Sunbeam: car horn abuse

I wish to complain about a TV advertisement for a Sunbeam hair appliance. A woman is sitting in a car in a driveway outside a house, ready to go out for the evening and sounds the car horn for the purpose of hurrying-up her partner inside the house who is running late. This is another occurrence of irresponsible use of noise in advertising. Such behaviour will be copied by many people and create noise disturbance for surrounding homes and harm neighbours' health. It will also encourage careless sounding of car horns and thus diminish the effectiveness of the horn as a safety device. The ad should be removed.

Careless horn sounding is already a source of annoyance to neighbourhoods. Sounding car horns for such purposes as hurrying people up, or stating one's arrival or departure is often a source of annoyance for neighbourhoods already. If a lounge room or bedroom should be situated next to a neighbour's driveway such a noise will be a rude shock to the nervous system. If this happens on a daily basis, perhaps several times a day, it can be nerve shattering. Such behaviour is reckless firing of noise into surrounding homes without regard to whom it hurts. It is a rude invasion and trespass into private homes. Such behaviour is lazy irresponsibleness. Young drivers seeing such careless behaviour will no doubt be encouraged to likewise sound the horn instead of getting out of a car to communicate.

If a person should happen to be nearby the car it could damage their hearing. The woman in the car appears to make no attempt to see if anyone is around the car before sounding the horn. It is reckless. Witness a recent case of careless use of a police siren that had devastating consequences to the victim:

"Tony Hutchins has been forced to get used to a constant loud ringing in his right ear, the product of a "foolish practical joke" four years ago when a police colleague sounded a car siren when his head was less than 50 centimetres away. The police communications technician has also been forced to live with unbearable pain from noises most people would not find intrusive. He suffers acute acoustic trauma, wears a noise generator and is unable to enjoy even the most mundane of tasks, from mowing the lawn and watching television with his family, to going to the footy and attending his son's school functions." (Technician's ruined life no joke, by Dan Proudman, Sydney Morning Herald, 22/11/05)

Noise is not only a source of annoyance, but is recognised as a health issue by authorities such as the World Health Organisation and NSW Department of Health. Please read the evidence below linking noise disturbance with health concerns.

A car horn is a warning device for times of danger or emergency. A child can tell you the results of abusing warning signals: the boy who cried wolf. This ad will encourage horns to be abused and thus diminish to horn's effectiveness as a safety device. It may even be unlawful to use a car horn unless as a warning signal.

"Horns should be used as traffic warning devices only and not as a means of relieving driver stress or frustration ... Use horns for collision avoidance only." (Managing noise from vehicles, EPA, Department of Environment and Conservation - NSW).

This ad threatens the peace and health of neighbourhoods and diminishes the horn as a traffic safety device. It should be removed on health and safety grounds.

It is time for responsible use of noise in advertising.