Reader's Mail from A.A.Wisley

The other day, pottering along the Old Coast Road, now little more than a potholed track, I heard the sound of a car rapidly approaching me from around the bend. It appeared suddenly sweeping past me in a blur of red metalwork. I thought to myself, “That was just like Mr Toad, in his red Rolls-Royce, whizzing around narrow country lanes at top speed.”

Whilst Mr Toad did have a number of crashes and encounters with the police, he did employ a frequently used safety device; one which now seems to be coming back into fashion. In his day there were no airbags but these are only of any use if you do have an accident. What Mr Toad used was something intended to avoid accidents. It worked by emitting a series of pulses of compressed air travelling at more than 500 mph which, he hoped, would cause any approaching vehicle or pedestrian to scatter to one side. It is called a horn.

Today the self-important red SUV driver will blast his horn, as he approaches a blind bend, in the certain expectation that any lesser mortal coming in the opposite direction will doff his cap and quickly move aside. In 1908, when Mr Toad was causing mayhem on the roads, there were very few other motor vehicles, a lot of which were open-topped. Most people travelled by foot, bicycle or by horsepower. In all these cases the sound of the loud “toot tooting” of a motor horn was easily heard in enough time to take avoiding action.

Today’s Mr. Toads, incautiously driving their high-powered vehicles, do not seem to realise that the “toot toots” of their car horns are more or less useless to warn anyone of their approach. A modern car is normally enclosed and very well soundproofed. More often than not the driver will be chatting, listening to his radio, perhaps through headphones or just enjoying an animated video call with a friend so, not paying attention to anything else. In other words, no one will ever hear the sonic warning of the pompous and selfish driver.

Oh, there is one time when the horn is very clearly heard.

That is the cacophony of hoots one hears when stationary in a line of cars just as the traffic lights change from red to green.

We need Mr. Badger to talk firmly to these drivers before they face the magistrate or the mortician.
https://cyprusscene.com/2023/12/19/mr-toad-clears-the-road/