Since I have a horn on order, I've been searching around for whatever info there is out there.
I found this Florida article and figured it might be a good discussion topic, even though it has pretty much already been beaten to death:

Train Horns



If you drive on I-95, you've probably seen just about everything, but get ready to start hearing something you wouldn't expect. Drivers are installing super-loud air horns in their cars. They are so loud, it sounds like you're right next to a freight train!

With miles and miles of railroad tracks, South Florida is no stranger to train horns, but drivers are now hearing them in places where you wouldn't expect. Coming from other cars on the road, this is for lack of a better term, a train horn. It's 152 decibel. Kauff's Truck and Trailer in North Palm Beach installs them into regular vehicles. You can hear this horn 1.8 miles away.

Eric Tripode has two sets of those installed on his S-U-V. He's the drag strip manager at Moroso Motorsports Park. Watch what happens when he honks his train horn here. Even Eric admits it can be dangerous if abused. Some medical experts say it could cause hearing loss if you're too close. At the very least, it could scare another driver into running off the road.

"They'll make you jump if you're not expecting it."

So are these horns legal? We checked. And the answer is yes. Florida statute does not prohibit train horns from being installed. However, it does say that "No horn or other warning device shall emit an unreasonably loud or harsh sound." but who's going to determine what's an unreasonable harsh sound?

"I think the only time they can become illegal is if the guy abuses them, whoever has them installed, abuses them."

The drivers we interviewed say they would never abuse it, but did admit to using their horns at drivers who made them unhappy.

"When people are sitting side by side in a 55 mile-per-hour zone doing 30. I use my normal horn. And then after that, I'll use the air horn and get them to move or whatever."

Tony here uses his smaller air horn to wake up drivers on their cell phones, honking the horn inside his truck He has air horns on all of his cars, trucks, even his boat, but he and his friend, Jeff admit it's less about use and more about show--a show that some say they'd rather not see or hear.

 

Last, I don't know how it is up where you are but the last thing we need down here in south Fla. is train horns on I-95. It's already like a NASCAR training course. I'd be willing to bet that 75%+ of the time all that's going to do is make a person slow down and get more stubborn or freak out some old person or worse yet **** off somebody and get real problems started. I see 18 wheelers laying it down on little econo boxes from 5 feet away at 70+ mph and it doesn't even phase 'em. After driving 95 down here for the last 17 years I've learned it's much easier to just chill and move around the idiots when possible. I could see them being used for fun at some get together or whatever but all they will do on the road is cause problems.

 

152 decibel?
I'm thinking liability if your victim wrecks.

I'm thinking civil liability if permanent loss can be determined.
Look at this chart and see how the numbers shoot up. 152 db isn't on there.

For every 3 dBs over 85dB, the permissible exposure time before possible
damage can occur is cut in half.
Continuous dB/Permissible Exposure Time
85 db 8 hours
88 dB 4 hours
91 db 2 hours
94 db 1 hour
97 db 30 minutes
100 db 15 minutes
103 db 7.5 minutes
106 dB < 4min
109 dB < 2min
112 dB < 1 min
115 dB < 30 sec
118 db < 15 sec
121 db < 8 sec
124 db < 4 sec
127 db < 2 sec
130 db < 1 sec
133 db .5 sec
136 db .25 sec

Criminal charges?
Could you be charged with murder?
I mean afterall you didn't stick a gun out the window and shoot them...

...or did you?

Sound as a Weapon

"... LRAD, which is 33 inches in diameter and looks like a giant spotlight, has been used by the U.S. military in Iraq and at sea as a non-lethal force. In these settings, operators can use the device not only to convey orders, but also as a weapon. When in weapon mode, LRAD blasts a tightly controlled stream of caustic sound that can be turned up to high enough levels to trigger nausea or possibly fainting. The operators themselves remain unaffected since the noise is contained in its focused beam. "We've devised a system with a multiplicity of individual speakers that are phased so sound that would normally go off to the side or up or down, cancels out, while sound
directly in front is reinforced," Norris explained. "It's kind of like the way a lens magnifies a beam of light." The Department of Defense gave Norris and his team funding to develop LRAD following the 9/11 attacks. The concept is to offer an intermediate tool to warn and ward off attacking combatants before resorting to force. "Regular bullets don't have volume control on them," said Norris. "With this, you just cause a person's ears to ring."
The NYPD, however, has said they won't be using the $35,000 tool to make people's ears ring, but only as a communication device. "We're only going to use them for safety announcements and directions," said Paul Browne,
a police spokesman. In tests, police have shown how they can convey orders in a normal voice to someone as far as four blocks away. The sound beam is even equipped with a viewfinder so the operator can precisely target the audio by finding a person in cross hairs. Rather than using pure volume to throw sound far, the LRAD reaches distant ears by focusing the audio beam.
This is the second time the device has been used by police — Miami police also used it during the free-trade conference in that city last year. Despite the NYPD's assurances that they won't use the tool to hurt protesters, Bill Dobbs of United for Peace and Justice, which has planned protests around the convention, has told reporters that the sound system presents "a potential Big Brother nightmare."

But, like was stated they are completly legal. Just food for thought.

 

Well, how do you signal your turns?

 

Cupcake ... don't do this, okay?

It's just plain wrong.

bubba

 

Point taken. I do use a gun.

But, If I was ever gonna kill somebody, I'd beat them to death with a stepladder.

 

They're not THAT common up here, but I'll enjoy having it when I need it. I bet I hardly ever use it in all honesty, especially once the new fun factor is over. Driving up north it will be handy as a safety feature to clear any moose, dear, or whatever off the road.
I'm not opposed to giving a quick toot to those hogging the fast lane while yaking on a cell as well, and I certainly won't be opposed to giving it to those that like to drive like asses. It can come in handy for safety reasons, but yes, caution and common sense should always be used. Just because you're giving the idiot in front of you a blast doesn't mean it won't effect somebody else that may be right beside you as you hit the ole detonator button.

 

I saw my nextdoor neighbor filing the serial numbers off a ladder last week. Maybe I should tone down my exhaust system a bit.

 

 

The problem with that is somebody usually has a cell phone on.
With your luck, they'd be talking to a voice recorder.
The whole inicidnt would be on tape and some rocket scientist would calculate from
the recording-through the cell phone-to the distance of the vehicles-editing out background noise-

"Oh yes your Honor, in my expert opinion he hit the victim with 152 decibels."

Wheras me,
"Your Honor, I was holding the ladder for the victim and I developed vagina itch."

 

 

Ah yes. The old "I had to scratch" defence. Classic.

 

how much are these train horns? A friend was wanting to order one.

 

I like to think I only use my horn when I feel it neccessary





But freaking out your friends is so much fun

 

Anywhere from a couple of hundred bucks for a complete kit up to thousands of dollars. It depends on how radical you want to go. $300 will get you a decent enough kit.