Sydney grandmother claims she was fined for honking her horn

But that’s exactly what happened to Alma Smith.

In June the 85-year-old was driving to work at Myer in Roselands when she got a fright driving along Belmore Road at Riverwood.

“There was cars parked and this guy just went ‘flip’ in front of me. I thought I was going to collide with him so I applied the brakes and the horn,” she told 9News.

Moments later the grandmother was pulled over.

“Apparently there was a copper behind her counting – three seconds is okay and four seconds isn’t,” her son Warwick Smith said.

Smith said she was shocked when the officer handed her a $352 fine.

“He said I had used the horn excessively, unnecessarily and that’s like road rage.

“I went silent for a moment and I said, ‘are you kidding I have never heard of that and I have been on the road driving for over 60 years’.

“I couldn’t believe it. Is this a joke? Haven’t they got better things to do?”

In NSW you can only honk if you need to warn traffic users about the position of your car or get animals off the road.

You can’t beep to say hello, out of anger or frustration or to get someone moving when traffic lights turn green.

“It’s pretty ridiculous, someone pulled out on her, she slammed on the brakes, what do you do? You hit the horn,” Smith’s son said.

“In a case like that, I felt like it was necessary to blow the horn.”

Lawyer Sam Macedone said he wasn’t aware that the length of the beep could get drivers in trouble.

“In this case I understand she used her horn to warn someone who was cutting across so she had every right to use her horn.

“I can’t see anywhere in the legislation that indicates you can only give a short beep.”

The grandmother is fighting the fine but will have to wait until next May to have her day at Bankstown court.