is an adventure in bad behavior.
Welcome, and good luck!
w3woody@reddit
I didn't notice this when I was last in Germany--though this was several years ago.
You will see this in the United States--but generally after the person has been there for a while. Me; I count 5 seconds before I tap my horn, and mostly just as a "hey, look up from your damned cell phone" warning, not a long "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" honk.
doktorch@reddit
here in baja, if I'm first at the light, I'm checking the cross traffic to make sure some pendejo is running the light....if you want to honk...then I assume you are trying to warn me of a hidden danger...I will proceed with all due caution (slowly). zfg for your pinché assumption...
NoKing9900@reddit
I think 5 milliseconds before honking is polite.
DirtRdDrifter@reddit
Seems to vary a lot by region. Usually, the more densely populated a place is, the less patience drivers will have with each other. They're pretty slow to honk here in western North Carolina, but I was in Chicago once and was never able to get away from a traffic light without the person behind me blowing the horn aggressively. I was even watching the cross street lights and moving before mine turned green.
Capocho9@reddit
Thought this said “pleasure” and not “pressure” and was really confused
No_Pepper_2512@reddit
2 seconds? My god you people are patient. I'm from Boston. The horn goes off microseconds after the light changes if you don't move.
Potential_Agent5453@reddit
In Miami they honk when it’s still red because it’s been red too long. In Boston if someone wants to turn right (and you’re going straight) they just push you through the intersection until there’s enough room for them to get by. American drivers are the most impatient and it gets worse in the cities.
Automatic-Arm-532@reddit
Yeah if you don't go on green, this honky is honkin'
hatepeople63@reddit
I never move the second light turns green. I like to make sure someone isn't running their red light. Do maybe 3 seconds
OddSand7870@reddit
Short honk and if you don’t move honk until you do move.
suck_and_bang@reddit
Nah. People got guns here. I don’t honk unless it’s friendly or necessary. Patience is a virtue.
athenank@reddit
On the east coast - yes absolutely 100%. No one’s got time to wait around for your incompetence, pay attention to the gd road
Main-Syrup-1334@reddit
I was hit by a red light runner, so now when I’m the first at a green light, I wait to make sure it’s safe to go. And usually the one behind me will honk. I’m never on my phone when I’m driving.
WonderfulVariation93@reddit
Nope. Too many people try to beat the red lights (& don’t) and you need to make sure everyone going the other way has stopped.
SirGirthfrmDickshire@reddit
Depends. 99% of the time no.
ChemistRemote7182@reddit
Yes, but its regional. I can tell you that in the greater Boston region blowing red lights a second two after they've changed is part of the local culture, so on green lights its common to wait an extra second and not trust that cross traffic actually plans on stopping like the traffic light says they should.
MarkVII88@reddit
Yes! Absolutely. Pay attention, hit the gas, and move your ass!
Duque_de_Osuna@reddit
Yeah, it happens here.
MissDisplaced@reddit
Yes some people do. I hate people who linger or are slow. But nearly all cars do take a fee seconds to move and shift gears
Cautious-Raccoon-341@reddit
Oh absolutely. I’ve even been honked at at stop signs waiting for pedestrians to cross! Impatience seems to be worldwide.
A_Thorny_Petal@reddit
Regional. This is one of those "A lot of Europeans Don't understand that America is equivalent to all of Europe not to any one country, culturally." moments.
BandicootBroad@reddit
It’s usually a short one, after long enough that it’s started to become clear you’re not paying attention. It’s generally a few seconds, but depends on the person’s temperament, since honking is seen as a little rude, at least where I live.
Chea63@reddit
Yes, this happens in the US. The extent and amount of patience affording you will vary widely based on where you are. Driving culture is not the same everywhere. In NYC, slow to go on green with nothing obstructing you might be met with a merciless wrath. Some rural towns may give you a coupleseconds of grace.
No_Secret_4560@reddit
I was in California once and I noticed that people would start honking at the person in front of them in anticipation of a green light.
sgtm7@reddit
I guess German laws have changed since I lived there in the 1990s. When I was there, it was illegal to use your horn if it wasn't an emergency.
Jujubeee73@reddit
I only honk if it’s been a solid 5 seconds. Usually just a quick beep or two, not an agressive long honk. Usually someone peeped at their phone a little too long.
spokale@reddit
If you do not move for more than 0.5 seconds I am gonna lay on the horn
No-City4673@reddit
Varies depending upon location.... its a pretty rare behavior here in eastern North Carolina.
thechurchchick@reddit
It’s very rare to get anything other than a short friendly honk where I live. But usually no one honks.
Admirable-Status-290@reddit
I think sometimes it depends on where you live. I’ve lived in cities where people running red lights was so common that everyone paused briefly when the light turned green, just to make sure everyone was done. 😆
iLoveYoubutNo@reddit
2 seconds feels like a very long time.
Not that I've never let my mind wander at a stop light, but 99.9% of the time, why would you look away from the stop light.
Side note, though, i acknowledge that sometimes other drivers blow through lights, and you should always double check that the intersection is clear and no one is about to barrel through it.
dodadoler@reddit
I ain’t got no time for you’re lollygaggin. Move bitch get outta the way
3ndt1m3s@reddit
I count to 5 and then give a quick honk. If I see you on your f×cking phone, I'll honk immediately and long!
SeaObject5171@reddit
It depends HIGHLY on the city. Hawaii, people will not honk even if it’s 5-10 seconds. After that, they MIGHT give you a polite quick beep-beep! with a big ol smile like “so sorry I honked though!” If you hear a long beep out there, someone bout to die. Boston, people will damn near honk when the opposite lights turn yellow, in anticipation of green on your end 🤣 Also if a pedestrian gets anywhere near the curb (even not at a crosswalk), all traffic in all lanes, both directions, will IMMEDIATELY come to a full stop, and if your foot ain’t on the asphalt the instant the cars stop rolling, every car in every lane will honk and curse at you like they have a Masshole competition to win. Oregon, people are pretty polite but will give a short beep if you sit at a green light for 2-3 seconds. LA, people honk for even the mildest asshole moves. The road rage there is REAL.
jongscx@reddit
Wow, they're real patient in Germany...
MerryTWatching@reddit
"ARE YOU WAITING FOR SOME PARTICULAR SHADE OF GREEN?!?"
BullPropaganda@reddit
Yes
No_Inevitable_3241@reddit
Y'all ain't had that big ass truck roll the light while it's turning red or already has. Ya best do a 1, 1000, 2, 1000, look then go.
mattyofurniture@reddit
The average human reaction time is 250 milliseconds. If the light turns green and your brake lights are still on a whole second later, you deserve to be honked at. Learn to drive.
dausone@reddit
“It’s not gonna get any greener.”
Silocin20@reddit
Yup, and where I live people live staying at green lights.
DeepFriedPokemon@reddit
Typically it's 2-3 seconds before the light honk. It gets longer and heavier the longer you wait. There is the occasional jerk who will honk right as the light turns. That often turns on my petty bastard mode and I will just stay there and wait for them to have to go around me
Wilson4874@reddit
If the light turns green and you honk at me the second it turns. Then i will make you sit there until it turns red.
Eduffs-zan1022@reddit
Hahaha in New Jersey and New York absolutely, alot of cities too. Pennsylvania and alot of other states I've been to are way slower moving, and they don't like when we come in with our pushiness, and of course we are harder on these states when we are held up by them in NJ or NY 😂🤷🏼♀️ not saying it's right it's just the way it is.
SquashDue502@reddit
In Germany your stoplights flash red/yellow to signal they’re about to turn green, so I’d be annoyed if someone wasn’t paying attention when the stop light is like “HEY. I’M ABOUT TO TURN GREEN. GET READY”
Ours just go from red to green immediately so people give a few seconds of grace unless you’re driving in Miami, then yes they honk immediately 😂
NotMyAltAccountToday@reddit
Where I live there's no consistency. Usually people wait 5-10 seconds or some just wait and don't honk at all. But the last few days I've noticed 2 honking after just 2-3 seconds
TalFidelis@reddit
Yesterday I was honked at. At two different lights. The light had JUST turned green - less than 1 second had elapsed before the honk. I was moving my foot from brake to gas and I was too slow.
fugsco@reddit
Short honk. 1 second. Long honk.
SimpleOrganist@reddit
I always wait for a second and even look both ways after a light turns green, and I always will. All it takes is seeing one careless driver broad-side a minivan leaving a School Zone to never fully trust a/the light alone again……
Radd_Tadd@reddit
I really depends on the state and sometimes even region. Rural communities tend to be more easygoing
edwardw818@reddit
To be fair, I heard that in Germany that the yellow light would come on in addition to the red before turning green, so there's at least a little bit of warning. However, we don't have that here; it goes straight from red to green.
99.9% of the time, people would wait a few seconds before doing a polite tap to remind a person in front, but there is the 0.01% of the population that would do what you described, and extremely common in California.
MeatyOkraLover@reddit
Yeah. It’s green. Fucking go.
Either_Lawfulness466@reddit
I literally just honked at a BMW that was ignoring the light
unique2alreadytakn@reddit
Seems worse in some cities...chicago for instance. Someone blasts their horn at me i might drive very slow but a quick tap is appreciated if im distracted.
SignificantApricot69@reddit
Yeah, the most annoying drivers to be behind are the ones who refuse to turn right on red where it’s legal though. Much more annoying than slow green light responders.
_Bon_Vivant_@reddit
Germans being abrasive? No way!! /s
No_Body_675@reddit
There’s often a 3 second hesitation. Looking for red light runners.
Free-Resident5106@reddit
Type, they are total jerks about it , which is bizarre because teens are taught to clear the intersection before proceeding. It’s like three seconds but people who aren’t on their phones are literally hovering so they can slam the horn.
Silly_Guard907@reddit
Occasionally.
clearly_not_an_alt@reddit
Depends where you are. NYC, probably.
Bumfuck Alabama, not as likely unless it's a lifted truck.
nettenette1@reddit
Yes and no. Texans are stale red light runners so going as soon as it’s green is a great way to get t-boned. I do like to blow my horn at red light runners though but I give the lead car patience unless they’re asleep at the wheel.
Therealmagicwands@reddit
Where I live, people rush through yellow lights and keep moving after it turns red. Those of us waiting for our light to turn green usually wait a bit to make sure that some idiot running their red lights doesn’t t-bone us when we go through the intersection. Honking as a reminder happens generally if the car in front was really dawdling (not paying attention, etc.)
Revolutionary-Tiger@reddit
It's a big: it depends. Some states it's common to do the same as you do in Germany. In my state of New Jersey, people seem to have a phobia of honking over fear of being perceived as as an asshole. I'm sure there's a news story or two of someone getting shot in Texas or Florida for trying to move things along 🤗
PhoenixRisingToday@reddit
It’s somewhat regional. I grew up in the NE but now live in the South. When I first moved here I was shocked at the situations that people DON’T honk - like sitting at a green light. People will just wait and not honk. And if I do give them a quick beep so they realize the light is green - people get upset.
RewardAffectionate84@reddit
Yes, entirely a thing.
Theres even something called a "New York Second" which is the time between a light turning green and the person behind you honking their horn, which is usually determined by the speed of light and nerve impulses. Meaning they hit it the absolute second the light turns green.
firewings42@reddit
This is more location dependent here. When I visited New York city drivers there had about 0.1 seconds before people layed on the horn. Here in Texas people wait a beat before giving a polite quick beep and then waiting another beat before blasting the horn again. People are also less patient during rush hour on major roads. Back roads and less busy travel times people are more patient. YMMV
Unlikely-Star-2696@reddit
In the USA most drivers "first on light" have their head buried on their cellphones, so light goes green and they don't move, so people behind them have to honk or they will stay behind another light cycle specially if you are the 4th or 5th car behind.
JRSenger@reddit
Really depends on where you're at, some places the drivers are more passive while in some places the drivers there are the spawn of Satan himself.
VenusValkyrieJH@reddit
So I have a thing I do. When the light turns green I count “1,2,3” just like that .. (not one Mississippi two Mississippi etc.). This has saved my life twice so far when someone has blown through green lights. Also, no one seems to mind if I take a quarter of a second or whatever to pause.
mikevago@reddit
America's a big place. In New York City, you're going to get honked at a fraction of a second after the light changes; in a small town, people might be more forgiving.
Frankjc3rd@reddit
When I was driving on a regular basis and even before cell phones I would zone out while sitting at a traffic light, if I have to honk at you it's a problem!🚦🚘📯
Heykurat@reddit
It seems to depend on the state. In my part of California (Bay Area), people don't honk that much. A 3-second delay at a green will get a short, "hey wake up" honk. Continued delay past about 6 seconds will get more aggressive honking.
Sihaya212@reddit
The amount of time waited and the length of honk is dependent on where you are. New York? You had better MOVE. Minneapolis? You have a couple if seconds before you get a polite beep.
PayFormer387@reddit
Depends on where. Road rage shootings have been a thing. So honk carefully.
Few people honk in Los Angeles.
BernieTheDachshund@reddit
Maybe it's a Texas thing, but there's probably a 3-5 second courtesy wait before people would start to honk. I don't go right away on green just in case someone runs a red light and nobody honks at me. I'm also not in a big city, so drivers tend to be more patient since we don't really have to wait at lights that much, like most of us make it through in one cycle. The longer the lines in bigger cities like Dallas or Austin the more impatient people get.
PartyCat78@reddit
Sometimes. They can wait 2 seconds while I make sure everyone is stopping first. Where I live, mf run red lights all the time. But yeah, a lot of people are impatient.
andy-3290@reddit
Depends on where you live.
I went to visit a further room mate who moved to Philadelphia from Ohio, and he (And everyone else driving) used their horn often.
I did not witness this while living in Detroit.
ophaus@reddit
If someone's parked at a green light, they are getting a vivacious reminder that green means go.
tub939977@reddit
You get a couple seconds of grace period before a honk, a little more on the west coast. Going when the light turns green right away means you could get t-boned by someone running a red light.
Snizzledizzlemcfizzl@reddit
The town i live in has some intersections with pretty crappy light timing, so some people will run the red light for 2-3 seconds after it turns to avoid waiting 5+ minutes for the cycle. Most people around here automatically wait a couple of seconds after the light turns to make sure traffic has stopped from all other directions
WokeUpIAmStillAlive@reddit
We start usually with a light honk, but it'll progress pretty fast
kaehl0311@reddit
Why wouldn’t you start driving as soon as it turns green? I’d find it a little inconsiderate of the person in front if they’re just sitting there while it’s green (unless of course they’ve got a mechanical problem or something)
Firm_Macaron3057@reddit
I live in a small city in Wisconsin and, here, were pretty relaxed. Most of the time, the driver behind will wait about 30 secinds before giving a short honk. Remembering back to the two years I lives in Milwaukee, it was similar, though, people have less time. I'm not sure if its different in other states or bigger cities.
Infinite-Dinner-9707@reddit
In the South and Midwest, I could count on one hand the number of times I heard someone honk. And certainly it would only be after 5 or 6 seconds. Now that I live in the ne, people honk all the time. A lot of people don't go immediately when it turns green though, because the m people run through the red lights like crazy. You're likely to get hit if you go immediately on Green
Pirate_Lantern@reddit
YES!!!!
If you delay for even a milisecond there are people hanking at you.
sewedthroughmyfinger@reddit
I live in Colorado. We generally honk if someone stays for over a few seconds, not immediately. People blow through red lights all the time so it is prudent to make sure opposing traffic has actually stopped. Most people here would consider the immediate honking to be asshole behavior and I have left my truck at a green light to go confront a honking diver and explain we don't do that here. In his favor he did apologize lol. I'm the western states that behavior would possibly cause an armed altercation, and has before. Leave a little earlier and leave other drivers alone unless you have no choice.
No-Diet-4797@reddit
Its pretty common but so is running red lights. I wait a second and look before going. It has saved my life more than once. I don't care if the person behind me wants to get to work a couple seconds sooner. That's not on my list of things I'm willing to die for.
Shadeauxmarie@reddit
A train horn is what I want to use to get their attention.
Champsterdam@reddit
Yes for sure
MilkstacheMustache@reddit
This is really a regional thing. Where I'm from, you wait a few seconds because there are still people who thought they could make it through before the light turned red but were extremely incorrect. In other places, people are expected to go immediately and will get a reminder-honk if they sit there.
Rab_in_AZ@reddit
In Chicago they start honking when other light turns yellow!
jephph_@reddit
Yeah, I’ll honk when the other light turns yellow. Fuck it 🤷♀️
Living_Summer5028@reddit
Depends here in Texas I’ve noticed considerably more time passes before someone honks than on Cali or New York
E_sand80@reddit
I’m a driver instructor, my students are instructed to wait three seconds.. Coincidentally I too wait three seconds. Who gives a damn about the people behind me? Too many people rush the yellow lights, I’ve seen way too many close calls to justify rolling as soon as it turns green.
Mintaka36@reddit
I wait a couple of seconds to make sure some dumba$$ isn't running their red light. I don't feel like being t-boned.
Sullypants1@reddit
1-2 seconds is a goddamn millennium.
I expect the brake lights to go out pretty soon after green.
mrbullettuk@reddit
In the uk the lights go Red - stop Red/amber - get ready Green - Go Amber - stop if you can Red
So you have warning, you better be moving by the time it’s green. It’s rare to get beeped though unless you are really slow.
ActualConstant3350@reddit
I’ll give you 1.5 seconds after a light turns green for your brake lights to go out. If they don’t…you’re getting a honk. If your head is in the game, 1.5 is all you need to get off the brake and on the gas.
And yes, I apply this to me too. I’ve gotten honked at and deserved it.
Perdendosi@reddit
Just to let you know... there are parts of the country where red-light running is so prevalent that it's unsafe to go through the intersection until at least 3 seconds have passed. Seriously, there are people who enter the intersection long after their light has turned red. Plus, in lots of places, people who are attempting to turn left will enter the intersection, wait for the red light, and then turn once cross-traffic has stopped. It's folly to try to go immediately when the light turns green. So while that amount of expediency may be OK where you live, it's absolutely not in other places.
Chimpbot@reddit
If someone runs a red light and causes a collision, it's their fault. For what it's worth, anyway.
TiberianSunset@reddit
It's not worth anything when they kill you because they t boned you
Chimpbot@reddit
If they're driving fast enough to kill you, they were likely going exponentially faster than they should have been through an intersection.
TiberianSunset@reddit
Oh well that makes it better
Chimpbot@reddit
My point is that this is far less likely to happen with any given situation where someone is running a red light.
TiberianSunset@reddit
And my point is that your point is a load of bullshit
Chimpbot@reddit
I mean, it's not.
Not all t-bone collisions result in death, especially when dealing with the relatively low speeds you'd find in any given intersection with traffic lights.
TiberianSunset@reddit
Didn't say they did.
Chimpbot@reddit
And yet that seemed to be the obvious implication when you said, "It's not worth anything when they kill you because they t boned you."
TiberianSunset@reddit
Because it doesn't mean shit that it's their fault when you're fucking dead. Obviously it's helpful when you're not dead. Any other clarifications your dumb ass brain needs?
ferociousbruin@reddit
why does this matter?? my intention is to avoid crashes, not just liability for crashes
Chimpbot@reddit
Sure. That's what most of us are doing.
If it were to happen, you could at least know that they'd be unquestionably held at fault with a likely net-positive outcome for you in the long run.
00zau@reddit
You can stop on a dime at 5mph. You can start rolling without just flooring it and peeling out into the intersection.
perk11@reddit
Yes, and there are intersections where this is the only way to turn left as there is cross traffic at all times on green. A better designed traffic lights which have a green left arrow could've solved this, but they are not universal.
kitchengardengal@reddit
This is Atlanta exactly. Don't put your life in danger because someone behind you is impatient.
gunterrae@reddit
Yup. Light turns green, I'm still looking both ways before I go.
SE171@reddit
I drive a semi... universally, every person who delays at a green light, I can directly see them staring at their phone.
Then, when I blip the horn, also universally, they'll throw their arm up like they were going the whole time.
Nearly daily.
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
This may be true, but in the 15 places I've lived it's not been like that. MOST places do not seem to be like that based on my real world experiences. And you seem to be dealing with a uniquely local situation.
LaLechuzaVerde@reddit
Yes. I live in such a place now. I came from a place where most people respect stop lights. Here, not so much. It’s standard to wait a second before you go. Even then often it isn’t enough.
Yellow lights here are green lights. Red lights are green lights for a second, runnable yellow lights for 2 seconds, and don’t turn red until the first car that loses its nerve for running red lights finally forced everyone to stop.
clearliquidclearjar@reddit
Yep, that's the situation where I live. Two universities, a community college, and a bunch of other jackasses have resulted in a major red light running problem. There's no way I'm going to jump into an intersection until I check to make sure I'm not about to get t-boned.
my_password_is_water@reddit
Yeah if they take their time moving to the gas or start creeping that’s fine, it signals they’re paying attention and just being safe
KeyCold7216@reddit
Yep. Especially with left green arrows. My daily commute has a terrible left turn on green arrow only intersection and people are on their phones constantly. It's rare to see more than 10 cars make it, which is barely half the line during rush hour.
MountainDude95@reddit
Especially if it’s a left turn light. Where I live now it’s not too bad, but I’ve lived in places where it’s only like ten seconds of green, and if you miss it you’ll be waiting another five minutes for the next one. You bet you’re ass I’m gonna do a little honk if the first person doesn’t move pretty quickly once the light’s green.
Chimpbot@reddit
For me, I consider being first in line at a traffic light to carry a certain amount of responsibility (for lack of a better term). You need to pay attention to the light and be ready to move once it turns green. It's not a particularly hard task, but my inattentiveness could wind up messing with other people in a negative (albeit relatively minor) way. It sucks when you're just trying to get home and, because of people not paying attention, you wind up sitting through an extra light cycle or two. Sure, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day... but my time at home is important to me, as it is for most.
Anyway, it's all just part of paying attention to your surroundings. It's extra important when you're driving.
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
Pretty soon as in immediately. It's not like if you take your foot off the brake your car is going to rocket into the intersection.
Effective_Pear4760@reddit
Yes
Elegant_Bluebird_460@reddit
Generally, yes. But in the South they take their sweet time to the point that it becomes rude.
Firstworldreality@reddit
Most of the time, if they wait for more than 2 seconds, I honk at them. Usually a brief tap, but if they don't respond to that, then I lay on the horn until they move.
ThirdSunRising@reddit
In most places the drivers are more patient than this. There are certain big cities where you’ll get honked at within a couple seconds, but generally people wait until it’s obvious that you’re not paying attention at all. Like, at least five seconds.
Kindly_Skill1863@reddit
It largely depends on the location. The bigger the population of the location, the more likely they are to be less patient from my experience.
JudgeWhoOverrules@reddit
Maybe in cities, but Phoenix has a horrible amount of red light runners, so it's common practice for everyone to wait a few seconds and look both ways lest they become sideswiped by an idiot.
Also, we really don't honk anyways because Western politeness is still a thing and we're all packing guns and no one wants to get shot by a roadrager.
soft_taco_special@reddit
Doesn't surprise me, Phoenix is a shit show of unnecessarily creative road infrastructure that encourages bad driving. It takes a truly mad genius to make a grid system unintuitive.
Zellakate@reddit
Yeah, I'm in Arkansas, and this doesn't really seem to be an issue here. Honking is pretty rare, and I do like to take a second to make sure nobody is sailing through the red light before I go.
soapdonkey@reddit
Depends on who’s in front of you. I live in a violent city, some people here won’t honk at certain types of cars or people.
rainbowlung@reddit
This is a regional thing. The US is the size of Europe. Folks in the south are completely different than folks on the west coast or northeast or the middle of the country. Same goes for their driving habits.
enraged768@reddit
You usually have a grace period of like 3 to if their very polite 5 seconds but if you get honked at its going to be a long what in the fuck are you doing honk.
BoBoBearDev@reddit
I short honk. My gay husband rage honk.
ID_Poobaru@reddit
If you’re on your phone when it’s green and I’m in a semi truck you get the air horn
MorddSith187@reddit
i live in NYC and they will lay on the horn immediately when the light turns green
AnyMajorDude99@reddit
Yup. Move, asshole. You can play with ~~yourself~~ your phone later.
WoundedWarrior11b@reddit
When I lived in Orlando Florida a few years ago it was almost instantaneously it seemed when the light turned green if you weren't moving somebody was on the horn. But here in eastern North carolina? There's a few seconds grace period, but if you're not moving within 2 to 3 seconds of the light going green somebody's probably going to honk at you. So it seems to be a regional thing and I'm sure it varies from short to almost no grace time in the cities to a little bit more of a grace time in smaller towns.
Jazzlike_Morning_471@reddit
I’ve missed a full light because dude in front of me was so distracted, but I hate honking and I had time that day. Otherwise usually 3-5 seconds and I’ll give a light honk.
ProfessorExcellence@reddit
Short honk first. If you still don’t move you get a longer honk. If you still don’t move. One hand stays on the horn. The other is in the air (preferably out the window) with the middle finger raised, while obscenities are screamed. Maybe a curse on you and your descendants. It’s a Philly thing.
xxrainmanx@reddit
They do, and that's when I roll down my window and give them the finger. I've seen enough accidents in intersections to know you wait a second and look to make sure a dumbass isn't actively trying to run a red-light before I pull out. If you're behind me and don't like that I'm taking a second I don't really give a damn.
aracauna@reddit
In some areas of the US, you actually pause when the light turns green or you'll get T-boned by the guy in a lifted pickup or Mercedes running their red light.
FormerRep6@reddit
I was the first car when the light turned green and suddenly had an ominous feeling come over me. I sat there for a couple seconds wondering what was happening to me. And then a truck ran its red light at a high rate of speed. If I had entered the intersection when the light first turned green the truck would have hit me. I take a second or two to check for that now.
my_clever-name@reddit
Many drivers sit at a green light for a moment. Red light violators and common here. If it's more than a second or two, then I assume they are on their phones and need to be snapped out of their stupor and pay attention to traffic, so they get a couple of honks.
teke367@reddit
I will say, my horn sensitivity isn't great, and when I try to do a short honk I get nothing unless I press completely and get what feels like a long obnoxious honk
introvert-i-1957@reddit
My children used to laugh about this same thing when we visited NYC. People would start beeping the second the light changed. It rarely happens anywhere else i have visited. But i rarely visit big cities.
emmettfitz@reddit
I usually give it a couple of seconds and give a gentle beep. But the beep gets longer and angrier.
lavasca@reddit
Even if it is red and you have an option to turn right you get honked at.
Sometimes you could be adjusting that pesky bra strap finally. Or, maybe you need to do something you shouldn’t do while in motion.
datagirl60@reddit
The shortest measure of time is from when the light turns green and the person behind you honks! 🤣
GreyhoundsAreFast@reddit
I lived in Germany and all over the world. German drivers are the most aggressive about it. They almost treat it like the start of F1 race.
Illustrious-Shirt569@reddit
In a medium sized city in California, people wait a long time before the polite short honk of people don’t move - regularly 5-10 seconds. The long honk is reserved for situations when it’s possible that an accident will occur if at least one person doesn’t stop what they’re doing.
In Boston it was alarming to me that the long honk happens within a half second of the light changing to green, and more than once someone simultaneously just make contact with my back bumper and started pushing me into the intersection.
Very, very different levels of road urgency in those two places I’ve lived.
carpediemracing@reddit
My experience, and no other claims made, no longer.
Back in the day I drove somewhat regularly in NYC, which is the king city of horn honking as far as I'm concerned. As soon as the light turned green, a few people would honk, presumably cabs (stereotypical but I think it's pretty true). Often it was a more polite "tap tap" on the horn, if a cab. If you stopped in the middle of a block, there'd usually be a honk.
I started driving into the city regularly for a couple years. Every time the light turned green, no matter where I was in line, I'd honk the horn, tap tap. My now-wife asked me why I was doing it, we weren't in a hurry, etc. I told her I just wanted to add to the ambiance.
We went into NYC about 2 months ago. I didn't drive so it didn't dawn on me until we had left the city - no one honked! I literally could not remember a single honk! Even when we had sort of an emergency and had one of our group get into a car in the middle of a long line of traffic, no one honked!
Can't explain why, but it seems like it's calmed down a lot.
Where we live, pretty much no one honks, everyone is too polite.
ConversationBoth6127@reddit
Depends a lot on where you are. I live in suburban NH, and you’ll get a short honk after 1-2 seconds, then a more insistent one if you don’t move. I drive frequently in Boston too, and there it’s immediate-you need to watch for the other direction to cut over to red and be moving as soon as your side goes if you don’t want to get the horn.
redditer-56448@reddit
It probably depends on your area. We would have the short & long honks depending on how long you're taking.
But I feel like it also depends on some other things. Like, if I notice you're from out of state, I'm less likely to honk at all because I'm assuming you may not be from around here & don't know the traffic patterns (so you're less likely to realize it's your turn).
In my experience, the further north you go & the closer to cities you get, the more pressure there is on the road. People in Arkansas are much more chill--in towns & on highways--than people in Ohio. I can personally attest to that.
ChaoGardenChaos@reddit
I usually give someone a couple seconds to realize and then a reminder honk. Mind you I live in the south and some people would consider even that to be rude here. Honestly what else do you have to do other than watch the light when it's red unless you're on your phone. I usually give a couple seconds because people here don't respect red lights and will t bone you if you go right when it turns green.
QuoteGiver@reddit
…why WOULDN’T you move when the light turns green?
GreatRecipeCollctr29@reddit
Some drivers are slow to respond like it last more than 5 seconds because you'll never know if there is a car(s) that is trying to beat the red light.
MuchDevelopment7084@reddit
In the larger cities. Yes, it's the same as in Germany. In smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. If you sit for too long after the light changes. Someone will give a light tap on the horn. To alert you of the change. Usually because someone is texting or on the phone.
JuanG_13@reddit
Yes lol
HardyMenace@reddit
Not all lights have a delay between the red on one street and the green on the other. It's pretty common for someone to step off the brakes but wait a second or two to go in case anyone was trying to beat the light
jane2857@reddit
Miami they honk pretty quickly but a little more or less depending on the area In Palm Beach County they is a tremendous amount of patience. I’m from Miami and I’ll tap the horn if it looks like we are going to miss the light entirely.
re_nonsequiturs@reddit
Depends on where you live
I'm in the Midwest, specifically Indiana
After 2 seconds, I'll do a little beep, but about 90% of the time, the car will go before I actually push the horn
I save the "you asshole" honking for people being dangerous.
According to TV and people sharing anecdotes on the internet, in NYC they honk in the same femtosecond that the light turns green
JustATyson@reddit
From what I've observed, it depends on the area. I've seen folks got honked at basically the moment it becomes green.
Where I'm currently at, there's a habit to wait a second or two after the light turns green to make sure no one runs red. A lot of people have a tendency to try to slide through on a yellow, but then it turns red and they're already committed. Thus, it's best tk wait a few seconds.
Once, I did tune out on my own thoughts and missed that the light turned red. I got a friendly "hey, wake up" honk and I waved a thank as I quickly got my head out of my ass.
cyesk8er@reddit
Isn't it universal to get annoyed at folks driving a vehicle and not paying attention?
Available_Farmer5293@reddit
I feel the pressure internally. Now I know which of my genes this is coming from. Haha Why am I not surprised it’s the German?
Gun_Nut_42@reddit
I have seen too many people run reds. If I am first in line, I will wait a sec and double check both directions before starting off.
If I am in line and the car in front is just sitting there for 3+ seconds, then they get a short honk.
CoastRedwood2025@reddit
It's not as common in the US, people get shot over road rage over here pretty often so smart people learn to be patient.
https://www.ktvu.com/news/highway-84-shooting-was-case-road-rage-between-tesla-drivers
Bigstar976@reddit
Nah, nowhere near as much as in Europe. People are a lot more patient here. In Marseille, France, they hank as soon as the light turns green.
bh0@reddit
I have no problem with a “get off your phone asshole” honk when they aren’t paying attention at all.
eyeballburger@reddit
My friends do it as a joke as soon as it turns green, even if the person is moving.
TheGruenTransfer@reddit
If you're the first car at the light, you should be paying enough attention so that you can go when the light turns green. This isn't even up for debate.
PoppycopOG@reddit
A short honk is the correct and polite thing to do after about 3 to 5 seconds. Long loud honks may start a road rage and/or shooting incident. You probably dont have to worry about that as much in Germany. People definitely do loud, long honks though, but the short one is most common in my area.
Dramatic-Blueberry98@reddit
Depends on the area, but if it’s a known short light and people are lining up, you’re going to get aggressive honking for sure.
JennItalia269@reddit
You normally get a few seconds before we honk. Some are idiots and honk instantly but most lack the reaction time of a F1 driver, and that’s ok.
Apprehensive_Rip_201@reddit
Oh absolutely. Except here in New Jersey they only wait like 0.25 seconds
capnhist@reddit
Depends on your region. In the NW you'll get a polite beep to remind you to look up from your goddamn phone and drive, and you'll only get the long honk if you still don't move. Other places like Texas or the NE will lay on the horn immediately.
ActuallyStark@reddit
Literally everyone here is too busy scrolling.. I would LOVE to go at green lights.
That_70s_chick@reddit
If it turns green and someone doesn’t move they get a quick beep or beep beep. If they still don’t move after that, they get a beeeeeeep.
Existing-Teaching-34@reddit
It depends on who is behind you. NYC cab driver = honks .000001 seconds after light turns green. Guy in a Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo = honks 1.5 seconds after light turns green but it’s more so people will look at him. Soccer mom with a carload of kids = She’s too busy to notice the light turned green.
kiulug@reddit
In Canada you get a beep at about 3 seconds and then you're getting truly honked at if you don't get moving within about 1 more second.
thepineapplemen@reddit
Some people will, but it’s common to wait 1-2 seconds before going in case there are red light runners
Odd-Adhesiveness-656@reddit
Nope...I let other people go first because Denver drivers have a nasty habit of running solidly red lights. Honk all you like, I refuse to be the first into the intersection!
RockShowSparky@reddit
yes. move asshole.
FoxElectrical1401@reddit
How is the honk aggressive? Do cars in Germany have a friendly horn too?
karmapuhlease@reddit
Here in New York? We're probably worse about this than you are in Germany.
In some parts of the US, people won't honk even if you sit there for 10 seconds.
TNTmom4@reddit
I HOPE and expect the car that is first in line at the light to wait a few seconds before proceeding. I’ve seen too many people blow the lights coming from the other direction. I don’t want to be witness to any more car accidents.
nighthawkndemontron@reddit
Yes'm... we're commuting long distances and are trying to beat the time on our GPS.
ifitfitsitshipz@reddit
my experience in the US typically a two or three second weight is normal to make sure the intersection is clear. The area where I live it’s pretty common for people to run the red light. Between 3 to 5 seconds I will give somebody a quick honk on the horn, but after that, I’ll leave it go with a two second horn honk just so they get the idea they should be paying attention.
yerederetaliria@reddit
Yes
Ok_Damage6032@reddit
Depends on the region
thisaintparadise@reddit
You just described Miami
TheBeesElise@reddit
I drive a manual and get honked at all the time in the second it takes for me to shift into gear.
Oomlotte99@reddit
Initially it’s a little honk like “toot toot” but then if it goes longer people will impatiently do a long honk and, if possible, switch lanes
CascadianCaravan@reddit
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwmN8hiCfp8&pp=ygUZY3VyYiB5b3VyIGVudGh1c2lhc20gaG9uaw%3D%3D
cornbreadkillua@reddit
Yes, all the time. As soon as the light turns green you’ll have someone honking at you. Or if you don’t turn right on red immediately they’ll honk. People are just impatient and rude
teriKatty@reddit
It happens to me maybe 1 out of 10 times if I don’t move right away.
pizzaerry2days@reddit
In Dallas I honked fairly often. Absolutely insane driving there, constantly giving negative reinforcement. More to Pacific Northwest and honked for someone merging on me and it induced road rage for them. No one honks even for actual offenses here except polite quick red light honks and even then after 5 seconds of sitting and I’ve seen people sit through a whole light without honking.
breebop83@reddit
It’s usually the polite short honk but if the person that’s holding up traffic is clearly distracted (head down, leaning over the seat etc) they may get the more aggressive honk.
hbernadettec@reddit
Someone long honked at me years back just as the light turned green. But someone was still going through intersection. I got the arrow to turn left. Knowing that that particular arrow is just a few seconds I turned when the arrow was yellow. That idiot had to wait .
metabeliever@reddit
From Boston, MA, USA: "The shortest measurable unit of time is not Planck Time. It is the time between a light becoming green and someone honking at you to go."
Extension_Camel_3844@reddit
I mean if the light turns green and 2 full seconds later you are still sitting there with your foot on the brake, you bet your damn bippy I am honking at you and my Masshole self is going to introduce herself to you. Loudly. I give a half second for brake lights to go off, then I'm honking. By the way, it's not "pressure" waking you up when you sleep at the light and don't pay attention, or are on your phone and not paying attention.
FloridaSalsa@reddit
In Florida we should be used to people being distracted in some areas, scenery, barely clothed people, Florida Man. But we can still be A-holes about it so pay attention. Just please don't drive the speed limit in the left lane. Left lane is for illegal speeds only. This is true Florida lore but maybe other places have same unspoken rule.
MegaMiles08@reddit
Yes, but i always look before committing to going because do many people here run red lights. I will say i usually do a quick beep beep type honk when the person isn't going. If it's happening at every stop light, it's going to turn into a long angry honk very quickly. Pay attention, please!
Hattrick42@reddit
I honk. My wife is like why are you honking? I say, I am not honking for me, I am honking for the guy at the back of the line that will be missing the light because this guy sat on his ass.
Visible_Squirrel@reddit
Yep. If someone doesn’t move within the first two seconds of the light turning green, I’m blasting my horn. Only exception being is if we’re in a left turn lane with no turn signal and there is oncoming traffic.
youjumpIjumpJac@reddit
This all sounds odd to me because in L.A. we don’t honk unless the driver takes too long to go & is obviously not paying attention. You would think that we would be the worst ;)
SignificantSmotherer@reddit
Polite beep. Nothing more than a roadrunner, after three seconds.
We should have a “smiley” button on the dash. Someone built one.
Rober Courtesy Horn
If I am idle more than three seconds, there is a reason, usually a jaywalker, a pup, a wrong-way cyclist or scooter, or red-light runner that you aren’t seeing, so keep calm, you can easily race to the next red light, there is plenty of time.
mick-rad17@reddit
Depends where you’re at. There’s literally a term called the New York minute which is roughly the time between a light turning green and the car behind honking you lol
zenmargarita@reddit
In NJ you’ll get honked at by the entire line and then flipped off and cursed at 😂
Acrobatic-Canary-571@reddit
You get four good beats before I give the hey it’s green now honk
12bWindEngineer@reddit
State dependent. When I was in Florida, you had .25 seconds to move your ass before getting the angry New Yorker honk. In northern California, that’s super rare. If you sit there for a few seconds you’ll get the short polite beep, but nothing like Florida in my experience. I live in Alaska now and I almost never hear a honk at a green light.
Neuvirths_Glove@reddit
Absolutely. And more often than not if there's a delay, it's because someone is nose down in their phone, thus the angry reaction.
InterestingDust9877@reddit
In Germany, the red light switches to yellow and then green.
In the US, the red light just switched to green.
Given that difference, I'm not surprised if German drivers are less patient since you have more time to react.
timwtingle@reddit
That kind of shit will get you shot here bro.
wodie-g@reddit
People have brandished guns to two of my friends on different occasions and a guy from my high school was shot for cutting someone off. He lived thankfully. Because of this I never honk like a jerk.
TheOfficialKramer@reddit
No, nobody is blowing the horn at a green light. That's wierd.
JimVivJr@reddit
I try to be a little kinder. I give a few seconds and then let off a soft beep. If they still don’t go, I lay on the horn longer. If they are STILL playing on their phone, or day dreaming… I get angry. I follow them and lay on the horn for a mile or so.
TannerDonovan@reddit
If you don't move a millisecond after the light changes they honk
Spare-Anxiety-547@reddit
Yes. I will give a couple seconds and then I give the shortest honk possible. I don't want to startle someone TOO badly when they are dinking around on their phone.
pusheenforchange@reddit
Not in Seattle. It would need to be 5+ seconds before anyone here gets antsy
my_password_is_water@reddit
If you don’t move in a few seconds, it’s a clear indication that you’re distracted driving and are a danger to yourself and others. You deserve an aggressive honk
tinyman392@reddit
Personally I’ll get into gear and slip the clutch after the light turns green. If I’m moving and they haven’t gone I’ll give a quick, single tap of the horn that’s fairly polite. Clutch back in and blip the throttle to get back into gear. Failure here is a double tap, but still polite. If they’re still not paying attention I’ll lay it on them and hold it.
There is an exception to this though… if they decided to cut to the front from the other lane so they could “be ahead” I’ll lay it on them immediately if I’m in gear and they’re snoozing.
I should note my car has a fairly weak horn on it.
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
Sometimes there is a honk, but I refuse to go immediately bc there is always some jerk trying to get through the light just as it turns red
Mammoth-Accident-809@reddit
Don't even get me started on round-abouts.
I love them. I hate that others exist in them. They stop, they slow down and look right, they wait until zero other cars are in a 1 mile radius...
They may be traffic calming, but they are me-enraging.
PoolSnark@reddit
In the north, you have 1-2 seconds, in the south it’s more like 5-6 seconds. This according to studies done years ago.
Loud-Cheez@reddit
In some places. I get so annoyed, I drive as slowly as I safely can through the turn. If you’re not in an ambulance, it’s not that important.
IllprobpissUoff@reddit
Yea, we have road rage here in Boston. The key, no matter how mad you get, never get out of your car. Not unless you’re ready to defend yourself. It can get ugly real quick. People will leave weapons in their truck. And you never know how crazy someone really is. You could be just looking for a fight, but dude grabs a weapon? Getting cut off isn’t worth dying over.
TheMuffler42069@reddit
How is it pressuring ? They’re in a car on a road at a red light, if you don’t start moving when the light turns green you are inconveniencing everyone behind you. It is that person who is being inconsiderate and unaware. If you are driving, be aware. If you’re not, you should expect worse things than being honked at.
girlywish@reddit
It's probably like this everywhere in the world. Nobody likes to wait.
sapphicsandwich@reddit
Yep. Occasionally. Sometimes it is so ridiculous you could watch the light turn green and in less than half a second they are honking before your foot has time to move from the brakes to the gas.
Normal-guy-mt@reddit
Where I live in the US, you can expect at least 1-2 people to run the red light. Asking for an accident if you go the second a light turns green.
irraticbreakfast11@reddit
Too many red light runners. I wait a few and nobody seems bothered.
YeetThatLemon@reddit
Yes and No. Most people will give you a short honk if you take longer than usual, but the amount of time is different depending where you are. As the top comment said, 3 seconds gets you the long honk however around Seattle 3 seconds is short honk whereas like 5 to 6 seconds is long honk.
On the other end I was literally honked at in Philadelphia for stopping at a red light period because it was an empty intersection, so it seems like Philadelphia is a bit of a lawless battlefield in this aspect.
Finnegan1224@reddit
If this gets done to me in NY, we have to wait another 5 Mississippi before we go. Fuck that. There's way too many people blowing red lights for me to just "go" as soon as it turns green. Oddly enough, nobody usually beeps for the first few seconds.
bfs102@reddit
I've had some that i swear just hold their hand on the horn and hit it as soon as it turns green
Sea-Louse@reddit
I look forward to driving in Germany soon. Honk at me if I take two seconds to move my foot from the brake to the gas, you get my big American middle finger.
AshDenver@reddit
You get a three-count before I lose my ever loving mind to all out rage.
Apprehensive-Ad4063@reddit
In NYC they might honk even before it turns green to make sure the first driver is paying attention. Anywhere else I’ve been in the USA no one honks and they just take their time.
Dweller201@reddit
Yes.
However, in my city we have extremely dangerous drivers who blast through read lights. So, I've noticed a phenomenon where people wait at green lights because they are afraid of getting hit by someone going through the red.
I hypothesize that a hundred years from now the meaning of the lights will reverse lol.
Small_Yesterday_560@reddit
Americans seem to want to finish their text first...
Livvylove@reddit
In the South East of the US is considered rude to honk right when it turns green and many people will just sit even longer. It's only acceptable to honk after a few seconds.
People have even been shot for honking and being rude like that. I always wait a bit to make sure no one is running a red light as well. I've seen a few people get into accidents because they went right when it turned green when someone was running a red light.
septidan@reddit
It's dependent on area. Qhwn I lived in the northern midwest, this happened all the time. Now I live in the southwest and you can't go immediately because people are trying to beat the yellow or not paying attention. You need to give it a second or two to keep from getting t-boned.
legendary_mushroom@reddit
Terry Prachett pointed out in the footnotes of one of his books that the smallest unit of time the universe was the New York Second, defined by the amount of time that elapses between a light turning green and the person behind you honking.
thedawntreader85@reddit
Polite honk first and then a more emphatic one if they continue to be unresponsive.
SakaWreath@reddit
Every second you sit on your phone is another car behind you sentenced to wait another cycle.
You have a duty to everyone else to pay attention.
Put your phone down and drive.
MegansettLife@reddit
We call that "instra-beep."
More common in cities like Boston, but sometimes people escape the cities and show up in our neighborhood.
a2_d2@reddit
In Oregon people are more polite.
In California it’s faster.
In China I used to joke even the passenger seats have horns. People were honking in anticipation of the light turning green.
InstructionNeat2480@reddit
Having lived in both Germany and the states I can say that we do it here in the states. However, Germans are nanoseconds quicker on the horn. They are just slightly quicker than us, but we do it here as well, especially in the larger cities.
Evapoman97@reddit
I live in California and you will definitely get honked at if you are sitting for 2 seconds or more, they would have to start honking while the light was still red to honk at me, I don't like being beaten across the intersection. Yes I have come very close to being t-boned a couple of times!
zgillet@reddit
In the Midwest, there is quite a bit of activity at most lights during the yellow light of cross traffic (late left turns, right turns before the green left turn arrow lights up), so nobody goes promptly when a light turns green. If it hits like 3-4 full seconds, then a little honk is warranted.
worrymon@reddit
When I travel to other cities, I give extra time because I know I'm on the NY minute.
HazelEBaumgartner@reddit
Yes, and if I'm at a red light and someone honks the second it turns green I will usually sit and wait a second or two before I go just to spite them. 'Cause who are you that you're so important that you have to honk the SECOND it turns green?
competentguy@reddit
It rarely happens where I live. Arlington, VA
gravitycheckfailed@reddit
The honking is not as bad as in Germany, but it does happen. It usually takes longer than a couple of seconds for someone to honk though.
Kelli217@reddit
It isn't true everywhere, but there are certainly several cities in the US where that is the case.
mediocreterran@reddit
It depends. In Alaska during the winters, if you don’t wait a second or two at the green for someone who may be sliding through their red light due to ice on the roads, you may be in for a t-bone accident. Summers are a different story.
DJNapQueen@reddit
In my city we have so many red light runners that as a collective we have decided to wait a second or two after the light turns green before going. Sometimes even that is not long enough. Its crazy really.
WimbletonButt@reddit
This is gonna be more regional. In some places yes, people do act that way. Here though, people will let someone sit there for half the damn cycle before giving them a little beep.
retiredfedup@reddit
Every other US driver is likely armed. Honk with caution. :/
Dai-The-Flu-@reddit
I live in Queens and work on Long Island, people have no patience. This isn’t even just a NY thing, this is the case across the Northeast coast. I was just in Philly recently and people were even getting honked at for taking too long at a stop sign.
Icy_Nose_2651@reddit
I’ll give them five seconds, then a long blast. Five seconds is how long it takes for me to get really annoyed
SRB112@reddit
Depends on what part of the country. In urban areas I’ve had people beep less than 1 second after the light changes. In a rural area people are far more laid back and will wait 3-5 seconds. I usually wait 5 seconds except for one light near me that is so quick only 4 cars can go through before it changes. If the first driver lingers that might mean only 2-3 cars make it.
FikoReborn@reddit
Depends where you are.
I live in upstate NY. Light turns green, I let go of my brakes a little and creep up. If you don't start moving within a reasonable amount of time (maybe 2-3 seconds) I'll honk.
If I see you staring at your phone from behind you, I'll probably honk right away if you don't put it down. Not out of anger, but to alert you "hey it's green." (Because at this point it's clear you don't see it)
Recent_Data_305@reddit
Some do and some don’t. I always take one last look to be sure no one is trying to beat the yellow/red light. Most of the time, nothing happens. Sometimes someone back there lays on the horn.
Why the pause? I read an article on red light running crash statistics some years back. Taking that second to look before moving keeps me from being T-boned. Somehow I suspect the jerks who intentionally run the lights are the same ones that can’t handle a one-second delay once the light turns.
Jorost@reddit
Americans in general don't do this as often as I have seen overseas. In Saudi Arabia people behind you started honking the instant the light turned green. Like they just anticipated that you wouldn't be fast enough. I do it myself after a brief pause. I have never understood why people aren't ready to go as soon as the light changes. Even if I am 5-6 cars back, I am ready to go as soon as it shows green. What the heck are other people waiting for?
itsmyparty45@reddit
For someone to run the red light. I see it daily.
MainelyKahnt@reddit
Funnily enough, that's actually a stereotype if people who drive German cars here. Specifically BMW's. The stereotype is derived from the fact that unlike Germany, the US only gets the expensive high option cars from BMW and Audi so the owners tend to be self-centered business types who will honk at you just as the light turns green.
Rockglen@reddit
Depends where you talk about and who is behind the first car.
In metro areas with a lot of traffic the impatient honk is more likely to occur sooner (usually associated with cabbies, but can just be part of the culture of that metro area).
In rural areas you might get impatient honks from hotheads.
In general I'd expect a polite honk after a couple seconds.
NelPage@reddit
It depends. In Brooklyn (NYC) they honk BEFORE the light turns green. In more laid-back places people are more patient.
sparklehouse666@reddit
I never honk at anyone unless they are literally about to run into me. People have been shot during road rage incidents in my city so I think its best to not antagonize other drivers if you can help it…even when the other drivers are in the wrong.
DBFN_Omega@reddit
I give 3 seconds before I give a gentle toot-toot. After another 3 seconds I'll lay on the horn until they move. Normally the first toot toot wakes them up.
jimbobway33@reddit
I usually give a few seconds out of curiosity cause I’ve seen people blow through red lights and I always look. But if I can tell that the person is distracted by their phone. Yeah they get the blaring horn.
BuntinTosser@reddit
You get the horn. There is a social contract: if you are the first person at a light, it is your duty to pay attention and start moving as soon as the light turns green (well, after all the people running red clear the intersection). It sucks missing the left turn arrow because the person in front isn’t paying attention so only 3 cars get to go.
jonesnori@reddit
It varies by location. In NYC, last I heard, it is considered polite to alert the driver ahead of you that the light is turning with a small honk. (That's what my dad said, anyway.)
dekkact@reddit
Fuckin’ GO dude, come on! I got shit to do
Intrepid_Fox-237@reddit
It depends on who the driver is & where it happens.
If it is an 80 year old grandma, most won't honk.
If it is a 20 year old girl putting on makeup... Yes.
Grand_Raccoon0923@reddit
I think in most places, there’s kind of an unwritten three second rule.
RecognitionNew3122@reddit
Yes. If you don’t move a millisecond after it turns green some asshole behind you is straight in their horn
freebiscuit2002@reddit
Yes. Especially if you're at the front of the line. It's your responsibility to watch for the light to change, so get off your phone!
NOTTHATKAREN1@reddit
Yes. If your foot isn't on the gas, a lot of ppl will lay on that horn. It's not everyone, but my office is in the middle of a busy intersection & I hear it all day!!
FivebyFive@reddit
That's not pressure, that's just reminding you of your duty as the first person in line.
Get off your phone and pay attention!
hollowbolding@reddit
where i am the two kinds of driver at light are 'will honk at you for not running a red light' and the ones who give you a lil grace period. i will give a short honk if the guy in front of me doesn't move after a couple seconds of green
clush005@reddit
The USA is BIG, and this varies by region/state/city. In New York or New Jersey, yes, absolutely they honk right away. In Hawaii and Oregon, you could sit at a green light for an entire cycle and it's highly likely that no one will honk lol.
TheEvilPrinceZorte@reddit
In LA you often can’t go when the light turns green because people are still finishing their left turns. You generally have a second to look both ways for red light runners before moving even when the intersection is clear, because there isn’t a built in expectation of being able to take off the instant it changes. If you sit for more than a second you are likely to get a wake up honk but people are generally chill enough that it won’t be aggressive.
AgentJ691@reddit
I feel pressure when I am at a stop sign and waiting for it to be clear. Plus I am cautious and I feel like some folks would risk going thru when there is a driver coming down on either side just a little too fast.
pizza99pizza99@reddit
Unfortunately not. I wish people would. It’s not uncommon to have to sit through the light cycle again because some asshole is on their phone
Proper-Application69@reddit
The shortest timespan known to humans is the time between when the light turns green and the New York City cab driver behind you honks.
In L.A. most people wait a moment and then give a brief wake-up honk. Except at short green arrows with long lines of left turners - then the honks come quicker and are longer and angrier, and they don’t only come from the second car.
In rural areas I’ve seen folks miss their green arrow and nobody honks.
the US is big and the culture varies.
D-Rich-88@reddit
There’s some assholes that do that. Usually there’s a courtesy of a second or two at least.
TeamTurnus@reddit
Yah youre gonna get honked if you dont move when the light turns green, the duration of the honk will likely correlate to the length of time youre waiting. Pretty standard, seems like its the case in the south and Midwest, which are the two parts of the us ive lived in for any length of time.
KnightoThousandEyes@reddit
In my experience this happens more often on the northeast coast states (New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey) I haven’t visited Maine, New Hampshire, or Vermont so I couldn’t say if it’s the same there. You don’t get honks so often in Texas probably because people know the other driver might have a gun. 😓 But still, you kinda have to wait a bit because people everywhere run red lights.
mynameishuman42@reddit
Yes. You have 5 seconds before people start honking. We treat it like a drag race.
UncleBud_710@reddit
Wow. I am in a very rural area and a honk is usually taken as a direct challenge.
Fabulous_Lab1287@reddit
Yes I honk at people. Why should everyone wait while you finish a text?
ImmediateBug2@reddit
I’m in Texas. I’ll give it a couple seconds, then I’ll do a short honk because I don’t have all day to just sit at this damn light.
Dangerous_Pie485@reddit
In the US, waiting 1-2 seconds then honking is called a "New York Minute". Which comes from drivers being impatient and yelling "its been a minute"
Rattlingplates@reddit
Yeah. If you’re driving you should be watching the road and light and not day dreaming or checking your phone.
Intelligent_Pop1173@reddit
Yes and it’s because I usually assume they’re on their phone and am probably right. It’s one of the few times I get honked at where I actually don’t mind.
Mav12222@reddit
From. y experience in Westchester, green light honking is the easiest way to tell if a driver is from NYC. NYC drivers will honk the nanosecond the light is green, before you even have the chance to move your foot on the gas
flyamber@reddit
Small city, middle America, short honk after 4-5 seconds.
BP3D@reddit
Depends on the city. But spending the last 12 days in Germany, I've never heard so much honking. People in the US tend to be passive aggressive about that and turn into even bigger twats.
Rony_Seikaly@reddit
Miami drivers will honk after precisely 0.0000001 seconds after it turns green.
BeefInGR@reddit
The key is to not give a fuck.
I'm not burning up my car to test it's 0-60 capabilities nor am I going to endanger pedestrians. Honk all you want, ride my ass, we're going to end up at the next light together regardless.
GuairdeanBeatha@reddit
I never launch the instant the light turns green. I’ve seen too many instances where someone had to be the last person through the light and ends up running a red light. A couple of those resulted in a collision.
RVFullTime@reddit
Sometimes,we pause just long enough to be sure that nobody is running the red light on the intersecting road. Certain locales are infamous for red light collisions.
EnvironmentalSmoke61@reddit
There’s almost no reason you shouldn’t be going if the light is green so yeah if you are sitting on your phone then you get honked at. You should generally pay attention to the road when you drive.
PabloTFiccus@reddit
Driving culture varies enormously depending on where in the US you are. Someone did a study on how long it takes to honk in this exact situation you described. In New York they got honked at in less than a second, but in the Midwest they were supposed that after about 30 seconds or so, the driver behind them showed up at their driver window to ask if they were okay, having never honked XD
WillDupage@reddit
I was out on Monday and it was a nice day, so I took the 1965 Oldsmobile out. Sitting at a light, the empty skull in front of us was applying layer #4 of mascara. Light turned green. I waited 5 seconds and gave a light tap on the horn. I got a squinty f-u face in the mirror and an over the shoulder bird was flown while mascara continued to be applied. I unleashed a full blast of a 60 year old three-note General Motors horn that sounds like it was swapped out from a locomotive. The dead sat up and asked “WTF was that?!?”. The empty skull looked like she poked herself in the eye with her wand, but she moved.
Elfshadow5@reddit
If you sit too long, depending on where you are it’s usually a quick tap. If you don’t move then the long horn happens and the yelling. Unless you are up north, then you will probably get the long angry honk.
Confident-Hamster642@reddit
In Miami, it is instant and loud lol.
Trinikas@reddit
Depends on the people and the locale. In NYC you're going to get aggressive horns pretty quickly, I'd assume it might be similar in other cities like LA.
I myself will give the quick 'hey get off your phone and drive' toot if someone's clearly not noticing the light has changed but otherwise I just grumble to myself.
giddenboy@reddit
People have important things to do while driving, like phone usage and other office like duties, makeup and hygiene, playing with themselves...you know, all kinds of stuff.
river-running@reddit
I lived in Miami for a while and drivers there were like this. After I left I was very jumpy for a while at stoplights because I got used to being honked at the minute the light turned green.
TikaPants@reddit
You’ll get honked at if you don’t haul ass immediately as the light turns green.
phunkjnky@reddit
The answer is yes.
Unless a medical emergency is involved, I'm not sure why drivers somewhere else wouldn't.
Don't stare at them, just go. I don't care why you didn't go then, but don't make it worse by not going now. Get over yourself. We have ALL done it. This is solved by paying attention. Trying to gain any kind of leeway is trying to justify not paying attention. Maybe you were playing with the radio, maybe you were scrolling on your phone, maybe you were just zoned out... Don't take it personally, and just go. If you really have something important to attend to, pull over.
SnooHobbies5684@reddit
IMHO it depends where in the country you are, how bad traffic tends to be, how long people generally spend commuting, as well as how long or short the light is.
If it's a busy, short light that only lets a few cars go between the other lights, the front car had better be paying attention or they're going to get honked at.
Terrible-Image9368@reddit
Yes it is the same in the US. Drivers are very impatient and mean here
daffodil0127@reddit
You should be paying attention to the light. Yes, you deserve a good honk if you’re holding someone up, especially at shorter lights. I usually do a short one unless they still don’t move and then they get the long beep.
Swimminginthestorm@reddit
I live in Texas. Too many guns here. I’m not getting shot because I honked at a psycho with an itchy trigger finger.
MsPennyP@reddit
Where I grew up, you went as soon as the light turned green. You may get a little beep honk if you didn't go. Not a rude long honk.
Where I am now, everyone who has lived here at least a few weeks knows not to go right as the light turns green as there are far too many red light runners, if you go as soon as the light turns green you are likely to get in an accident.
Also, if someone honks at me, I am more likely to stop or go slow. I've gotten honked at being stopped at a red light in a right turn lane, but you do not have to go unless and until you feel it's safe to. I sat until it turned green to go. When the person honked I was waiting for a car to pass that they couldn't see.
Acrobatic-Tadpole-60@reddit
This is going to vary greatly by region. In NYC, you get the "move asshole" honk if you're not already moving when it turns green. I lived in Pittsburgh, and there can be twenty cars at a light, and the person in front could be sitting there for several seconds at a green light, and literally no one honks. I swear people in that city (yinz are great people, but your driving makes me crazy) have nothing better to do than just sit in traffic. In general, I find that East Coast drivers tend to be more aggressive, whereas when you get out to the Midwest, there's a lot more "no you go—no please after you" and people getting trapped at four-way stops because everyone is trying to be nice to each other.
WildBoy-72@reddit
Some do.
gutclutterminor@reddit
In Louisville Ky there are more than one reasons people wait when the light turns green. Way too many idiots run fresh red lights, and many people want to make sure they don't get hit. But the majority is probably phone related.
Senpai2Savage@reddit
Got places to be so odds are people will honk or pass you assuming you're having some kind of car issue.
amigammon@reddit
No.
GuiltySpecialist7071@reddit
With how frequently I see people running red lights in my current city, I deliberately give a couple second buffer between the light turning and going through an intersection. I basically treat the just changed green light as a stop sign, checking to make sure no one is barreling through before I go. People behind me can honk all the way, I’m not getting t-boned
JackfruitCrazy51@reddit
I think Iowans must feel it's not polite to honk. I can go months without hearing someone honk. I, on the other hand, will give a quick honk at a light, or a flash of my high beams if someone is camping in the passing lane, etc. You have to be a real ass for me to give you a long honk.
oldmanlikesguitars@reddit
It’s green, you’re supposed to go. If you live in an area where people run red lights, when it turns green look both ways and GO. Don’t wait 3 seconds! Check like you’re at a stop sign, then GO. Get out of the way!
And get off your damn phone.
-Houston@reddit
It’s not as aggressive as you describe. Here someone will honk only if it’s been several seconds.
When I lived in Miami, people would honk much more often and sometimes even on red lights.
lisususil@reddit
Yes. There exists a meme where you blast your horn at the first guy in line the femtosecond the light turns green with the caption “it’s not getting any greener pal”
Express-Stop7830@reddit
Ah, Miami...
realityinflux@reddit
My experience is you have to sit there over 3 or 4 seconds before you get the honk, and usually it's a short, polite honk.
MrsNoodleMcDoodle@reddit
Stay off your phone! If this happens to you frequently, the problem is you, not your culture. Yes, if someone is not moving for more than a couple seconds after the light turns, Americans will give them a honk.
forestcreep420@reddit
No, not really. But my car does not accelerate as quickly as some would like, and often if im not going through the intersection fast enough, people will go around me lol.
thatwitchlefay@reddit
If the light turns green, GO! People are busy. They’re on their way to work, doctor’s appointments, school, etc - things you can’t be late for. Fucking MOVE.
serialband@reddit
Depends on the town and how long people are sitting at the light.
holymacaroley@reddit
It wasn't that way in the past. I'm in a relatively large city in the South and the past couple of years people will honk the very second it turns green.
mads_61@reddit
Where I live people aren’t aggressive honkers, but it’s not unusual for someone to honk if you’re taking too long at a green light (or a red light if you’re turning right and the intersection is clear).
In the city where I live I do hesitate when a light turns green - it is really common for someone to come flying through the intersection long after their light turned red. I have multiple friends who have gotten t-boned in that scenario.
coffincowgirl@reddit
Depends where you are really
ssgtdunno@reddit
In Maryland you’re expected to act like you’re at the starting line of a drag race and immediately hit 60mph .02 seconds after the light turns green EVEN THOUGH people ALWAYS run red lights like crazy. I wait until I see the other direction actually slowing down, and the people behind me can RELAX
kodex1717@reddit
In Wisconsin, I found drivers will let you go a good 5 seconds before they honk. In DC, drivers will honk the instant that the first green photon strikes their eyeball.
00zau@reddit
If you haven't moved after 1-2 seconds, you weren't paying attention. I'm not going to wait for the whole damn light cycle (I've had that happen as the 3rd in line when 1st didn't move and 2nd didn't honk) to see if you notice and get off your phone.
LabInner262@reddit
Depends on where you are.
Launch_box@reddit
People in Chicago have frame perfect green light honks
Illustrious_Leg_2537@reddit
I think in Chicago, the honking starts before the light turns green, so the cars behind you get your attention and make sure you’re ready to go.
Captain_Drastic@reddit
In Seattle, I wish more people would honk aggressively. Instead, you get 10 cars seething passive-aggressively while some dude at the front of the line scrolls TikTok. I give people 1.5-2 seconds, then they get a quick honk from me. Or a loud, aggressive honk if I can see they're looking at their phone instead of watching the light.
Accomplished-Fix-831@reddit
You should be starting to move on amber because by the time you are actually moving the road should be clear because the other light is red for about a half a second as a minimum before your light even turns amber
boneyjoaniemacaroni@reddit
I’ve spent the majority of my driving years in the PNW (although I’ve driven literally all over the lower 48), and drivers out here are notoriously passive aggressive. It’s common for folks to wait 2-3 seconds before they even begin to accelerate (WHYYY????), and it’s extremely rare for people to honk, even in dangerous situations. I do now, because fuck em, and because I believe peer pressure works, and if no one is telling them they’re doing a shit job of driving (again, via honking, not full road rage), then they’ll keep doing it.
Don’t be polite, be predictable!
mmaalex@reddit
Yes. More aggressively in some cities than others. Lots of places where its more "polite" they'll give you a few seconds.
Intol3rance@reddit
This is America! MAGA will shoot at you if you don't pull off at full throttle the moment the light turns green.
NotACrazyCatLadyx2@reddit
I think there is a two or three second grace period before the horns go off. That said, I am NEVER the first to go if I am at the front of the lane because I look left and right before I go. Why? Because I witnessed someone jack-rabbit at the green and they got t-boned by a semi. Semi ran the red light. No one in the (large) SUV survived. I usually can’t see if anyone is running the red, but that one or two second delay helps ME not get t-boned.
_that_dude_J@reddit
@OP,
People being impatient, is an effect of the pandemic. We're seeing impatient drivers everywhere.
1-2 seconds are fine to me. Some people have auto-start built-in and it takes the car a second to push off after hitting the gas. But there are others that are glued to their phones. That is what is truly annoying and sort of requires the expressive horn? 😅
Prize-Tip-2745@reddit
Some places in the US it is a good way to get shot. Or experience road rage firsthand
fite4whatmatters@reddit
It’s regional. I’ve been in some states that blare their horns immediately, others where people will sit for about 3 seconds before giving a quick light beep, and everything in between.
SarcasticOpossum29@reddit
I lived in San Antonio for a few years. I swear everyone behind the lead car would start honking when the cross traffic light turned red, even before their light was green.
Megerber@reddit
Sometimes, but we have so many people who run red lights that most people expect the person in front to pause instead of just shooting out as the light turns green
WorkerAmbitious2072@reddit
Yes we need you paying attention and getting everyone through the intersection we don’t want to be the ones cut off by the next red because YOU sat there
The_Menu_Guy@reddit
In the Northeast, yes, easily within 1 second. In the Midwest, not much, but it does happen.
Relevant_Elevator190@reddit
Come on, they are already revving up at the yellow. For those who have never been to Germany, their lights go from red, to yellow to green.
ObjectiveOk2072@reddit
Do people not constantly use their phones while driving in Germany? They certainly do here in the US. Usually when someone takes a few seconds to get moving when the light turns green, it's because they were on their phone
balthisar@reddit
I mean, in Germany, it's deserved, because your lights clearly and plainly indicate that the green is upcoming. You should be moving the very instant the light turns green in Germany, and not merely starting the process.
FlyByPC@reddit
You get a second or two, then a friendly reminder beep, then an angry one after another second or two.
If you're the lead car, it's your job to watch the light. If you're not, it's your job to watch the car in front of you.
anneofgraygardens@reddit
Not super common in California, but it does happen occasionally. You also very very occasionally run into some aggressive idiots who honk when you're doing normal safe things. Like several years ago I was at an intersection where I was turning left and had a green light, but there was oncoming traffic I had to wait for. The guy behind me started honking and YELLING at me to turn. Like...my dude, turning would be incredibly unsafe right now, I have to wait for a break in the traffic.
After I finally turned, the guy continued to follow me for a couple blocks, driving aggressively and continuing to yell. (It was a warm day and both he and I had our windows open so I could hear him.) After a couple blocks he turned furiously into a grocery store parking lot. So sad I made you like 30 seconds late to the grocery store with my safe driving.
But this shit is rare enough that this happened years ago and I still remember it.
notonrexmanningday@reddit
It's somewhat regional. I live in Chicago, and yes, if you don't go right when the light turns, you'll get a honk, usually a short one.
On the other hand, if I'm visiting my small hometown in Texas, if you honk at someone, they assume you know them, and you're just saying "hi", so they'll most likely stare in their rearview mirror, trying to figure out who you are, then they'll just wave, and move on slowly.
No-Celebration3097@reddit
I have been honked at as soon as the light turned green, I mean honking as I lift my foot from the brake! There are tons of people running from a fire or just really have to poop.
tooslow_moveover@reddit
OP posting this while sitting in front of me at a green light
denovoreview_@reddit
Depends on where you live.
VinceP312@reddit
In Chicago its usually the polite honk; however if the person ahead is staring at their phone, then they get the angry honk from me
Also, if I'm being patient and waited more than 5 secs, they get the angry honk.
DaughterofTarot@reddit
Yes they do, but we also have horrible red light running in some cities too. So if I still drove I would flip someone like that bird. Maybe step out of my car with an offer to educate them.
therealbellydancer@reddit
They will advise you not to race across immediately these days. Too many running red lights and you will get hit. I wait a few seconds now for this reason
ShinySpeedDemon@reddit
Depends on where you are and where the driver behind you is from, some people lay on the horn the second the light goes green, other give the short honk after a second or two.
Prestigious_View_401@reddit
Yes. Some people even shoot others.
https://apnews.com/article/cf6dc970bcb9401d883edbcc04fd0954
MerryWannaRedux@reddit
I get irritated when there's a "turn left on green light only" and the first person takes his/her sweet time turning, especially if there's a long line waiting to turn left. If I can see they're on there phone, then they get a hard horn honk!! (With that said, as you probably know, guns are very prevalent here, so you gotta be careful who you're honking at.)
kitchengardengal@reddit
Well, most everyone in metro Atlanta knows to wait just a sec because there's ALWAYS that guy who thinks because he's already moving, the red light doesn't mean HIM. Pulling out right away is pretty darn dangerous here.
AnymooseProphet@reddit
Yes they do, any sometimes legitimately as the person waiting is distracted on their phone.
Lazy_Review3707@reddit
Most places, no. But some cities on the east coast seem to train new drivers to be assholes like that.
ThatMikeGuy429@reddit
I have lived in a small town and in NYC, the small town will likely give you three seconds if not more, a mid sized city like Rochester will give you one or two seconds, NYC the light is green and you need to move to honking starts the nanosecond the light turns green if you are not already moving.
used-to-have-a-name@reddit
I’ve noticed there are regional variations in driving behavior. In some places, you’re expected to get off the “starting block” quickly. In others, that would be suicidal, because cross traffic doesn’t slow down at a yellow light, but keeps going until it’s really, truly, unmistakably red. 😅
Some places also tailgate a whole lot more, and some leave more generous gaps between vehicles.
But there are idiots and assholes everywhere.
Bubble_Lights@reddit
Short honk if you stay for like 3-5 secs
stangAce20@reddit
If you don’t move within the first 10 seconds of the light being green you will probably get a quick honk/tap of the horn to wake you up
InvisibleTacoSnack@reddit
Chicago=honking
NetDork@reddit
If I'm 2nd in line and they don't move instantly, I'll leisurely move my hand from the wheel to the horn button. If they don't move by the time I get there THEY GET THE HONK!
NoChill_Man@reddit
It depends on where you’re at in the US. Where I live, there’s generally a grace period of about 2-3 seconds before people start honking.
I once had the misfortune of having to drive in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and people would start laying on the horn the instant the light turned green. Seriously, people were honking before I was able to physically move my foot from the brake to the gas pedal, it was impressive. Luckily I’ll probably never have to visit that dump ever again.
latin220@reddit
A short honk if you dilly dally on a green light.
largos7289@reddit
You get three mississippi's after that you get the horn.
SilverStory6503@reddit
It depends on the city. I travel a lot and the worst I've seen is LA. You must move the instant the light turns green. But in the midwest town I live, it's much more relaxed.
trikakeep@reddit
If the time between when the light turns green and the car behind me honks aggressively can be registered in milliseconds, we are not moving until it changes to green a second time.
Amazing_Divide1214@reddit
Like most thing, it depends. If I can see them on their phone, they get a long mean honk. If I'm unsure, they get a short "hey buddy, lets go" honk.
regulationinflation@reddit
Did you post this at a red light?
Perhaps you should be more concerned about paying attention while operating a vehicle. Drivers shouldn’t have to “pressure” you. You should feel the pressure of common courtesy and to follow the road rules as a result of being granted the privilege to drive.
unknown_anaconda@reddit
US drivers are very aggressive compared to many European countries.
Far_Silver@reddit
Depends on the European country. More aggressive than the Irish and Brits? Definitely. More aggressive than the French? Lol. No.
Adept_Site_5350@reddit
Old joke:
Definition of nanosecond is the amount of time between the light turning green and the person behind you honking their horn.
Forsaken_Distance777@reddit
Depends where in the US
JerseyGuy-77@reddit
Please think of America as 50 countries like with European union stuff. In NJ we aren't patient. Other states are probably more polite about it.
phyncke@reddit
It’s annoying. I always wait at the green in case someone is running a red light. So they can bleeping wait
Senior-Dimension2332@reddit
I have a nuanced approach to this myself. In my city, when college is in session it is not uncommon for red lights to have 2 - 4 cars run them. So I never go immediately when a light turns green for me because 9 out of 10 times at least a few cars will just blow through a red light. I really wish this was an exaggeration, but it is what it is. So I never honk at anyone taking 2-4 seconds to move through a fresh greenlight. If they sit there for a good 5 or so seconds though, then I know they're on their phone and give them a honk.
Outfield14@reddit
Get the fuck out of my way. I've got shit to do. Don't you know I'm the main character of this story.
pikkdogs@reddit
Yep. It would be a normal thing to do. Or else if possible change lanes and go around them.
LawnJerk@reddit
When it's green, if you don't move for about 2 seconds, people will let you know. If the person behind you can see you are looking down doodling with your phone or something, you will get a honk even sooner. It wasn't really a problem years ago before smart phones became such a distraction. Even people who are good to not mess with their phone will sometimes check notifications while sitting at a stop light.
Ok_Nectarine_4528@reddit
Same where I am.
People often short honk first (hey pay attention!), but afterwards identical.
SabresBills69@reddit
Yes that happens in the USA if you dont move when green.
Those behind you might not have a clue what's in front of you.
There are laws thsg make illegal to sit "inside the box" at an intersection.
This can occur on local roads at rush hour times when folks are heading home from work like you get a choke point on a local road that leads you to a freeway
In the mornings you coukd have school bus stops where traffic must stop or local bus routes pick ip/ drop off point is right after the intersection in the right lane
JustNeedAnswers78@reddit
It ain’t getting any greener.
onyxrose81@reddit
In Houston too many people run red lights so we don’t go immediately. I lost count the number of times I’d have been t-boned if I didn’t wait. New drivers to the area learn this quickly.
MeasurementQuick4887@reddit
I’ve gotten honked at a couple times for taking a second to make sure all traffic has stopped before i go. I don’t really care tho. I’ve watched too many bodycam vids on YouTube to know so many people run red lights. Especially here in Florida. I will always take a second to make sure everyone has stopped.
UmpireProper7683@reddit
Yeah, after a couple of seconds a person is getting the horn. Lines at intersections get long quick and nobody wants to be stuck at the intersection for a second red light when they don't need to be.
Showdown5618@reddit
In America, drivers usually wait 2 to 3 seconds before giving a short, friendly honk if the driver in front doesn't move on a green light.
SloppyMeathole@reddit
Yes, this is very normal in America.
But as this is America you need to be careful who you honk your horn at. You could easily have a gun drawn on you, so you have to pick your horn targets carefully. I live in one of the safest areas in the entire country, and just the other day someone on that local highway had a gun pointed at them because they honked at somebody.
VisionAri_VA@reddit
Yeah, there’s always some chucklehead that lays on the horn 3 nanoseconds after the light turns green. I even saw an idiot rear-end the car in front of him because it didn’t move as fast as he was expecting it to.
bluntplaya@reddit
Which shade of green are we waiting for buddy
nycsingletrack@reddit
You just described every single day in NYC
splorp_evilbastard@reddit
In Austin, TX and in the Columbus, OH area, if you immediately go when the light turns green you run the risk of being hit by some jackass who is running a red light.
Ok-Big2807@reddit
My work vehicle has stop/start and it’s on by default and not quite responsive enough. I get a lot of honks while waiting for the engine to turn over. Some are a bit aggressive about it as well
Used_Duck_478@reddit
Yes, especially if they have Mass plates
Fractal_self@reddit
If I’m behind someone when a light turns green and it takes them 15 or more seconds to get up to speed, just know I’m dying inside and will swerve around them at the first opportunity
Apprehensive_Run6642@reddit
Not in Kentucky. There is an assumed pause when the light turns because so many people run red lights.
Cute_Marzipan_4116@reddit
As Ludacris said; “Move bitch get out the way.” 😂
WiggWamm@reddit
Yeah it’s common in cities
bbdale@reddit
I'm oriignally from NY and there we will 100% honk in this situation.
I'm currently in the Seattle area and half the drivers are sleeping as they drive. I do honk anyway and have been told "we don't do that here." Personally I ain't got time for their nappy time so I keep doing it.
__Jank__@reddit
Unlike Germany, we don't get the yellow warning light that the signal is about to go green. We go from red to green, so there is a bit less expectation of instant motion like in Germany. But any perceived delay past what is expected and you'd get a short polite honk
BigMom000@reddit
Absolutely yes.
csamsh@reddit
You get a three-count from me, then I honk
Salty_Permit4437@reddit
Depends on where. USA is a big place. In the rural south things move a bit slower. In New York expect honking like India.
Rbkelley1@reddit
If you don’t move within 3 seconds you’re getting the horn
joemammmmaaaaaa@reddit
I will note that it depends on the neighborhood. In a normal area yes, angry honk after 2 seconds. In a bad neighborhood you don’t know who has a gun. I used to drive through a sketchy area for my commute and I fell asleep at a red light. I was like 3rd person in and two people were behind me. No one honked, they just left me there. I woke up after they left and before anyone else arrived
udsd007@reddit
I ALWAYS look right and left after the signal turns green. It has saved my life hundreds of times.\ “Never be in a hurry to die.”
HippoProject@reddit
I usually hover my hand over the steering wheel and count to 3, then I’ll give a short honk to get the person to move. Honking after a second of immobility seems a bit too much.
G17Gen3@reddit
In Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, if you are first in line and do not floor the gas pedal within .0032 milliseconds of the light turning green, it is guaranteed that you will get at least three angry horn blasts, possibly a shaken fist, a middle finger or two, and probably get called a fuckin' idiot at least twice.
AdamOnFirst@reddit
The light is green. Move, asshole.
SkylineFTW97@reddit
I give ~2 seconds before I briefly tap the horn. Usually that's all that's necessary.
crewsctrl@reddit
Nothing about traffic in the USA is relaxed. People here will honk if you don't try to beat the yellow light.
CalmRip@reddit
For the most part in Northern and Central California, no, they don't sound they horn. I did encounter this a couple of times when I lived in the Greater Los Angeles area of Southern California. I had a manual transmission car then, and I always took it out of gear at stoplights, so it would take me half a second or so to engage 1st gear and start moving. I would very often get hear the horn from the car behind be.
My theory about this is that are more immigrants from other states in SoCal, and they aren't aware of the California vehicle code clause that says horns should only be used to warn other drivers of dangerous situations. That's pretty well-observed in NorCal, less followed in the south. Freaked me out when I first moved there because usually if you hear a horn in NorCal there really is a situation which requires caution. This was true even when I was commuting in Silicon Valley during the dot-com boom.
Dignam3@reddit
If you haven't moved after 2 seconds you get a short beep from me. After 5 seconds, or if it's clear your head is buried in your phone, I will lean on the horn. These values will fluctuate based on if I'm in the city or boonies.
poortomato@reddit
New York (Long Island and NYC, at least): A resounding yes! It's where I learned to drive and it's expected that green means go. Everyone lifts their foot off the gas and we all move forward together at once. Generally. If it doesn't happen immediately, there will be honking. But it was always a short "pay attention" honk, not a "I'm laying on my horn" honk.
Texas (at least central Texas, around Austin): No. From my observations over the last 15 years, people like to wait for the car in front of them to move several feet away before they start going, too. And there is no honking. At all.
My Texan partner was mortified when I first moved down here and would honk at everyone. He's scared of being shot at. I had to unlearn that behavior real quick 😭
sundial11sxm@reddit
South Florida? Yes. Rural areas? No.
RamenLoveEggs@reddit
Certain parts of the country that would seem to be very aggressive. Also, keep in mind that many Americans are armed with guns. So, for example, I tend not to honk at people unless I give them more than a few seconds and it’s a quick, polite one
Jaymac720@reddit
In general, the first honk a quick “yo, look up from your phone” and the second one is “pay the fuck attention”
crispybacononsalad@reddit
With all the constant red light runners in my city and state in general, I wait a couple of seconds before going.
It's common in my town to have at least 2 or 3 people that go when it's red
sonofkeldar@reddit
I’ve never driven in Germany, but if it’s like other European countries I have driven in, you might be surprised that Americans don’t have a yellow between red and green, only green and red. So, red lights turn straight to green. Like other commenters have pointed out, there’s a lot of regional differences, but in most big cities, you’re taking your life in your hands if you jump immediately in green. Technically, the law doesn’t say that you can go on green. It says that you can go on green after the intersection has cleared.
I’ve driven all over, and the two craziest places to drive in the US are Los Angeles and Dallas-Fort Worth. In those two places, everyone is in a hurry to go nowhere, and traffic laws are pretty universally ignored. The locals will tell you that a red light doesn’t mean Stop. It means only four or five more cars can go through the intersection. If you go when the light turns green, you’re getting t-boned.
Personally, I don’t care where I am or how much the guy behind me honks. When the light turns green, I’m looking both ways, and only moving when it’s safe to do so.
webbess1@reddit
lolwut. Yellow lights are everywhere. I very rarely see traffic lights without a yellow.
SJHillman@reddit
You might want to read what they wrote a little more closely.
Yellow lights between green and red are common in the US. Yellow lights between red and green, as the previous poster said, are - to the best of my knowledge - nonexistent in the US. What they're talking about is a light or countdown that tell when red is about to turn back to green, which is something I've never seen in the US.
zydeco100@reddit
I have driven in Germany, and a lot of lights will actually go red-to-yellow to signal that a light is about to go green. It's a neat feature but it totally makes it reasonable that if the lead driver wasn't paying attention to that, they deserve a honk.
TillPsychological351@reddit
Different parts of the country are worse for this.
In Philadelphia, you'd better gun the engine with half a second of it turning green, or expect a long, angry honk. I even heard this once when there was clearly a pedestrian in the road in front on me. Did they want me to run down the pedestrian?
Other places, people might wait a few seconds before giving you a little reminder tooth.
I've actually lived in Germany, and didn't find drivers there particularly impatient (other than flashing you to get out of the fast lane). Belgian drivers, on the other hand...
cavalier78@reddit
Absolutely some people give loud aggressive honks to morons who won't go at a green.
And by "some people", I mean me. If you don't go by the count of 3, I'm laying on the horn until you do.
Aggravating-Card-829@reddit
It depends on where you're at. In the rural Midwest you'd better get used to people taking their time because the culture is much slower there.
Ilovefishdix@reddit
I assume they're on their phones while stopped, so I briefly tap on the horn. We've all been there, so i don't mean anything harsh by it. If they don't take the hint or they do it multiple times, I'll hold the horn down for a few secs. I've seen drivers stop in the middle of the road to text, which caused me to miss the light. I don't have much patience for that
IanDOsmond@reddit
100%. Honestly, though, the timing and the urgency of the honk does vary from place to place. That said, there is nowhere on Earth that I wouldn't get at least a short beep if I spaced out for five seconds.
And you know what? I'm okay with that. If I have spaced out, I wanna know.
tasukiko@reddit
Yes, however where I am we also have a lot of people who run over the red of the previous light so I always pause a bit before going if I'm at the front for a green. People behind me honking I can handle getting t-boned at 45mph because someone is whizzing through a red I can't. Go ahead and honk.
Confetticandi@reddit
It really depends on the part of the country you’re in. Some cities have more impatient and aggressive drivers than others.
Ohiostatehack@reddit
Basically have to honk now to tell people to put their phones down.
Silly_Yak56012@reddit
Depends, some on which state I've driven in. Around here they aren't too aggressive about move the nanosecond the light turns green because even with a long pause between when the other direction goes red and your direction goes green, you can count on at least one person who saw the yellow blasting through the intersection.
So most of the time you get some grace to double and triple check that the red light has been red long enough for cars to actually stop.
Other places you better be moving as the light is turning green.
MisanthropicAnthro@reddit
Here there's typically still cars flying through the light that just turned red for at least several seconds into the green, so not really. But if you have an unprotected left and don't just yolo it and make the oncoming traffic brake for you or crash, you'll get the honk.
Sumocolt768@reddit
I always wait 3 full seconds. That should be enough time before I give them an ass full of horn
jlangue@reddit
Yes, to the US. In the UK, they are much more patient at green lights.
Ok-Business5033@reddit
No, we're too busy on our phones to know that the car in front should have started moving 15 seconds prior.
Rarewear_fan@reddit
I’ve always said a great idea for an app is one that texts you when the light turns green.
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
My wife's car tells her if the car in front has moved. She will get a ding and an alert on her screen that the car in front has moved if she is still stationary.
Ok-Business5033@reddit
I'd be an early investor.
FlappyClap@reddit
They can honk at me all they want, similar to looking both ways before crossing a street, I look both ways to make sure someone isn’t running a red light.
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
So do I. Also in the US. But it doesn't take me 2 seconds. It doesn't even take 1 second. In fact, I let off my brake before I look because I'm not going to roll into the intersection faster than I can look both ways.
FlappyClap@reddit
That’s what I do too. In my area though, they’re notorious for running red lights so I have to be a little more cautious.
StomachAromatic@reddit
This is such a smart thing to do, but people will fuck you up for doing that lol.
wolfmann99@reddit
Our lights go Red -> Green, not Red -> Yellow -> Green like in Germany, but yes if you're sitting at a green for a couple seconds expect to get honked at.
Anteater_Reasonable@reddit
You have one second to get going when the light turns green before you get the angry horn. There is too much traffic here to be patient with people not paying attention.
SuspiciousZombie788@reddit
I'd say it depends on where in the U.S. you are. In the city where I grew up, this was very common and people rarely got upset about it. Where I live now? People freak out and it apparently comes across as very aggressive.
peter303_@reddit
I (US) count to five. Its almost always someone absorbed in their phones.
Listen-to-Mom@reddit
I honk if the person in front isn’t responding to a green light because many times they’re on their phone.
SignificanceFun265@reddit
How about you don’t play on your phone at the red lights and it won’t be a problem
KennyWuKanYuen@reddit
Kinda. Usually anything under 2 seconds is tolerable in the NE. Anything more, you will get a short honk. If you’re not moving, you get the long honk.
One big issue is that a lot of US drivers don’t use their peripheral vision when driving and that leads to everything else being very slow, consequently slowing everyone else down.
historyhill@reddit
I give a three-second count to myself before I honk, and the first one is a short "please get off your phone and go!" rather than an aggressive one.
hewhoisneverobeyed@reddit
In Minnesota, they won't honk (that would simply be inpolite) but they will sit behind you and stew in judgment.
jim_br@reddit
I’ll give a quick horn tap after a second or two. If you pause longer than that, I’m assuming you’re on your phone and you’ll get a long horn.
Quick story on an inattentive driver. I was behind a car that sat at a green light. I tap the horn, they take off. Next light, same thing repeats — they don’t move on a green, I tap the horn, they take off. I’m assuming they’re on their phone.
The road opens up to two lanes and they take the right/empty lane next to a pickup already stopped at the red. As I pull up behind the truck, it rolls a few feet and stops. But I guess the driver of the car was doing something else again and when the truck rolled a few feet, the driver started off, realized the light is still red, and stopped the car a full car length into the intersection. Fortunately, the intersection was empty.
Loud_Blacksmith2123@reddit
That happens here too, but it's usually just a short tap to get the person's attention.
ParanoidWalnut@reddit
I've had people honk right after it turned green. I always check in case some AH driver is speeding so I don't get T-Boned at the intersection.
Hood_Harmacist@reddit
You’re more likely to get a friendly honk vs not one at all. I have noticed the 2-3 car group will all participate, not just the one RIGHT behind you. But it’s usually just the one, and polite/short. But lots of times it’s exactly as you describe.
Plus_Carpenter_5579@reddit
They'll do it at a red light.
AncientChatterBox76@reddit
Yes. Pay attention and get moving. Nobody is there to wait on you.
Pryncess_Dianna@reddit
Not where I live. People slowly ease forward once the light turns green and no one honks. It’s infuriating if you’re in a rush.
Mad-Hettie@reddit
Lexington KY here and I would say that's actually less common here because we have a really bad problem of people aggressively running read lights. If you don't wait a couple seconds on green to make sure the coast is clear you could be in for it.
Several_Priority_824@reddit
Where I live people occasionally run red lights and often a few cars take a left after the light turns red, so the grace period is a little longer (2-3 seconds), but after that yes you get honked at. Which is reasonable these days--I often assume the person not going is looking at their phone or some other careless activity that can wait.
ReconeHelmut@reddit
Nah, people in the U.S. are way less prone to honking since road rage is common and so many people are carrying guns. We just sit and wait for the most part.
Both_Wasabi_3606@reddit
It depends where. In the northeast (New York City, Boston) this is going to happen if you don't start moving when the light turns green. In the south, where life is slower, people take their sweet time getting moving, and rarely will people honk.
StinkyCheeseWomxn@reddit
It depends on where you are driving. It is also situational - for example we have laws that allow a right turn on red, or allow those in the left turn lane to roll forward into the intersection during a green arrow. There is a general belief that if you are first in line, that you have a responsibility to pay attention so as many as possible can get through the light and keep things moving efficiently. However, some states or regions are more polite than others. In the south in rural communities there is less honking because you likely know the people ahead. In small towns, we are more likely to honk to wave at friend than at almost non-existent traffic problems. Also, in the south, you may be caught in a politeness battle where two drivers are waving each other to go first out of deference to each other and there will be a delay until one driver finally acquiesces to go first and be slightly less polite than the other. Also, each major city has its own traffic customs - in Dallas you'd better go fast and keep it moving, in Chicago it is more make your own way and honking as emotional outlet. Houston is more chaotic but with a general polite vibe. Boston is just battle with cars.
Ok_Gas5386@reddit
One time I heard someone yell “move asshole it ain’t getting any greener!!!” and now it makes me chuckle every time I honk at someone using their phone at a green light.
Complete_Aerie_6908@reddit
Asshole drivers in the US do it. I’m in the southeastern US and it’s considered extremely rude to honk. I would only honk to alert someone to danger, etc.
OddBottle8064@reddit
> But the honk is not a short friendly reminder like “hey it’s green now,” it is more the aggressive one, like “move asshole.
Not sure how you distinguish a "friendly" honk from an "aggressive" honk, but yes people will honk at you if you don't go when the light turns green.
sayu1991@reddit
The friendly honk is a very light, short tap on the horn. It's a quick beep that lasts less than a second typically and is meant to get someone's attention.
AdInevitable2695@reddit
A quick beep is friendlier than leaning on the horn until the person moves.
misterlakatos@reddit
Yes.
BigNorseWolf@reddit
Length and volume. The horn has a little and big beep to corresponding amounts of pressure.
are you from jersey? I can see why you wouldn t know about the light tap
Perdendosi@reddit
If someone hasn't moved in \~3-4 seconds, I start lightly pressing on the center of my steering wheel. Every second or so, I press harder. In 3-ish seconds, I beep. But that'll be a very short beep. If the car doesn't move in 2-3 seconds, then I'll press and hold longer.
Some people LAY on their horn as soon as someone doesn't move, and will continue to lay on it to express their displeasure long after the person has already started moving. That's an "aggressive" honk and does nothing but raise tension among drivers.
Frankly, knowing how many people concealed carry in their cars in the U.S., I'm only laying on my horn if it's to signal an emergency, not to signal my anger.
JudgeWhoOverrules@reddit
One that's a fourth second long and one that's 1 to 2 seconds long
Cool-Coffee-8949@reddit
Oh, friendly vs aggressive is a whole thing in the northeast.
ConfoundedHokie@reddit
I do a quick beep-beep.
EggplantAmbitious383@reddit
If you’re at the front on a red light, you have one job. To watch the light and nothing but the light so you can hit the accelerator immediately once it changes. Bonus points if you can anticipate the light change and are already doing the slow creep forward an instant before it changes.
If someone has the audacity to stop when the light switches from green to yellow, I will lay any curse I can think of upon them and their family. Those people are the worst
ITrCool@reddit
It depends on the locality.
I lived in KC and people up there constantly honk at the green if not first in line. Or if the light is green but traffic straight ahead is backed up so you can’t pull through the intersection, you’ll get angry honks from impatient idiots behind the wheel.
Where I live now, it’s not as big a deal. I think over the two years I’ve lived here, I’ve been honked at a green maybe……once? People are far more laid back, understanding, and patient here.
SkiMonkey98@reddit
It's usually a short friendly honk unless you are really taking your time
xSparkShark@reddit
Depends on where you are. In urban settings absolutely the honks will come quickly. Out in the suburbs or rural America I’ve found people to be more patient.
I usually don’t honk until it’s clear that the person in front of me is distracted and doesn’t realize it’s green. And then if I do honk it’s usually just a light tap. This seems to be the standard where I’m from.
Fit_Bake_3000@reddit
Not in St. Louis
Mission-Carry-887@reddit
In a country where significant numbers of people carry fire arms, that sort of aggression is dangerous
MakalakaPeaka@reddit
It's basically the same here, yes. You will often get a friendly short beep after the first 1/2 second, but sometimes they just unleash a blare. :D
BC-K2@reddit
Yea it happens.
If someone honks at me the moment the light turns green i like to put my car in park until it's yellow.
(Unless im in a hurry)
j_grouchy@reddit
A quick tap.
Russell Crowe was in a movie where a long press on a horn sets him off on a murderous rage.
wiserTyou@reddit
TBH his character has a point in that movie. His response was a little excessive, but he wasn't entirely wrong.
j_grouchy@reddit
Agreed...but I think he was dealing with something a bit heavy already...
WWGHIAFTC@reddit
Michael Douglas had a similar response to a bad day & traffic jam.
dontlookback76@reddit
Your answers may be different. Each city has its own unwritten, unofficial rules. I live in Las Vegas. We have a problem with people running a solid red light. If you dont give it 3 seconds and look both ways, you're going to get T-boned if you just punch the gas as soon as the light turns green. Honestly, I'm hardly honked at. The few times it's happened, it's almost always been a cab driver. We also get our licenses out of a Cracker Jack box while you guys have to actually know how to drive to get a license.
FluffusMaximus@reddit
You get two seconds, and then it’s the long “fuck you” honk. Why? I know you’re on your damn phone and you need to put that shit down.
TastyWrongdoer6701@reddit
If you go when it turns green in Chicago you will get t-boned by the three drivers running the red light.
ALWanders@reddit
Depends on region. In Miami it is drag strip rules, drivers hands hovering over the horn to press it with in milliseconds of turning green. In less densely populated regions of the midwest people are much more patient.
lakeswimmmer@reddit
Where I live, in the Northwest corner of the states, only assholes hit the horn in that aggressive way. Most people give you a few seconds to get moving, before giving a friendly 'toot' on the horn.
mykepagan@reddit
Have you heard of Planck time? The theoretical shortest span of time that can exist in physics?
There is a shorter interval of time. It’s the time between the light turning green and the person behind you honking the horn in New Jersey, USA. Extra points for the honker being 4 cars back in the line.
I hear this is not the case in other parts of theUSA.
Phate1989@reddit
Both exist
notabadkid92@reddit
You cannot go on green where I live. There are 1-3 cars that will run the red for certain. So it's like - Green, look both ways & let at least 3 seconds pass, then go.
Hoopajoops@reddit
For me, where I've lived in the US, it's usually a little beep.. people tend to look at their phones when they're at a red light. A small beep is all that's needed to let them know the light is green
Yoink1019@reddit
Too many people are stuck in their phones. I'm an early honker, pay attention.
DontBuyAHorse@reddit
Yeah it seems to be everywhere. But anyone behind me is going to wait those couple of seconds because I do not enter an intersection until I am positive everyone in the intersecting road is stopped or slowing to a stop. I just lost a friend to a red light runner.
CROBBY2@reddit
It really depends, and I'd say its just as location dependent as it is person. In my rural town if someone is a bit slow at a light I dont care that much and will give a friendly honk. If its in the city where I work its an "asshole" honk for sure.
Abner_Cadaver@reddit
We just beep a little.
GolfArgh@reddit
Yes because everyone’s head is buried in their cell phones these days and they never see the light change.
Tough_Tangerine7278@reddit
Depends on WHERE you are in the USA.
Populated areas have constant honking, like NYC.
But in rural areas? Then be careful about honking - it’s considered very rude, and a lot of these places also have concealed carry laws.
BagApprehensive1412@reddit
I think it depends on the city. In LA, yes. In Dallas, not as much.
gunterrae@reddit
Generally in the US all I see are just quick taps on the horn, but some people certainly do get aggressive.
Real-Psychology-4261@reddit
Yes. Most of the time, the person first at the light is not paying attention and is looking at their phone, so we give them a nice honk.
EffectiveSalamander@reddit
Yes, but I ignore them. There are so many people who run red lights that I don't want to be too quick to pull out.
Unsteady_Tempo@reddit
I was in a left turn lane with blinking yellow arrow. So, yield before turning across the busy two lanes of oncoming traffic. I was third car back and the guy in front was not getting any opportunities to turn. Not even if wanted to be aggressive. If we didn't get a chance to go, then I know the intersection well enough to know that we'd get a green arrow in a minute or two. The guy in the car behind me was absolutely losing his mind. Waving his arms around and through my closed window I could hear him screaming for the cars to go. As soon as the light changed from blinking yellow to red, this guy pulls out into the momentarily empty oncoming lanes, and goes around to make the left through the intersection. Several cards ready to go right away had to quickly stop.
Of course, he didn't make it far. I made the turn (legally) and could see him about 7 cars ahead of me stopped at another light.
gitduhfuqowt@reddit
Depends. Where I live, no. In most big cities, yes. Philadelphia is probably the worst I've seen.
Prize_Consequence568@reddit
"Do drivers in the USA also pressure others at green lights?"
Some do some don't.
wiserTyou@reddit
It's common to flash high beams or give a quick beep. Laying on the horn after 1 second is begging for a fight, but it does happen.
DegenerateCrocodile@reddit
It’s a little known fact that the horn of a BMW is the only known sound to travel faster than light, as you’ll hear the horn about 0.500 seconds before you see the light turn green.
trap_money_danny@reddit
Green means go.
IPreferDiamonds@reddit
In my area, we do a short quick beep to get the person's attention, and then they go.
AcidReign25@reddit
Not in Florida…. There you wait for a few seconds when it turns green because some senile driver will blow the red light.
MountainDude95@reddit
Having driven in Germany this spring, I’d say it’s a lot more relaxed there actually.
KindLiterature3528@reddit
I've twice had someone honk at me bc I didn't start moving when the other direction turned yellow. So yes.
vingtsun_guy@reddit
There's a cultural component that goes along with that, and it varies from region to region.
Where I grew up in Eastern KY, when I was growing up, it would never happen. The places I lived in WV and VA, the same.
Where I lived in Delaware, definitely move or else.
Here in Montana, before COVID, it was very similar to the places I lived in the South. There was a huge influx of new residents during COVID, and the culture has definitely shifted and drivers have gotten more aggressive.
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
Yes, and now that everyone is addicted to their phones it is becoming more of a problem.
bit_shuffle@reddit
Florida does this. Then they crash because they're from New York and drive their cars as though they're walking on the sidewalk back home.
EmperorMaugs@reddit
It depends, some people try for a polite reminder honk like "hey buddy get off TikTok" after like 1-2 seconds, but others honk instantly as though the most exciting thing in their life is the changing of the lights
washtucna@reddit
In the US, it varies. Many big cities will have that, but its less common in more rural areas.
RedditWidow@reddit
In my experience, it depends where you are. I learned to drive in California, and I've lived and traveled all around the west coast, east coast, north and south.
I currently live in the south. In my city, people seem to think that "one car goes at a time" at green lights, and two or three cars will get through the intersection in the time it would allow six to eight cars in Los Angeles. Drives me nuts.
And I frequently have to honk to get the person in front of me to go through a green light. I assume they're looking at their phones and don't realize the light changed. I used to give them a real Los Angeles road rage honk and a lot of swearing, but now I just tap the horn, like "hey, heads up."
misterlakatos@reddit
Yes this is especially common in Greater NYC including New Jersey.
The issue I have is with distracted drivers on their phones and remaining stopped at a green light for more than 5 seconds. A lot of the traffic lights where I live do not stay green for very long and traffic is a constant issue. Distracted and slow drivers like this are infuriating to deal with when we have places to be.
9inez@reddit
I give people a little grace. But if they are still staring at their phone after the light has changed, I will flash lights first before a short honk-honk.
Aggressive honking can result in dangerous road rage around here. Nobody needs an insane person firing a weapon or threatening people with their vehicle.
78723@reddit
Where I live- Austin, TX, there is an absolute epidemic of red light runners several seconds after their yellow light has changed. So a lot of people have taken to waiting a bit after their light turns green to proceed. There are also an abysmal number of stoned, drunk, or texting drivers that don’t notice the light has changed. …Austin has some REALLY terrible drivers.
T0KEN_0F_SLEEP@reddit
It’s likely due to the higher number of BMW drivers where you are, but oh yeah it happens here too
Unfortunate-Incident@reddit
Why are you sitting at a green light for 1 or 2 seconds? Why does it take so long to push your accelerator and check both ways? 2 seconds would get you honked at sometimes in the US. If I'm directly behind you, I will definitely honk after 2 seconds. That is 4x longer than it takes me to check the way is clear and go. If I'm behind someone and I can see it's clear and the light is green, I'm going to assume you are on your phone if you haven't moved yet.
morosco@reddit
Honking feels hostile, but it's functionally just the equivalent of someone tapping you on the shoulder to let you know that there cashier just opened up in the line you're both waiting in.
FANTOMphoenix@reddit
Green means go if it’s clear. If you do not go when it’s clear, then don’t get upset when someone honks. There are other people in the world, every delay adds to the traffic. Granted there are definitely times where the guy honking is a bad driver.
If I see someone staring at their phone for 2 seconds after it’s green, they get the long honk. A short honk can be interpreted as “oh that’s someone else”, a long honk directly behind you is usually a sign.
CosmicallyF-d@reddit
Yes people do honk. But there is a responsibility for yourself when you are first in line. As people often run red lights. Coming from my experience as an ER nurse, intersections are crazy dangerous. So take the honking and stay alive. Make sure it's safe to enter an intersection before you do so. That one or two seconds will save lives.
DavyDavisJr@reddit
Honking is not common here, but you can expect a small friendly beep after a few seconds. Aloha
Unsteady_Tempo@reddit
I count to three at lights with a normal cycle time. There are turn lights around town that stay green for about 10 seconds and those get a count to 2. Most people driving through them either know or should know it's a short light and we have to all work together to get more than three cars through it.
If I can see the person is looking down at their lap/phone when it turns green, then I honk immediately.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Yes, that happens here too.
I've heard people joke that that the smallest increment of time in the universe is the time between when the light turns green, and the person behind you honks their horn.
StomachAromatic@reddit
There are people that hold pistols outside the window and start pointing it straight up in the air to shoot in case people don't move fast enough.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Let's not be too sarcastic here, people might think you're serious.
AmazingAd2765@reddit
In my experience, people will usually just tap their horn. In smaller towns and rural areas, you have more leeway.
CompetitiveMeal1206@reddit
Yes, also I don’t care. To many red light runners to pull off as soon as the light changes. It’s a 2 count before I move
MissionDelicious3942@reddit
It's not pressure its telling you to follow rules. Green means go not waiting until you are ready.
Ichooseyou_username@reddit
Not in Marin County, CA. I've watched people sit on their phones through an entire light cycle without getting honked at by the people behind them. Even people who do honk (me) will give people a 5-10 sec grace period before honking.
shammy_dammy@reddit
Yes. It's green. Move already.
Smol_Toby@reddit
Depends. USA is a big place.
Where I live people give you a 2-3 second courtesy and honk to let you know its your time to go.
But sometimes people are just assholes.
Constant-Security525@reddit
I'm a native New Jerseyan, so we're often in a hurry. Because traffic can be heavy, getting through the light fast is crucial. Most people will do a little honk at first or be slightly patient, but second honks get loud and extended and may solicit a nasty hand gesture. And yes, you have "the others" that are less patient.
Smart_Engine_3331@reddit
Usually, it's just if you take too long to move once the green light goes on and it seems like you aren't paying attention.
Haifisch2112@reddit
I think it depends on the situation and where the light is. Some lights are in highly populated areas, so everyone wants to get through as quickly as possible since waiting on another cycle will add time to the commute. No big deal if you're just going grocery shopping. On your way to work or a scheduled event is another story.
I don't usually honk unless I'm second in line for two reasons. First, I don't want the person in front of me to think I'm honking at them insteadof the guy up front. Second, you kind of have to see what the person in front of you is doing. If they're paying attention and start going after a second or two, that's not a big deal. But when you can see them paying attention to texting or something else on their phone more than the road, I'm gonna let you know it. I might start out with a quick double tap. But if that doesn't work, you're getting a longer one.
And it's not about being in control or making your presence known. We should all be watching everyone around us if for no other reason than to drive defensively. If you can't notice the light because your face is buried in your phone, I don't want to be near you on the road.
peaveyftw@reddit
If you were the first of the red light, it is your solemn duty to stare at that light until it changes and then immediately take off. If you were looking at your phone while you're first at the red light....
An8thOfFeanor@reddit
That's a big thing in my town, which is in a region with heavy German ancestry
Ill_Pressure3893@reddit
NY-NJ, yes. Massholes, too.
FriendWinter9674@reddit
In rural areas, maybe. In denser areas, almost certainly.
I think a major factor is if those 1-2 seconds mean you're likely to get stopped by a red light in the next few minutes.
Mesoscale92@reddit
You get maybe 2 seconds after the light turns green before you get a friendly honk. If you don’t immediately start moving you get the angry honk.
Nothing personal. I’ve been on the receiving end of the angry honk and I 100% deserved it.
OodalollyOodalolly@reddit
Not in Oregon. Honking is reserved for when someone really fucks up usually
Ceorl_Lounge@reddit
100% depends on where you are in the US. Big city? You're getting a toot. Small town? Less likely. Hawaii? Profoundly rude.
adultdaycare81@reddit
Yes. Keep it moving
BrandonDill@reddit
If they're screwing with the radio or on their phone on a green light, I'll beep after a second or two.
airheadtiger@reddit
Only yankees.
Loisgrand6@reddit
Sometimes yes
LeadershipBudget744@reddit
lol yes this happened to me recently and a guy ran the light moments after this person honked behind me. I just turned around and stared at them for a second before taking off.
Secret_Reddit_Name@reddit
Bro, i've been honked at for not going straight or left on a red light, americans are terrible drivers
Both_Painter_9186@reddit
Sounds like you’re one of the slow starters. Nice going. Time thief.
Panthera_014@reddit
personally I give a 4 or 5 second pause after it turns green - this allows me to avoid any red light runners t-boning me in the intersection
usually my pause is not enough that people honk
I usually wait a bit as well, before I do a short honk to get the person in front of me moving - mostly they are looking at their phone, and just need the reminder to look up
sheimeix@reddit
Yes, definitely. Some people are less patient and will start honking if you don't move the moment it turns green (anticipating it to turn green by watching the cross traffic's light turn yellow), but this doesn't happen nearly as often. Ultimately, if you're driving, you're expected to be watching the road, so you should be waiting long after a light turns green unless you've identified someone that may run the red.
AgHammer@reddit
It's exactly the same. The driver behind you doesn't see another human being, they see a car that's an obstacle to their journey. You can return their rudeness with your own if it suits you. When I was in my late 20s and on my way to work I was a few milliseconds late to respond to the green light, and the person in the car behind me honked at me. I put my arm out the window and gave him the finger, but then he followed me to work. This was a little unnerving until I saw who it was in the workplace parking lot. He was a coworker, and we had a good laugh about our intersection interaction. Sometimes it is a person in the car in front of you.
2ndharrybhole@reddit
Green = Go
StomachAromatic@reddit
I've seen people shoot guns directly in the air at over every kind of light there is in traffic. People literally have been killed because they didn't respond fast enough at a light. People in the U.S, are actually insane. To be fair, a lot of us are only insane because we're exposed to so much insanity. We're much better people inside of our homes. That is if we can afford them...
GhostOfJamesStrang@reddit
Of course.
I have places to be man.
Obtuse-Angel@reddit
The light cycles are short and there are a lot of people waiting. If you aren’t paying attention and ready to go when it turns green, you can and should expect to be honked at.
Far too often someone dawdles off the line so much that only 3 cars of the 12 waiting can get through before it changes.
CCR16@reddit
Oh yeah. They’ll shoot you here over this.
flootytootybri@reddit
Yeah. I notice usually you have like two seconds to move or people get impatient. I get it, because I have the tendency to think “oh this person must be on their phone” but I don’t honk at people unless I really have to, which isn’t at a light. People are impatient everywhere.
SteampunkExplorer@reddit
In my experience, we're more likely to wait a couple of seconds, get confused, wait a couple of seconds, become indignant, do a short angry honk, say "finally!", and then joke to the other people in the car that the driver in front of us is 100 years old and was taking a nap. I never hear a long honk unless there's almost been a crash.
But America is a big place, and I live in an easygoing area, so I'm sure the culture varies.
comma_nder@reddit
It’s more common to get the short beep than a long honk, but both happen. Something interesting I’ve noticed after living on both coasts is that while there are dumb asshole drivers everywhere, people are generally less likely to honk on the west coast. Even in LA, where traffic is nuts and people are constantly doing stupid things, you don’t get as much honking as you do in east coast cities like Baltimore, Philly, New York.
GoldieWyvern@reddit
In my area, you more often get a polite “toot toot” rather than the aggressive blast.
BigNorseWolf@reddit
A little " hey get off of the phone" boop is probably more common than a full on HHHHOOOONK here but either is within normal.
NUFC_fan2@reddit
In my town it’s understood to wait a couple of seconds. This city is notorious for drivers running the red light.
So to be safe everyone waits a couple of seconds before driving through the intersection
SnowblindAlbino@reddit
We have assholes in the USA as well.
Mr-Plop@reddit
Yes, and it's usually because 90% of the time the person holding number 1 at the light is on their cellphone, either that or staring at their crotch while they drive.
hatred-shapped@reddit
Some people treat the traffic light like racers treat the lights at a NHRA title race.
logorrhea69@reddit
It partly depends on where and when. In cities and during rush hour, people are less patient. In slower traffic, in suburban or rural areas, people may be less likely to honk aggressively.
I usually give them a few seconds and then give a quick tap on my horn, just to alert them if it seems they’re not moving.
Literary-Anarchist@reddit
If I'm waiting behind someone at a light when it turns green, I usually start counting to 3 in my head (a la One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, etc.), if they don't start moving by the time I get to three, then I'll honk.
Tonycivic@reddit
The US is a big place, so answers have understandably varried. Where I live, reckless driving and running red lights is common during certain times and in certain parts of the city. So most people will wait a few seconds after the light turns green before going. In other places within my state I've seen people honk if for not going immediately.
PedalSteelBill2@reddit
It depends on where. Most people avoid it down south because everyone is packing.
Exotic-Vanilla-3560@reddit
I’ve lived in Germany. We do honk at each other in the US but people don’t understand Germany unless they’ve experienced it.
Ok_Organization_7350@reddit
I usually wait about 5 seconds first to see if they will notice it. But if they will really not go because they are on their phone or something, then I will do a short car honk.
BionicGimpster@reddit
more often you'll hear what we call a courtesy honk - a quick toot used to tell you to pay attention. However - as so many are now checking their phone while stopped, a great many times you'll get an aggressive honk as you describe. But - remember there are 500 million guns in America - so you never know how the person will respond when you lay on the horn.
ahkmanim@reddit
Sometimes. Most drivers know better than to just go when the light turns green as there is not always a delay between the other lights turning red and yours turning green so not pausing for a few moments and waiting for the other traffic lanes to come to a complete stop increases your chances of being hit by someone running a red light.
alaskawolfjoe@reddit
I live in South Florida, land of crazy drivers, but you rarely see this unless the driver waits four of five seconds before moving.
Accomplished-Park480@reddit
Depends on circumstances as others are saying. For example, if I am on an artery road where the lights change based on a timer, I get really impatient if I am trying to get somewhere and the person in front doesn't move because there's a good chance you are going to be stuck in the purgatory of hitting every single red on the way.
357Magnum@reddit
I've seen it get worse in the last 15 years as everyone got a smartphone. I used to not honk nearly as often, but now you almost HAVE to, since I've seen people sit through the entire light cycle without moving because they're looking at their phones. Now even if someone hasn't taken THAT long to start driving, it is almost safer to honk anyway, just in case they aren't looking at all.
assassin349_@reddit
Personally, I only honk if the light has been green for like 10 seconds. Some people like to wait a few seconds after a light has turned green in case there are any red light runners.
Edge-Pristine@reddit
Welcome to Boston
MetalicP@reddit
We cut about three to five seconds of slack because we don’t get that nice warning that it’s about to turn green like Germany has (where the yellow light turns on below the red just before it)
Rarewear_fan@reddit
Yes, you will be honked at within that same timeframe here.
In terms of aggressiveness it depends on the area or person. There are lots of stereotypes about drivers up north or in places like FL. They are mostly true from my experience.
But also remember in general the horn in the US is only used in specific circumstances. From my time in Europe and Asia, the horn is used a lot more often but as a general “hey I’m here coming though” like a wave and less like a warning or someone upset with you.
Ballmaster9002@reddit
It's totally a thing here. These days I assume 75% of people pick up their cell phone during red lights so its increasingly common to get the "get off Facebook and drive" polite honk.
You'll also get the "I'll stab you in the fucking face if you don't drive now" long honks too.
judgingA-holes@reddit
I would say that yes, you are expected to go quickly. However, in my experience, it is not a long, aggressive honk. We will start with a short beep to be like "hey lights green", and that usually suffices but if it doesn't we will honk longer. The long aggressive beep and angry face/hand gesture is usually for things like people pulling out in front of you.
rawbface@reddit
I will wait a generous amount of time before I beep my horn.
I'm gonna say no, because I know some south Asian folks who use green lights as a cue to beep their horn immediately.
slayer1am@reddit
Yup, it can be better or worse than that depending on the region you're in. But typically people expect a prompt response so traffic keeps flowing.
jcGyo@reddit
Yes, although the US is a big country with a lot of variety. The amount of pressure and aggressiveness of the drivers behind the first will be much higher in a fast paced place like NYC and much lower in say a rural town in the south.