Photo by William Bayreuther on Unsplash
There’s a popular bumper sticker around the world that reads ‘Honk if you’re horny’. Better not. In fact, don’t even ‘honk if you’re hungry’ because it could land you with a hefty fine.
An Adelaide man found the latter out to his dismay recently when he stopped outside a pizza bar in the suburb of Port Adelaide and tooted his horn for his pizza.
But the local constabulary was having none of it and promptly slapped him with a fine for $250. Which made it a very expensive pizza night for Jimi Wimmer.
A little taken aback at this turn of events, Wimmer took to Instagram to voice his dismay. “Now fam, I’m no lawyer but that wording is a little sketchy,” he wrote. “Basically it means they can fine you whenever they need cash for weekend beers.”
Turns out Wimmer is fortunate he didn’t pursue a legal career, because the only bar he would be admitted to is a pizza bar.
The boys and girls in blue were perfectly entitled to issue him with an infringement notice, as blowing your hooter outside of very specific circumstances is against the law. Not only in South Australia, but right across the nation.
You can’t, for example, toot ‘goodbye’ when you drop your dearly beloved off to see grandma. Neither can you toot at a cute guy/girl, your mate wandering along the sidewalk, or even when your footy team wins the Grand Final.
“While road rage affects even the most subdued of drivers, you should avoid the temptation to hit the horn, unless you’re warning another vehicle (or animal) that you’re approaching them,” advises Queensland legal firm Smith’s Lawyers.
“It is an offence to use your horn for any other reason unless it is part of an antitheft or alcohol interlock device in your vehicle.”
Fines can be fairly hefty too. In New South Wales, for example, the ‘use of a horn or warning device unnecessarily’ carries a $344 fine, according to Seven News.