A Bip, a Beeeep, and a Beep Beep: How Horns Are Sounded in Chennai Traffic

Abstract

Although the vehicle horn is a minimal audible unit for communication, we will show that its uses are impressively varied. Drawing upon a corpus of video recordings from dash-cams, we show how drivers use the horn for creating awareness; how they target particular vehicles; how they use it for warnings, for complaints and in instructing the seeing of an aspect of an ambiguous traffic object. The driver's use of the horn involves, firstly, their sounding it in recognisable relations to past, current and projected configurations of traffic on the road.Secondly, it involves drivers manipulating the vehicle horn in order to create sounds of shorter and longer durations which can then produce hearably distinct actions. Thirdly, and finally, the driver can use the horn as an initiating or responsive action in relation to the actions of other members of traffic. The data are from road users in Chennai, India.

Making something out of nothing: Breaching everyday life by standing still in a public place

“…We focus, here, on noticing as a modality of perceptual practice and method used by members to topicalise the potentially unexpected stillness. In this way, our analysis aligns with studies which demonstrate noticing as a collaborative and public practice, embedded in activities such as driving (Laurier et al, forthcoming; Rauniomaa et al, 2018; Watson, 1999), visiting a museum and viewing exhibits (Scott et al, 2013; vom Lehn et al, 2001), or participating in a guided tour (de Stefani & Mondada, 2014). We are also influenced by ethnographic and discourse analytic studies of coordinated bodily action in mindfulness, meditation and movement classes held at monasteries, retreat centres and conferences (Pagis, 2019; Preston, 1988; Stanley & Kortelainen, 2020).…”

Why Autonomous Driving Is So Hard: The Social Dimension of Traffic

“…EMCA regards actions as holistic and situated multimodal Gestalts [19]. A honk for instance can only be understood by looking at the current situation, what has happened in the environment just (milli)seconds before, and what is happening right after the honk [12]. An important tool for such moment-by-moment analysis are detailed transcripts of interaction, in which audible phenomena, movement, gaze, gesture and engagements with material objects are noted down in detail.…”

“…moving to one side of a lane) [5]. During such maneuvers, human drivers make use of gestures, but also honks [12] and headlights [10] to communicate with each other.…”

“…vehicles, we use lights (indicators) and sounds (honks) to communicate with each other [2,12]. As autonomous vehicles encounter other road users, they too need to communicate what they are going to do next.…”

“…However, coordination on the road is not limited to particular landmarks and scenarios. Ordinary driving practices such as changing lanes, overtaking and letting oneself be overtaken also involve careful coordination [5,12]. This becomes especially important when autonomous vehicles need to maneuver close to cyclists and pedestrians.…”