A revolutionary idea

P. C. Vey for The New York Times

Well, now that I think about it, I guess it's not really revolutionary. I need to stop making my titles so dramatic.

As I was walking our dog the other day, someone beeped at me (or Charlie dog, I'm not sure which) and it scared the crap out of me. I think the car driver was just trying to be friendly but it didn't come across like that. I assume that if the driver was mad at me or I was doing something wrong, the beep would have been longer or there would have been multiple beeps. But that's the point I want to make - it is hard to tell the intention of a car beep.

My idea for the car makers is to have a separate horn for friendly greetings. I thought about the idea of a volume control on the regular horn but it would be too easy to turn it down and forget about it. Then, in a real emergency, it wouldn't be heard as it should. So, my proposal is for a separate control for the new Greeting Horn that is in a different place from the Emergency Horn so, again in an emergency, you don't have to think about where the Emergency Horn is located.

If any car company engineers or designers are reading this (I had that dream once), this is a free idea. No copyright or patent in play. Use this and make your customers happy.

By the way, the image showing here is a delightful drawing by P. C. Vey used to illustrate a short article on The New York Times website titled "In Response to Car Horns, Readers Sound Off". Doesn't that look like it sounds when someone beeps at close range?

[Update: In case Wayne happens to read this - I wasn't talking about your friendly beep this morning (Thursday, March 29). Somehow, you were able to beep the horn lightly a few times and I knew it was a "hello". Plus, I recognized your car. Sorry I didn't look up just then. I've got to keep my eye on Charlie or he'll pick up something and eat it. The incident I was talking about happened out on the main road a few days before.]