How horn beeping must end on Aussie roads in 2025

Driving can be challenging at the best of times so let’s make a 2025 resolution to change this one bad trait.

Here we go again …

Another New Year’s Eve, another list of promises we make ourselves about how we’re going to change.

How we’re going to exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, walk the dog every day … but I propose that, this year, this entire city should make a deal.

Let’s forgive ourselves all of our little foibles and work collectively towards one goal that could literally change our lives … let’s be better behind the wheel.

Let 2025 be the year of road resolutions. Because God knows we are driving each other crazy out there.

Let’s encourage each other to not just find our indicators, but use them. To not just learn the road rules, but follow them.

It’s worth a shot, because currently our road reputation is at rock bottom.

On social media it seems there is a constant discourse about horrible drivers – many a tourist goes home with not just a sunburn but a terrible impression of our traffic burned into their memory.

It’s not like we don’t know this about ourselves, either.

Witness this post about our roads on Christmas Eve:

“Why have I witnessed so many bad drivers, road rage, and crashes on the GC? I have never seen people so angry driving home, especially today on Christmas Eve. Constant horns and tailgating just to get stuck at the next light.

“A few of the things I saw today:

“Around 10 cars driving way too close to each other down Olsen Ave and a few of them couldn’t stop in time when a car was turning, causing a minor four car crash.

Traffic on the M1 on the Gold Coast. Picture: Nigel Hallett.

“An old lady driving down Allied Drive in Arundel on the wrong side of the road almost causing multiple crashes. I had to drive in front of her and slow down to get her attention.

“A two-car crash at the intersection of Brisbane Road and Pine Ridge Road when the lights were out because people don’t know how to give way.

“To top it off, just a few minutes ago I was driving along the M1 when two motorbikes went past at at least 160km/h and got flashed by the camera. One of them decided to cut to the other lane and brake check a random car for no reason.”

That’s not to mention the video of an all-out biff at the traffic lights, again from Christmas Eve.

One ute-driving man with a mullet cut off a man in a Mercedes, and when they stopped at a red light, both got out of their respective vehicles and went at it like a pair of kangaroos. Thankfully a fellow motorist jumped out of his car to settle them down, although, ironically, he was wearing a Street Fighter shirt.

Now, even if we all agree that we’re going to work on our driving skills and behaviour, I realise this will not be an easy task.

However, I have a suggestion that could make this so much easier: let’s lay off our horns.

I know they are necessary – mandatory, even, for a roadworthy certificate – but there is something about an aggressive beep (and, let’s be honest, even a friendly beep is aggressive) that spikes my adrenaline into fight or flight mode.

No matter the situation, a honk is the audible definition of escalation.

And I’m not alone.

According to studies, the excessive use of car horns has been found to be one of the leading causes of road rage incidents.

In fact, that’s why unnecessarily beeping the horn is considered a traffic offence in Queensland.

While, typically, a fine of $96 applies, a maximum of 20 penalty units can also be levied, with each penalty unit currently valued at $161.30. In the 2023-2024 financial year, 32 infringement notices were issued for the misuse of horns in Queensland.

To be clear, you can honk only to warn other road users about the position of your vehicle, to warn others you are approaching, to warn animals to get off the road and/or if it’s part of an antitheft or alcohol interlock device.

So when the fireworks go off at midnight, consider them a symbolic goodbye to our era of excessive honking. Let’s ring in 2025 to the sweetest sound of all: silence. From our vehicles, anyway.

And let’s hope that as our aggression decreases, our road skills increase.

Happy New Year.