Video: Aside from turn signals, a car’s horn is really the only tool a driver has to communicate with other vehicles. (Besides gesticulating wildly out of the driver’s side window, of course.) It’s so loud and abrasive, however, that it always sounds like you’re screaming at other motorists, leading to middle fingers and other unwelcome responses. But what if your car’s horn was more polite?
Mark Rober, an ex-NASA engineer turned amateur mad scientist, is back with another creation that promises to drastically reduce the number of rage incidents on roads. He upgraded the horn on his Volkswagen Jetta with three new settings: A quick, polite, high-pitched beep-beep; an even more pleasant R2-D2-like electronic chirp; and, finally, an air horn from a diesel locomotive to let everyone in a three-block radius know you’re quickly losing patience as someone slowly crosses a pedestrian crossing.
[YouTube]