It’s Illegal to Honk in Antigua
ByI’m not kidding. It’s now illegal to honk in Antigua. Apparently horns present a great threat to the city, far more so than say, water-borne bacteria leading to diarrhea and ultimately death.
I’m sure the chicken buses honk too much and I know that Guatemalans are far too fond of honking their horn instead of calling the person they’re picking up to say, “I’m here”, but as with most laws, it’s overkill.
The question I have is, since it is illegal now to honk, if I am in an accident in Antigua and a contributing factor to the accident was my inability to honk my horn-an action which ordinarily might warn others of danger-will the city cover my liability?
Since I moved here almost a year ago, it has become illegal to smoke my cigar, but not to drive a bus that in the course of passing through one intersection spews more toxins than I will smoke in a lifetime, and it is illegal for me to honk my horn but perfectly acceptable for someone to let their car alarm blare all day and night.
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7 Comments
November 6th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
When I drove in Guatemala city, it appeared to me that honking the horn was used in place of pressing on the brake, anyways, I love driving in Guatemala, in Chicago there is a cop around every corner waiting to give you a ticket for not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, or going 5 miles over the speed limit.
In Guate, seems like there are no rules, and yet, I have been there 5 times and have never seen an accident, back home I see one almost every day.
November 6th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I'm with you on the bus exhaust and smoking! When I went last summer, I knew they'd passed a law a few months before banning indoor smoking. But I sure didn't expect that anyone would bother to enforce it. And I certainly expected to be able to smoke at "courtyard" restaurants like El Fuente. After all, they're not "indoors." Surprised the hell out of me. There were even places in San Pedro enforcing it.
I'd like to know how they intend to identify a single honking horn when there's a slew of cars on the street.
And I've seen plenty of accidents.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Is the smoking ban just for cigars or are cigarettes included? Is it countrywide or just Antigua? I have not been to Guate for a year. Is it just in buildings or does it include the park? I find it almost impossible to believe you can't sit in the park and read the newspaper and drink coffee and smoke a cigar! A violation of human rights, it is!
November 7th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Don, the ban includes both cigarettes and cigars, and it's a countrywide ban. I'm not sure about the park though, I know for certain it includes buildings. The fine is 500Q to the smoker and 5,000Q to the merchant. No one that I can find has been fined yet, and most of the places I frequent will usually allow you to smoke once they've closed the doors. I'll light up a cigar in the park sometime and let you know what happens.
November 7th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
I wonder if the ban applies to marijuana. I could swear someone was smoking that in our complex last night.
November 7th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
I had no problem walking the streets smoking last year, including around the park. Things were more relaxed in San Pedro, but there were places enforcing it.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Just back from Antigua and I'll go there again in a heart beat: before reading this blog I was just telling a friend of mine who is Guat that I was surprised as to how nice it was to eat and sit in a park not having to smell the stench of cigarettes/cigars and didn't have to raise my voice to talk over the car horns as I only heard one horn the whole week I was there. I did see a few accidents along the highway but none in the city. Looks like the cars, however, have been in a few as most have dents. How can you have a bad accident with a speed limit of 40kph?