You’ve Probably Broken This NJ Driving Law Without Realizing It

Something we’re all very used to in New Jersey is the beautiful sound of car horns honking.

We know it too well because we’re all surrounded by or guilty of being impatient drivers.

No matter where you go in New Jersey, everyone is always in a hurry and has somewhere to get to. It’s easy to lose patience when driving and want to lay on your horn for 10 minutes when you get frustrated.

Maybe the person in front of you is going too slow, swerving in and out of lanes, talking on their phone, or bothering you in another way.

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You may want to stay behind them and lie on your horn, but not so fast! You may want to control your urge to honk.

Our car horns tend to have many translations. “Move!”, “The light is green!”, “Watch out!” or even for cursing purposes.

We’ve all been there before; it’s nothing to be ashamed of, until it is. We’ve all been in a situation where we’ve encountered the serial horn honker.

Where a 2-second-long honk isn’t enough, they have to lay on the horn for 15-20 seconds at a time to get their point across.

Let’s be real, it’s obnoxious, distracting, and just unnecessary. It is also sort of illegal.

Is Excessive Honking Your Car Horn Illegal in New Jersey?

According to New Jersey Statutes Title 39. Motor Vehicles and Traffic Regulations 39 § 3-69:

“The driver of a motor vehicle shall, when reasonably necessary to ensure safe operation, give audible warning with his horn but shall not otherwise use such horn when upon a highway.”

The key words in that phrase are “when reasonably necessary”. Horns are used to communicate with other drivers.

Letting someone know you’re in their blind spot or that the light is green with a light horn tap is one thing.

To be obnoxiously laying on the horn for 20 to 30 second intervals doesn’t really scream “reasonably necessary”.

This could get you pulled over if a cop witnesses it, so just take a deep breath and keep driving. It can get frustrating, but hang in there!