A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
If you made it this far, showerthoughts is accepting new mods. This community is generally tame so its not a lot of work, but having a few more mods would help reports get addressed a little sooner.
Whats it like to be a mod? Reports just show up as messages in your Lemmy inbox, and if a different mod has already addressed the report, the message goes away and you never worry about it.
I used to have a car with a very aggressive horn and never wanted to use it because it did sound like I was cussing something out. I couldn't get the light "beep beep" of communication, only the FUCK OFF ASSHOLE honk.
Now you have a different car and can use the horn as a communication by short tap tap.
But the wave is the apology. I have had people accidentally cut me off and when I swerve to pass have gotten a wave and mouthed sorry.
Various horn sounds is a good idea. I always wanted text messaging displayed on the vehicle.
Even just emoji. A thumbs up and a middle finger could be a good start.
“sorry, I screwed up. Excuse me. I just need to slip in there.”
My problem with this is that the screw up is the slipping in. In other words, accidents happen and there's nothing wrong with apologizing for something you already did by accident -- but in this case, it's preemptively apologizing for doing something on purpose that you know is wrong, cutting someone off because you already were late/past where you need to go.
If you cut someone off because you didn't see them and you thought it was safe, that's a good reason to apologize. Mistakes happen and it's good to take accountability.
If you're seeing that it's not really safe and the other guy is going to have to slam his brakes because you're going to consciously on purpose cut him off, then yeah you're just being a shitty driver on purpose. Apologizing for something you knowingly did on purpose and will do again? That just makes you a liar on top of that.
I thought about doing this with custom sounds a few years ago:
I'm in Australia and I don't honk at all when I'm in the wrong.. I put my hand up passively at least twice, once when I'm being let in and second time when I'm leaving the intersection.
When I say "put my hand up" I mean I extend my arm, all my fingers are together like I'm saying Hi but the hand stays still.. This symbol in Australia is what you do to say thanks to people letting you get in front of them and what you do to say sorry to people you've cut off.
we kinda do that in the US midwest but it's more of a thanks for letting me in, the apology sign is a middle finger lmao
Where I’m at, you turn on the hazard to say thanks to people behind you, If you get flashed with brights, message received.
I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you've been heiling Hitler all this time
I flash my hazard lights a few times.
There's already a gesture 🖐️ and there's blinking your hazard lights.
"A bad driver never misses their exit"
Sometimes you make a mistake and miss your exit or end up in the wrong lane. That's on you. Re-route, follow the lane you're in, take the next safe turn/exit/lane change to get back on track; you don't just cut in line, forcing others to correct for your own mistakes. That's a great way to create unsafe conditions, end up in accidents, and hurt people. It's not just about peoples ego/anger, it's genuinely dangerous.
Your father doesn't need a 'sorry' button, he needs to correct his poor driving behaviour and not endanger himself, you, or others on the road.
How does your comment have so many upvotes when it doesn't address the actual topic about a new horn sound at all? It's just finger wagging.
A good example of why humanity is doomed: people are shackled to their reflexive need to jerk off their egos at any and every opportunity they see rather than focus on thinking.
Instead of addressing the horn sound itself, I've addressed the underlying need/desire for it.
Addding a sorry button wouldn't make things safer or chill tempers, it'd just empower more people to make dangerous moves; playing it off as fine because 'I pressed the sorry button, people should be ok with me endangering them'
The rules of the road exist for good reason. When people don't follow them, it effects more than just themselves and has cost many people their lives through no fault of their own.
Be a better driver; don't make others pay for your poor planning and judgement.
Even OP appears to agree with this, given their reply and upvote on my comment.
A good example of why humanity is doomed: people are shackled to their reflexive need to jerk off their egos at any and every opportunity they see rather than focus on thinking.
An interesting double-standard you have there.
Implying I'm somehow a bad person for pointing out and discussing the consequences of these choices instead of just patting OP on the back and agreeing with their desire - without actually providing any meaningful counter argument to what I've said.
If the OP had only written "Horns should come equipped with different sounds to better communicate with other drivers", which is the overarching gist of what they were musing, the thread would be different. But they added the story which prompted the thought. Instead of considering the benefits, or even drawbacks, of the proposed suggestion- you fixated on the story itself, seeing a great opportunity to interject some moralizing and also indirectly boast to the rest of the readers about what a good driver you think you are. There's nothing to debated about what you wrote, everything you said is correct.
But it's easy to admonish others opening up to explain a mistake by clubbing them with an imagined perfect scenario.
Should all people be better drivers? Yes, of course. Is that realistic? No. And is it really related to the actual proposal the OP opined on? Very tentatively.
Also, I certainly don't think you are a bad person. A very human person. Just like me. And all the upvoters who are now thinking "Yeah, OP's dad should be a better driver! And thinking that makes me feel better about myself" instead thinking about auditorial communication.
Driving involves a lot of soft decisions. Any action can be risky, even a regular lane change. But we still do lane changes all the time. Ultimately it's up to us to judge.
Point is, I think there are cases where making a last minute lane change can be totally safe, eg if the cars in the other lane are already stopped.
if it was totally safe then there's nothing to apologize for
What causes accidents are not the cars and conditions you see, but the ones you don't.
Humans aren't machines, they make mistakes. And cars have a lot more blind spots than we realize.
That's why we have rules. If we are predictable and follow the rules, even when we don't see anything that could stop us from taking a shortcut, then we're being considerably safer.
Keep in mind that, on the road, it's not just your own safety you need to ensure. An accident can also harm other people, so the more reason to prevent them.
1000% don’t make others pay for your mistake.
I'd love a 2nd quieter & apologetic horn in my car. When driving electric behind pedestrians it often takes them some time to realize that there is a car driving behind them, and I don't want to use my regular horn to ask them to let me pass.
In situations where you're basically saying, "thank you for being a better driver than me," opening your window and putting out your hand with all fingers fully spread is the correct gesture. For me at least, it dissipates my anger when someone has cut me off, because at least they're acknowledging and apologizing. I usually assume the reason is because shitty GPS gave them impossible directions.
Or your dad could accept that he's going to travel a tiny bit further than he originally intended, and reroute with a u-turn, or a block circle, or a parking lot turn, or something similar. No invasive lane change. No need to apologise for an invasive lane change. No need for a special horn to communicate an apology for an invasive lane change. You don't need to apologise for something you don't make into someone else's problem.
As a league of legends player, there is no signal that can universally be accepted to mean a specific thing. It would be abused by bad actors.
That being said, making a wrong turn is more acceptable than being an asshole or endangering other's lives or property. Pay more attention or accept the consequences.
It's not the horn itself but how it's used.
Long blast = angry Two quick bips = not angry One bip = I'm just letting you know I'm here
Two long blasts - The El Dude Brothers
You deserve to be able to retire after someone from Shark Tank takes your idea and makes it mandatory on all vehicles.
Yeah if only there was some way to signal "I want to go right" or "I want to go left" smh my head
As humans usually want to express quite complex things but have already developed a tried and tested method to communicate a lot of these complex things, I'd say we just enable voice for inter car communication by equipping every car with a huge megaphone on its roof that can be accessed from any seat inside.
