Drivers, whats your view, did i annoy him?

Question

this morning i was waiting at a junction, and took a nano second to pull away, the car behind me tooted his horn, whilst inside i was feeling furious, i politely put a thumbs up to him. i felt good showing him that i would not stoop to his level of impatience, would you find it more irritating if someone is nice to you when you are an irritating plonker?

Answer 1

I think you did the right thing. Admitting you made a mistake, even if you aren't sure you did, defuses the situation and helps everyone to calm down.

Though it does tend to annoy the h**l out of impatient, arrogant drivers who are incapable of rational thought ;)

Answer 2

yes good for you

Answer 3

Obviously its polite to be nice, but some people may see this as an act of sarcasm so beware

Answer 4

some people have no patience always in a rush, i was waiting to pull out of a difficult junction which is always busy and i waited for about 5 Minuit's then i saw a gap and went for it plenty of time but this woman driving her big car thought i was being cheeky and beeped me, so i beeped back as i passed her and felt very silly because i was driving a little fiat and it squeaks and not loud like hers, so i demanded my husband find me a bigger horn!! lol well she started it !!!

Answer 5

It often gets more reaction to give a cheerful wave or a smile to someone who has just roadraged you. It's like speaking to your enemy in a soft gentle voice- it maddens him more than any violent reaction!

Answer 6

this happened to me last friday , some old guy thought he owned the road. i felt quite cross as i was doin nothing wrong but he`s the one with the problem.....

Answer 7

lol I do the same thing! I also take a few more seconds before I move. Pretend to be looking in the rear view mirror to see if it's someone I know. That infuriates them.

Answer 8

Yeah prob p**s em off even more.. good 4 u

Answer 9

I think it would annoy me more - but good on you!

A few weeks ago I was waiting to turn left out of a junction (from one queue of traffic into another), and there was a keep clear box on the road I was turning onto.  On seeing I was going to pull out, this woman in a Mercedes pulls straight forwards, as she's clearly determined that NO ONE is going to get in front of her in the traffic.  But by that point I'd crept so far forward that she had no option but to let me out.  her bonnet was right by my driver side door, and I could see she was absolutely livid and shouting through the windscreen at me.

I simply smiled sweetly and gave her a gracious wave with that facial expression "you're letting me out?  oh how kind!" and moved out and flashed my hazards at her to say thankyou.  I could see her in my rear view mirror and she was still absolutely furious!  Made me laugh.  :)

Answer 10

If he was from Slovakia he would see that as a sign of insulting his mother and a challange to a duel.

He will be waiting for you when you leave the office.

Just because you think you're giving him a polite thumbs up does not mean he will interprete it as such.

The highway code says ignore them, no facial or hand gestures.

You may not have stooped to his level of impatience, but you could have stooped to his level of annoyance though. There could have equally been someone behind him saying "Look at that pratt, if she didn't waste time with hand gestures she would be gone by now"

Just drive your car, its not a game of get-one-over-the-other driver

Read "le Barons" answer above. The other driver could have been having problems with thier car and looking to pull over at the first opportunity. He may well be now thinking that as well as contending with thier car they also had this impatient pratt overtake them and slam on the anchors.

Never assume you know what other people are doing or they know what you mean by your hand gestures.

If your intention is to p**s them off, good you you, you may have suceeded. Lets just hope the next one hasn't got a hang-over the day after his wife left him and he is on the way to the firing range instead of his anger management counciling

just because i've got a fast car i end up with big-bore-nova-driving pratts up my **** all the time - ignore them.

Answer 11

Some drivers are so impatient. I just ignore them if they are rude (unless its the wrong time ofthe month and then they get it)

Answer 12

From the other driver's point of view, it may have looked like you were giving him the finger. It is best just to ignore the other driver.

Answer 13

What U did was the right thing. Some drivers are so impatient that they step out of their vehicles and end up in a punch-up.

I myself had this with a driver who kept slowing up and then giving gas and slowing up again...this got my goat...so I increased my speed and overtook the SOB and stopped him in his tracks...he did not know where to put his face. I took his registration and gave it to the police. They in turn filed the information. Should this driver come to there attention again he will have his licence revoked for 1 year and retested after that year. His insurance will add 500 GBP extra when he resumes driving on the road again.

Answer 14

How do you know he was tooting at you? And if he was, how do you know he was annoyed?

Sounds to me like you have a guilty conscience.

Having said that, the "thumbs up" or a simple wave was the right thing to do.

Answer 15

The best thing is even if he is an impatient git and you are perfectly right wave an apology, even if he deserves the international sign of friendship and understanding

Answer 16

I think you did right i would of done the same thing.