Famous post bus horn turns 100

Swiss Post buses are equipped with horns to warn of oncoming vehicles on tight bends on Swiss mountain roads. The horns sound the first notes of the Andante from the overture to Gioacchino Rossini’s opera William Tell. These notes were heard for the first time on Swiss roads 100 years ago.

When a motorized Alpine post was introduced in Switzerland in 1919, post buses began to collide with private vehicles more and more frequently. To avoid accidents, the post office equipped its vehicles with horns to warn of oncoming vehicles in poor visibility. However, the early manual horns proved inadequate, so a project was started to find someone who could build a louder horn. In 1924, a new device with an electric air compressor and three horns was born. Since then, it has been installed in post buses.

The horns are not allowed to be used everywhere. They are quieter than some Harley-Davidson motorcycles, but they are loud – 120 decibels. If used regularly in built-up areas, many residents would rightly complain. For this reason, their use is restricted to mountain roads where there are only other people in vehicles or on (loud) motorcycles. Signs with a horn symbol (see photo above) mark zones where the horns can and cannot be used.

More on this:
Article from Swiss Post (in French) – Take a 5-minute French test now

You can find more stories like this about Switzerland on Facebook and Þjórsárden.

Related Posts