No horn-honking at the border
 

Last night I had a unique experience crossing into the US at the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. I was waiting behind the usual stop sign for the car being inspected to leave the booth area. When he did, I pulled forward, with the usual photo being taken, then a little farther noted that a gate had been dropped. So I backed up and looked above the lane and saw the green light was still on even tho there was no one in the booth. I pulled forward again, getting another photo taken, and then briefly honked the horn since the whole situation seemed rather unusual. At that point, I noted a Border Patrol Guy walking up to my car. He then lowers the gate and I drove up to the booth, where he proceeded to berate me for honking the horn(saying "don't I know what they do here", "you're not supposed to honk", etc). Apparently the reason for the gate and his temporary disappearance was that the car ahead of me was directed for secondary screening and he was escorting the car to secondary. I told him that this was the first time I had ever seen a booth CBP guy escort someone to secondary. Anyway, he fussed a bit more, then conducted a fairly ordinary question session and brief trunk inspection, then I was on my way.

The question is, do you think this "incident" will result in me getting more attention everytime I return to the US or was this just a one-time rant on the part of that CBP guy?? I am a US citizen so I know they have to let me in with the proper documentation, but just wonder if they are gonna hassle me everytime I come back from Canada or Europe??

No.

You can't honking for everyone at the border lines is not allowed to do that. You have to be more patience if someone else are already clearance from CBP. Then, you can allow to entry into USA with Immigrations approval that he will stamp your passport.

Hopefully no additional harassment. What a royal prick. :td:

What good is accomplished by honking your horn? People do it in rush hour traffic making me wonder "what will improve due to that?"

To me, a horn is a noisemaking device to alert other drivers to an imminent hazard. Drivers use it less for the legitimate purpose than for simple self-expression. Wonder why they don't just shoult their rage inside their cars. It is catharsis for them without laying another level of stress on for everyone caught in the traffic jam.

Surely no one believes the border guards will work faster or more efficiently if they hear a horn honk.

Because it was too many traffic controls on the border and it must to have reductions wait time at CBP inspections stations. So please no more wait for 10 minutes at border checkpoint. CBP should have to beef up to get fastest the times and no one wasting the times.

Actually, I did NOT honk my horn to speed things up. I did so because no one was "manning" that lane, yet it was marked as open, so wanted to attract someone's attention regarding that situation, and knew that getting out of my car to do so would be perceived as even worse than horn honking.

Sounds like you honked, he got snippy because people are honking at his workplace all goddamn day, and you got a little smart back (so what if you've never seen someone escort someone to secondary?). It's just a traffic bicker. I'd be surprised if this makes you end up on the "strip search upon sight" list.

Read the OP: @:-)

They do the "temporary lane closure" very often nowadays. They bring in paperwork to the inside folks, then return to the booth. Very common.

Your honking was from lack of knowledge, not the end of the world. I would have simply said "I'm sorry, I thought I got stuck here". Live and learn.

And NO, you won't get searched more in the future.

HTSC

@:-)

This falls in the same category as most horn honking. Honking your horn is not like a facial expression that people have learned to interpret. If you stopped a hundred people on the street and asked them how they interpret one guy who is honking his horn, I know there would be a lot of disagreement on the meaning. Maybe a plurality would say "it means 'I'm an American, nobody treats us this way and gets away with it'". It just isn't that useful. If someone tries to change lanes on the freeway and is threatening to hit your car, it does help because honking always grabs attention. In the lane-changing scenario, the need for the attention becomes instantaneously obvious. But if you're stuck in stalled traffic or sitting in a line that says "open" yet has no agent, the horn honk is scarcely better than nothing. You can call it a "warning", but I'm thinking the warned people may be too busy to take the time to sort out all the possibilities of what you mean. For sure, if its a busy time, they aren't coming over to ask you.

I'd almost wish the phone number would be posted somewhere so all those cell phone owners could call someone and directly tell them what is wrong. But horn honking, as with most cases I see, it just aint an effective solution.

Now if the ENTIRE LINE started honking, that'd be a different matter. But if they were like me, they'd zone out to be able to tolerate the creeping monotony of sitting in a line.

By the way..................when I returned from Canada, I kicked myself that I didn't go straight south to a border crossing that my relatives suggested as less busy. I'd have saved some miles AND probably processed through faster. So anyone who has to do this should always spend a few minutes trying to find the least used crossing that isn't a hundred miles out of their way. It gets to be a balancing act. A big swing out of a straight line burns gas, but sitting with your motor running at a busy border station does the same thing. As well as wasting your time.