How's honking helping the commute?

Using the horn to prevent myself from being squashed by yank tanks with a hood and tailgate height significantly taller than my car (and most adults) helps the commute. They'd have to shut down part of the road to clean the car bits and the red goo off the road otherwise. If my country legislated those absurd vehicles out of existence I wouldn't need to lay on the horn to make my existence known.

> yank tanks with a hood and tailgate height significantly taller than my car

Not a thing over here.

It helps when people try to merge into the side of your car or when someone forgets to watch traffic signals after stopping at a red light.

> It helps when people try to merge into the side of your car

fair enough!

> when someone forgets to watch traffic signals after stopping at a red light

I dunno. If you wouldn't blow a horn while walking the sidewalk when inconvenienced, I don't think drivers should either. You're not the only two people on the street, there's other people around here and they don't need to be abused by impatient drivers. ymmv, ianal, etc.. of course.

I don’t lay into the horn like a jerk when someone is inattentive to a traffic light. I just give a quick tap to get them to snap out of whatever it is they’re distracted by. I also wait at least a few seconds. Most people seem to appreciate this because they don’t want to block traffic, either.