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> I wouldn't even be surprised if the stopped driver was waving the turning driver on to "be nice". When I got my license (12 years ago, UK) my instructor very

> I wouldn't even be surprised if the stopped driver was waving the turning driver on to "be nice". When I got my license (12 years ago, UK) my instructor very strongly warned against waving / signalling other drivers through for this very reason. I know others around the same time were warned against it too and I believe it's also part of the Highway Code over here (don't judge me, it was a while ago!). I still do it, though - it seems rude to be deliberately unhelpful or even obstructive even if it isn't 100% safe / legal for the other driver to go. Not to mention the fact that I'd still expect them to use their own judgement even if a stranger was waving them on.

bryondowd 11y ago
I generally only wave people on in simple cases like two of us pulling up to a stop sign, to indicate that they can go first. For any case where they have to pay attention to other factors, I usually just stop and lift my hands up off the wheel in a sort of indication that I'm not going to make any unexpected moves.
thesimon 11y ago
>my instructor very strongly warned against waving / signalling other drivers through for this very reason Over here in Germany, too. My instructor told the the people in my class to never wave. If we were 100% sure and really think it's necessary we should make a movement with our head. That way we would be able to claim we had convulsions in front of a court, greeting the judge with a similar movement :)
- mindslight 11y ago
  Other places are different. In California specifically, I saw many people with the obvious right of way actually stopping to wave someone else on. When that person still cannot go for whatever reason, they wave harder and make a big production. The few times I was able to simply walk behind a car after it passed, they invariably had some out-of-state paraphernalia on the back. I'm surprised there aren't more rear-end accidents from such unexpected behavior, but I guess everyone is used to the culture of hurting oneself to show piety.
  - syncsynchalt 11y ago
    As a cyclist I see this daily, and it creates some deadly situations. People will often stop at 4-ways before you yet insist you (the cyclist) go first. This is annoying but only results in a little wasted time. The more dangerous situation is traffic in a two lane road, one lane comes to a halt thinking that you want to cross and then frantically waves you in front of them (frantic as they're literally stopped in traffic for no reason). Meanwhile in the other lane traffic continues at high speed, blind to your crossing the road due to the stopped car. It feels extremely rude but you have to ignore the waving person or try to signal them to move on and stop wasting everyone's time.
    - reagency 11y ago
      My uncle died from this. Walked past a stopped car, got hit in the next lane.

bryondowd 11y ago

I generally only wave people on in simple cases like two of us pulling up to a stop sign, to indicate that they can go first. For any case where they have to pay attention to other factors, I usually just stop and lift my hands up off the wheel in a sort of indication that I'm not going to make any unexpected moves.

thesimon 11y ago

>my instructor very strongly warned against waving / signalling other drivers through for this very reason Over here in Germany, too. My instructor told the the people in my class to never wave. If we were 100% sure and really think it's necessary we should make a movement with our head. That way we would be able to claim we had convulsions in front of a court, greeting the judge with a similar movement :)

mindslight 11y ago
Other places are different. In California specifically, I saw many people with the obvious right of way actually stopping to wave someone else on. When that person still cannot go for whatever reason, they wave harder and make a big production. The few times I was able to simply walk behind a car after it passed, they invariably had some out-of-state paraphernalia on the back. I'm surprised there aren't more rear-end accidents from such unexpected behavior, but I guess everyone is used to the culture of hurting oneself to show piety.
- syncsynchalt 11y ago
  As a cyclist I see this daily, and it creates some deadly situations. People will often stop at 4-ways before you yet insist you (the cyclist) go first. This is annoying but only results in a little wasted time. The more dangerous situation is traffic in a two lane road, one lane comes to a halt thinking that you want to cross and then frantically waves you in front of them (frantic as they're literally stopped in traffic for no reason). Meanwhile in the other lane traffic continues at high speed, blind to your crossing the road due to the stopped car. It feels extremely rude but you have to ignore the waving person or try to signal them to move on and stop wasting everyone's time.
  - reagency 11y ago
    My uncle died from this. Walked past a stopped car, got hit in the next lane.