Confession: I’m a honker

I could blame a lot of things: my upbringing, the years spent in Catholic school, a subconscious attraction to drama.

But I’m a honker.

I’ve been one since before I had a driver’s license. I would reach over and honk someone’s else car horn if I felt an injustice had transpired. Illegal lane-changing, aggressive merging, fiddling with radio dials or applying mascara in a moving vehicle — I’ve always felt it was my responsibility to keep drivers in line.

And I don’t feel badly when others honk at me. (As long as they’re right.)

I know honking isn’t widely accepted on Hawaii’s roadways. We like to “Drive with Aloha” and use our car horns only when we know someone in another car or walking down the street. But I like to honk when necessary — and I honk often.

But I didn’t know — until reading Kokua Line last week in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser — that honking in Honolulu can be unlawful.

According to the article, there’s a city law that outlines exactly when you can use your car horn. And that’s when it’s “reasonably necessary” for safety purposes.

Seems like a very subjective parameter.

And get this: the law prohibits using a horn in any other situation — including saying hi to your uncle crossing the street or alerting the car in front that, uh, the light turned green 10 seconds ago.

I can’t believe this law exists, honestly. Not that I think everyone should irresponsibly use their car horns. But to ban the friendly use of them seems a bit, well, unreasonable — and completely unenforceable.

Of course, I say this because the car horn is the second most-used switch in my car, next to window wipers.

Got an opinion on this?