The Fun Theory

People use their car horns for all sorts of messages: Celebrating after a sports match, telling a friend "I'm here" when sitting outside his house, saying "Thank you" to another driver who has let you drive first over a one-lane bridge or saying "Good bye" to family as they wave to you. Yet in every case, we use the same, purposefully-dissonant sound to express each message. This results in both noise pollution and ambiguity. I propose that we add a second horn to each new car and truck sold: A horn that is euphonious, not dissonant, one that plays a major third or major fifth. We still need normal horns for safety reasons, but those should only be used for emergencies, such as an oncoming collision.

But these alternate horns will provide a pleasant, joyful method of communicating from a vehicle.

Submitted by Matt Slaybaugh