Richard Yarrow’s opinion for Start Rescue, providing low cost Breakdown Cover.
What has happened to the common courtesy of giving a little wave of thanks to someone who has altered their course to allow you to keep on yours?
Of course I’m talking about one driver being polite to another who has pulled in behind a parked car on their side of the carriageway to give way.
Over the weekend I had to pause behind a car which had its bonnet up and I presume was waiting for its car breakdown operator.
A stream of vehicles was coming the other way and I was sat there letting them through. My position in the road made it obvious what I was doing, but out of perhaps 20 that came past, just two waved to say thanks.
When I lived in London a few years ago I accepted that this was the norm. Drivers in the capital are a law unto themselves, never seem to be particularly happy and rarely acknowledge anyone else on the road.
When I moved out of the city I expected things to improve, and for a while they did. People in the countryside were noticeably friendly. But that seems to have changed.
Maybe it’s all the doom and gloom that’s going on in the UK at the moment, maybe people have got other things on their minds. But do you know what? That’s not an excuse.
I have a theory that drivers don’t wave because they don’t appreciate what you’ve done for them. If they did, why wouldn’t they wave to say thanks? I think they drive round in their own little bubble, most of the time completely oblivious to what’s going on around them. They simply don’t notice stuff. They cruise around on automatic pilot unless there’s something serious that they’ve got to take notice of, like stationary traffic in front of them or a junction.
It’s very annoying and very dangerous.
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