A man scurries to his car which is blocking a disabled lady who woke up the neighbourhood by beeping her horn in fury.
The man in a blue shirt decided to park his car illegally blocking a disabled parking spot. Along came the lady who always parks there. She proceeded to beep her horn incessantly for 15 minutes to summons the person who was blocking “her”parking spot.
I presume she is disabled although she was able to pace around furiously when her beeping did not summon the man who dared to block her parking. Eventually he came running.
Here we have an interplay of two anti-social behaviours common in Belgrade. One is the routine ignoring of traffic and parking rules. This leads not only to dangerous driving (and a road death rate 4x higher than the EU average), blocked roads, obstructed parking and gridlock. The other is the widespread belief that it is perfectly acceptable to beep one’s horn any time of the day or night, for any purpose, for as long as you like.
These two phenomena make Belgrade one of the most noise polluted cities in Europe. If people drive stupidly, dangerously, selfishly or sometimes just safely, then impatient and aggressive fellow drivers blast them with their horns for their transgressions.
Beeping is also widely used for greeting friends, getting cute girls to look in your direction (so you can see their faces), celebrating sports victories, celebrating weddings, nudging people who do not speed from the traffic lights as it turns yellow, to admonish idiots who stop for pedestrian at pedestrian crossings and to summons people how have parked blocking entrances, parking spots and driveways.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is Sooooooooooooooooo annoying, but it is the fault of the government!! Fine him 200E and also give the policeman who gave him the fine a percentage of the same, and I am sure you will never again hear a horn……Its amazing NO ONE in Serbia respects the rules of the law, PERIOD !!! The other day I saw a BIG Jeep Cherokee
parked on the sidewalk in Gospodar Jovanova Street. He was so close to the building that pedestrians had to walk on the street to get around…..and the amazing thing is he had Florida plates !!! So, do you think it would EVER dawn on him to do the same in Florida? I very much doubt it! He knows he can do it here, so you go with the flow, and how else would the girls in the cafe see what he drives ???!
Strahinjica Bana Street is like the wild west, remember when they would ride up to the saloon and tie their horse to the post, well here they just double park! Modern day hillbillies is what I call them !
I saw the same lunkhead with the Florida plates – parked in the MIDDLE of a Dorcol street, completely blocking it, while he went to the Menjacnica to change money. Eventually, he came back, walking very slowly, counting his money, and ignoring the traffic jam he had created. These people need to be named and shamed… watch this space!