Tunnel Under Fort Columbia, c. 1910
There was a steady stream of traffic coming and going through the tunnel yesterday as we drove through on our way to points south. Strangely, though, there was no horn honking. Which made me wonder the who and why of that custom, anyway.
When I asked Nyel what he thought he said, “Kids.” I flashed back to my childhood and realized that the only times there was honking in the tunnel by the driver of a car I was in was when I was travelling with other kids. “Honk, dad!” would come the cry. “Honk the horn!” And whatever friend’s dad was driving would comply.
Sydney and the Family Car, 1941
It was not something that ever occurred to me-the-only-child. I don’t think the adults in my life ever honked in that or any other tunnel. I actually thought the Fort Columbia Tunnel was a little scary – especially in the rainy season when the leaks from the ceiling often seemed like torrential cascades. I had visions of it all giving way and our car being buried in the ensuing rubble. I was sure that the echoing noise from car-honking might start it all off – like an avalanche in the mountains.
Come to think of it, though, in recent years I haven’t been aware of much honking anywhere except maybe when someone’s car alarm goes off. It’s been a while since I’ve seen any of those “Honk if you love Jesus” bumper stickers and even when they were around I always wondered if they worked. Too, people seem to wait (patiently or impatiently) in freeway traffic jams without honking. Maybe it’s the fear of a road rage reaction from a nearby motorist that keeps honker wannabes from having at it. Or maybe they are busy on their cell phones, instead.
2015 Rod Run Cruise with Politely Silent Horns
I’ve heard that some places have posted ‘non-honking hours’ – like six to eight in the morning in the suburbs. Farther from home, in Paris (and in France, generally), it’s against the law to honk, period. I don’t remember that the law worked very well, though. And, I don’t remember what the consequences of breaking it were supposed to be. I’ll have to ask Cate whose return from the City of Light is imminent. My first-hand information is pretty dated.
I’m fairly sure, though, that our quiet-through-the-tunnel experience yesterday was an aberration. If Nyel’s theory is right, it was because it was in the middle of a school day and the cars happened to be kid-free. Or not…
In the forties when driving through the tunnel with my grandmother she always honked the horn. The reason was to hear the echo it made.