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Ask Chicagoist,
I'd like to suggest someone investigate the origin of the "alley honk" in Chicago. As a person that lives close to an alley and is driven (ha ha) crazy by all the effing honking, I'd like to know WHY people do this -- y'know instead of stopping and looking. Maybe you guys can get to the bottom of it.
Amy
Hi Amy,
Of course you're referring to the habit of many Chicago drivers of sounding their horn -- which can range from a light tap to long, repeated blares -- when exiting an alley. Live here a week and anyone will know that the practice is pretty prevalent. But why? As the link you provided to the Illinois Rules of the Road points out, honking when exiting an alley is not legally required. In chapter 4, under "Special Stops," it states:
In urban areas, drivers must come to a complete stop before entering the sidewalk area when moving out of an alley, building, private road or driveway. If there is no sidewalk, stop at a point nearest the street or roadway where there is a view of approaching traffic. After stopping, yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and all vehicles.
So why the honking, then? Part of it is because unlike the suburban land of new construction and generous setbacks, many alleys in Chicago are "blind" -- meaning, a driver can't get a clear view of oncoming pedestrian traffic until well into the right-of-way, which is a bit late if a child or bike rider is just about to dart in front of you. So many cautious drivers will sound their horn as an extra preventative measure before proceeding out of the alleyway.
Then, of course, you have the asshole drivers that think their magical horn sends a radio wave into all approaching foot traffic brains telling folks to stop so they can come barreling through at 30 m.p.h. with hardly a tap of the brake pedal. This is the type of driving behavior that causes tragic accidents. As most pedestrians don't hug the walls of buildings as they walk down the sidewalk, if a car leaving an alley comes to a complete stop before reaching the end and then slowly inches forward when the coast looks clear, both driver and pedestrian should have adequate time to react to avoid each other.
The problem with trying to eliminate honking, however, is that like the city's infamous "dibs", you're fighting against a longtime tradition. Many drivers are taught to honk when exiting an alley, and more experience it so often they think it's required or the proper etiquette thing to do. And unfortunately, most drivers aren't thinking much about the residents around them when they lay on the horn. So, like dibs, the "alley honk" is here to stay and -- like it or not -- is part of the character of Chicago. Our only advice is when looking for an apartment, take note of the alley situation. Look for buildings on streets that don't have blind alleys or find one more towards the middle of the block. That, or buy some good earplugs.
Raging against the car culture? Need some advice? Email tips(at)chicagoist(dot)com, subject line "Ask Chicagoist"
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It might not be in the rules of the road now, but I seem to remember that it was when I learned to drive in the mid 90s.
pucca, I got the rules of the road about the same time, and I'm quite the alley honk isn't in there.
I'd love to see a deeper dive into this topic: the alley honk is just one of what I've come to think of as "side laws," where people enshrine what seems like common sense to some people as real law.
There's a lot of this around honking, and using high-beams in the city: people have been told they're required in certain situations, so they obey the imagined law.
There's also a lot of this around biking- I've heard people swear up and down that you're legally required to bike on the sidewalk, or bike against the flow of traffic, both of which are neither true, nor safer than riding on the street with traffic.
I give a honk as I come up on a stop at any blind alley, both for cars and foot/bike traffic.
Mind you, that doesn't mean a damn thing to many people. Case in point, the woman walking, with an open newspaper like someone out of central casting, who walked into my, stopped, car and knocked herself to the ground. When I got out she began screaming that I had tried to run her down and called for the police. Lucky for me the guy right behind her on the street...was plainclothes cop, who told her to go peddle her papers elsewhere.
Yes, he actually said "Go peddle your papers" and I just about bust a rib laughing.
many garages have posted signs requesting exiting drivers to honk for pedestrians. That said, this is a ridiculously obvious question, but a good reminder for those who don't honk.
Like the OP said, you have to honk because you can't see until it's too late.
My personal interpretation of the rules of the alley are as such -- any car that goes through an alley has to honk as they get to the T. Only the car at the top of the T (that must turn, in other words) has to actually stop, but they still have to honk.
Most importantly, if you hear someone else honk, don't keep flying through without honking, you fucking Berwyn morons.
And stop using my alley as a street.
Honking at alley intersections and sidewalks = driver is an asshole.
The law is and has been quite clear on right of way and honking does not change that fact. Pedestrians have right of way and cars are required to come to a complete stop before crossing the sidewalk. No honk is necessary if you follow the law.
Also if its three in the morning just show some courtesy to people sleeping by just following the law and not blasting your horn.
I've heard people swear up and down that you're legally required to bike on the sidewalk
This is true, amazingly some people actually think this.
I'm with Dopplerd. Honking is not necessary, ever, unless maybe you're backing a 20-foot delivery truck out of the alley. I've lived here and driven here for 11 years and I've never honked coming out of an alley. It's lazy, uncivil and dangerous. I have one neighbor who hits his horn seven or eight times while barreling toward the end of the alley. His car's getting an egg projectile one of these days. Many people who honk think it's a courtesy. When I try to explain that honking doesn't warn deaf people or children on bicycles (who are immortal in their minds), I'm usually met with a blank stare. Like dibs, it's indeed a Chicago tradition practiced mostly by locals who also can't be bothered to clear snow off their sidewalk because of that legendary lawsuit years ago. People will argue that it is the law ... that they read or saw it somewhere. It's simply not true. I heard that at one point it was a trick question on the written test. The law is clear: come to a stop. Look both ways and yield to pedestrians. People who honk are asshats who are thinking only of themselves, a Chicago tradition indeed.
Honking at alley intersections and sidewalks = driver is an asshole.
People who honk are asshats who are thinking only of themselves
Clearly, neither of you have to navigate my alley. Stopping or no stopping, you cannot see anything without putting yourself in harm's way. Whether I'm leaving home or coming home, each time I reach my alley's intersection, I wonder if today is the today I get nailed by someone who isn't paying attention. (I also have the same concern for my wife, who makes the same 2+ trips a day.) Despite my rule interpretation post, of course I stop at the intersection, because, again... you cannot see anything. Honking increases the odds that someone I can't see will know I'm there.
Why is it that every stupid issue brings out ignorant sanctimony?
Slaphappy, specifically, what's the alley? I live off a bad alley (between Thorndale and Elmdale emptying west onto Glenwood). It empties onto a narrow two-way street near a high school. I've never had to honk my gorn.
horn
When we first moved into our home and neighborhood (Ravenswood Manor) I didn't honk when exiting the alley. (I grew up without alleys in another part of the city (Budlong Woods)). Until one day a runner ran across the alley as I was very slowly exiting and he yelled at me for not honking. I've honked ever since.
And, yes we'd dib the street in front of the house where I grew up because we didn't have a garage. It's just tradition.