The Laws About Honking Your Horn in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York

To honk or not to honk, that is the question that could affect your wallet and I think I came close to a fine.

I honked my car horn twice at a driver in front of me at a rotary in Cambridge, Massachusetts when I was there visiting friends. This driver had several opportunities to merge safely but waited until there weren't any cars around. Ugh, it was so ridiculous.

As I finally pulled into the rotary a police officer sitting in a nearby gas station shook his finger at me in that disappointing manner as I drove by. Nothing happened but it got me thinking.

I take advantage of my horn when that annoying driver in front of me just sits there for several seconds after the light turns green. I usually do the quick and friendly "tap-tap" on my horn, but the distracted driver sometimes deserves a semi-long honk.

While that's a safety issue and is okay, apparently when a driver stops instead of yielding at a rotary causing unnecessary back-up I could technically be fined for honking.

If we honk our horns because someone is driving too slow for example, honking our horns is illegal and if a police officer is right there, at their discretion they can write us a ticket or at the very least pull us over and scold us while honking if someone slows to a near stop getting on the highway a honk-honk is okay.

According to The Sun website, the law is uniform across the country whether you're in Connecticut or not.

It's Okay to Honk

1. To alert a driver who is about to hit you
2. To alert a pedestrian that they are in danger
3. To alert another car of a traffic signal

It's Not Okay to Honk

1. To grab someone's attention to say hello
2. To express anger or annoyance
3. For fun

If someone starts to cut us off or weave into our lane, we can honk. If a pedestrian starts to walk in front of our car or appears they're going to we can honk. If the action of a driver is unsafe we can honk, however being annoyed when everything is fine around us, it's technically illegal.

The keyword is safety when it comes to honking our horns. Unless it's an emergency or a safety issue that could cause an accident minor or major, leave your horn alone according to The Sun.

I should have some fines at this point even with my friendly honk-honk I guess.

According to the Defensive Driving website here's when we can and can't use our horns legally.