(jazzy music)
- New York is a city of constant cacophony.
Some of it's unavoidable, like jackhammers,
elevated trains, and playing the tuba loud at night
so you don't have to listen to your roommates having sex
and then getting into an argument,
and then cooking a really weird-smelling meal together.
But some of the worst causes of noise pollution
are completely unnecessary and the people responsible for it
don't even know why they're doing it.
I'm talking, of course-- (horns honking)
About honking.
So I set out to ask drivers
what they thought they were accomplishing by honking.
Can I ask you a question real fast?
And to see if I could get them to stop.
Can I ask you a question, sir?
Quick question. (horn honking)
Who's that that was honking?
- Behind me. - Behind you?
Was that you that was just honking?
- Nah, I didn't honk.
- Oh, that wasn't you honking?
- That was the red truck.
- Was that you that was honking earlier?
- No. - But I had a hard time
finding anyone to even admit
that they were honking in the first place.
Was that you honking? - No.
- I'm pretty sure that was him.
Was that you guys honking? - Yeah.
- What were you honking about?
- Trying to get past.
- Do you think that you go faster by honking?
- Yeah. - You do?
- Of course.
'Cause then you acknowledge that I'm there.
(host stammers) (driver mimics stammering)
- They think that if you honk the horn,
the person in front of you's gonna move.
- This is Arline Bronzaft, the grand dame of noise.
An environmental psychologist,
she's been fighting noise pollution in New York City
for over 40 years.
I talked to them.
I said, "Why are you honking?"
And they're like-- - You gotta use the horn.
- You think so? - Green right now.
- It's green, it's green, let's see what happens.
- She's not moving.
- Hold on, hold on.
- When the light turns green,
if a car in front of a car that's gonna honk the horn
hesitates a fraction of a second--
- She's not moving. - She's moving.
- Now, because that lady told her to move.
- But no, no, no one honked and she moved.
- She moved because the lady right here told her to move.
- No one told her to move. - Right here!
- [Host] Which lady?
Oh, that lady.
- Sometimes you need to signal somebody
that they're doing something wrong.
- Yo man, listen, if you hear me honking--
- Yeah? - Move the fuck outta my way.
- Where are they gonna go, though?
No one can go anywhere.
- Man, listen, this is New York, we're gonna honk.
Even if we don't move, we honking.
- Exactly, right?
- A little friendly toot.
- A friendly toot.
But you know actually you're not supposed to toot
unless it's an emergency, legally speaking.
- Sure.
- You're not supposed to use your horn for anything
other than if it's an-- (honks horn)
That's illegal what you just did right there.
- I didn't get a ticket, though.
- They don't ticket for it.
- Ever heard of somebody get a ticket for $350 for a horn?
- No one gets a $350 fine.
It doesn't happen.
- Difficult to enforce. - Yeah.
Why is it difficult to enforce?
- Because you're gonna have to have people out there
and you're gonna have to catch that person
right at the moment that the horn is being honked.
- We were out there the other day--
- And you could have caught them, right?
- Yeah. (horn honking)
What are you honking at?
- Huh? - What are you honking at?
- I need to go. (tires screech)
(horn honking)
(horns honking)
- Missed 'em.
That was a massive horn, too. Whoo!
Yeah, so what do you hope to accomplish by honking?
- Nothing, to get you outta my fucking way.
- Exactly, but does that actually
ever get anybody out of the way?
- No, it was you, it wasn't him.
I know he can't go anywhere. - Oh, you were honking at me?
- Yeah.
- What were honking at me for?
- 'Cause you were holding him up
from fucking moving anywhere.
- That's because he was honking at someone else
who wasn't going anywhere.
Does it piss you off when other people honk?
- Nah, I give two shits.
- You've gotten used to the honking?
- Yeah.
- Do you think honking is a problem in this area?
- I'm kinda used to it.
- Used to means you're adapting to the sounds.
You're trying to deal with them.
When you do that, that takes energy.
You're using your body to help you adapt to those sounds.
Guess what that does to your body?
It's costly.
(horn honking rhythmically)
- Holy shit. - I love this.
- The person who drives a car in New York City
is a very frustrated person, because that person can't move.
- Do you think it speeds people up by honking?
- Sometimes, sometimes it doesn't.
- Which would you say happens more often?
It works or it doesn't work?
- Doesn't. - It doesn't. (chuckles)
- But it just lets out the frustration.
- Exactly.
When's the worst honking time, do you think?
- [Crossing Guard] During the holidays.
- Do you ever practice mindfulness or guided meditation
to deal with the frustrations of driving?
- Yes, I do sometimes.
- Do you really? - Yeah, I meditate,
I listen to-- (horns honking)
- Who was that?
Was that you that was just honking right now?
- No, that wasn't me.
- Was that you that was honking a minute ago?
- Yeah, I was honking for him right here.
- You were honking at him? - Yeah, so he could go.
- What did you wanna let him know?
- So he could go in.
- [Host] Finally, I tried to mediate between drivers
to see if they could communicate without honking.
- Wanted to get in front of me.
I was front in him, he tried to go around me.
- Oh okay, so you want me to tell him that?
- (laughs) You can tell if you want.
- Okay.
You were trying to get around him, but he said
he was in front of you and he got there first.
- No, I mean I didn't want any fight,
I was just honking for him so he could go
because I already paved the way.
- So what do you want me to tell him?
- It's okay. - Okay.
No, he's not mad at you or anything.
He was just saying he knew you were in front of him
but he had been waiting for a long time.
He wanted to let you know it was okay.
- (laughs) Tell him have a nice day.
- All right, cool, cool.
He said have a nice day. - Okay, have a nice day.
- [Host] Okay.
Nailed it!
Cut to: Earth Day, 2018.
What happens when you have 30 blocks of Broadway
without any cars?
You hear that?
No honking.
- We're gonna have to sit down
and come up with a reasonable plan
as to how to address the needs of all these people
so that we can have a more amicable environment in our city.
- [Host] Amen to that, sister.
I couldn't have said it better myself.
(onlooker groaning) - You okay?