Survey on vehicle horn use in urban areas of Korea

In previous studies, we carried out questionnaire surveys to investigate the current circumstances of vehicle horn use and the effects of horn use on drivers and pedestrians in Japan. Several cities in other countries face noise problems relating to the use of car and motorbike horns. Our survey design might help obtain information on the circumstances of vehicle horn use in such areas, which can subsequently be used to design countermeasures to reduce adverse effects. Therefore, we conducted a similar survey on horn use in South Korea. Measurement of noise at a crossroad with heavy traffic revealed more than 100 uses of the horn per hour. The questionnaire survey included questions on the latest or last-remembered case of horn use in various situations in which the respondent was a driver or pedestrian. It was found that many pedestrians had experiences of being honked at with a single honk, two short honks and a long honk. Such honking mostly aroused negative psychological reactions such as the respondent finding the horn use startling, noisy, or irritating. There were no significant relationships between questionnaire items of the driver’s own horn use, suggesting there is no particular manner of the driver’s own horn use.