August has been extra loud here on Main Street, with the sound of honking car horns newly ascendant in the sonic background. Last week, I had given thought to tallying all the honks for a day, but I didn’t get around to it. I wasn’t alone; several others in the office were becoming annoyed as well and declared summer 2025 the year of the horn.
Despite Main Street’s being Route 27 and nearly the only way to get east or west through the village, honking was just something you did not hear much, if at all. Sure, we have had ambulances, trucks, and go-fast cars with tuned mufflers outside for years, but not so many drivers hitting the horn. Until not that long ago, in fact, we would prop the front door open during good weather. Not any longer, it is just too loud.
Honking horns are like a cold virus: Once one person gets sick, soon everyone else in the house is sniffling. Horns beget more horns, and, where once they were rarely used, they are now a near-constant intrusion. Clearly, East Hampton Village has gone way beyond some kind of threshold, noise-wise.
I don’t think it has to do with the volume of traffic. Unscientifically to be sure, I believe that Main Street is less backed up this year than last. So who is doing the honking? My guess is that the noise had its start with ride-share drivers, most of whom come from out of town and use dash-mounted GPS maps to get around. They honk, other drivers honk at them, and so it builds.
After building up the nerve to head out to the grocery store around lunchtime on Tuesday, something happened that supported my hypothesis. A ride-share driver had stopped his minivan square across our driveway to pick up a nanny and baby and baby carriage. Neither the nanny nor the driver could figure out how to get the car seat loose and the carriage stowed away. I stewed, then, yes, I admit it, I leaned on my horn. After finally getting the seat latched in and the carriage in the back, the driver took another moment, this time it seemed to enter a new location on his phone. This was too much; I honked again, not that he appeared to care.
Less than a minute later, I passed another ride-share driver, this time attempting to make a U-turn from James Lane onto Main Street, more or less from in front of Guild Hall to the library. Honking would not do any good, I figured, so I wagged a finger at the guy as if to say, “naughty, naughty.” Like the minivan guy, he, too, was too busy to notice, keeping one eye on his GPS and the other on approaching traffic.
One of these days, mark my words, someone is going to drive right through the Star front windows, honking as well, to be sure.