New Jersey drivers are too shy when it comes to this

So many people take the opportunity while sitting at a red light to catch up on their email or text their cousin Billy or how many people liked their pictures on Instagram or post on Facebook. When the light turns green, just go.

If you are behind this person, gently beep your horn to remind them. If the light has turned green and you’re two cars back, it’s up to you. I do it when I’m six cars back. Come on, beep your horn!

Some of these lights don’t have much time to stay on green, especially left-turn green lights. Like it or not, some people need to get places with limited time.

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We’ve all done it. I’ve glanced at my texts while at a red light and didn’t notice the light had turned green. When someone behind me leans on the horn, or they just give me a little beep, I look at the rearview mirror and wave my hand in acknowledgment. I let them know I heard them and I am moving along.

Horns were invented in 1908 and actually have a New Jersey connection. The first horns were called klaxons. American inventor Miller Reese Hutchison (later chief engineer of Thomas Edison) patented the mechanism in 1908. The Lovell-McConnell Manufacturing Company of Newark, New Jersey, bought the rights to the device, and it became standard equipment on General Motors cars.

All cars have one and there’s no law against using it. So, of course, abusing it and being nasty about it can be offensive but we have a new reason to use it more often. When someone’s at a light and it turns green and they haven't budged, looking at their phone or doing something else but more than likely checking their phone, feel free to let them know.

THE LIGHT IS GREEN, GO....please.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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