Not so crazy

[Melalvai]

This comic illustrates some really great, positive ways to respond to drivers.

[Blueberry]

I almost always give a friendly wave. 9/10 times I can't tell what they yelled (and when I can, they don't know that) - they definitely don't expect a smile and a wave, though...

[Biciclista]

unless i am so terrified that i am shaking, i give the smile and wave too.

[malkin]

I'm sure I look confused much of the time. Some of the others would require some practice, but confused comes pretty naturally.

[emily_in_nc]

I can't remember getting yelled at (thank goodness) in recent history, but my favorite is the "call me" sign. Way to confuse them!

[Grog]

They forgot:

blow kisses.

[westtexas]

unless i am so terrified that i am shaking, i give the smile and wave too.

This is me. I don't give a friendly wave... most often it's a one-fingered salute. When people shout or honk at me I think something is dangerous or I'm about to get hit so I freak out. Adrenaline is not my friend, I get all jittery and upset. Seriously not funny.

Maybe I just need to lighten up a little . LOL.

[OakLeaf]

Lisa, that's a great story.

Just an hour ago some spring breakers honked their horn and hung out their window yelling something unintelligible at DH and me. DH dinged his bell in response, I honked my bunny-shaped horn, and we were laughing while the kids were long gone.

[marni]

I sit up, show them a wide toothy grin and wave cheerily, all the while saying FU to myself and then wishing them a traffic laden crawling along drive.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I do the very friendly enthusiastic smile and wave too. I figure it will:

A) make them extremely frustrated, thinking I didn't 'get' their meaning at all.
B) make them feel a tiny amount of shame for being such an a__h_ole. (hey, it's possible)
C) confuse and puzzle them, perhaps even making them actually 'think' for a moment or two. They might conclude I'm crazy, which is good too.
D) I find it very funny, which instantly makes me feel better.

Most of all though, it reminds me of a memorable incident when i was about 6 yrs old...
In NYC, my mother (who was a very attractive woman, to my frequent childish embarrassment) was walking with me on the street in the city.
A car full of businessmen (out on their 3-martini lunch no doubt) slowed down next to us while we were walking, and a couple of them waved out their open window and yelled "Hi there!" to my mother. This was bad enough, but what followed then was far worse on the small daughter Embarrassment Meter. My mother, being somewhat more naive than I (lol), actually missed the mark entirely and mistakenly thought that these must surely have been friends of hers to greet her this way (), so she responded by boldly walking right up to the car window with me in tow and cheerily saying "Hi!, how are you!?". I barely had time to whisper a horrified "MOMMY!" to her when I saw the fellows faces dramatically transform from expressions of cocky lust to looks of ghastly fear all in the space of a split second. The blood drained from their faces and they hit the gas, hightailing it down the street in shame. I stood there, jaw dropped, having just absorbed a Valuable Life Lesson in dealing with emboldened wise-_sses.
Meanwhile, my mother stood on the curb a bit confused for a second, then shrugged and we continued on our way.
Thus, I get a big kick out of the enthusiastic smile and wave response to jerks.

[Spinner]

Haha. Very funny. Once I clapped my hands as a car driver shouted. He was very confused because of this and I laughed.

[beccaB]

I have to admit I've done the "New Jersey Hello" (I apologize to anyone from NJ who's offended by this: we were taught what that meant by friends we had when we lived there) I don't suppose that kind of response leads to a peaceful outcome particularly, but it sure feels good to do it!

[Tri Girl]

This is great!
I usually smile and wave.
The other day a car drove up behind me and honked angrily. I waved, but as he passed he was pointing angrily at the path next to the road (the path, that in that particular spot is so buckled and littered with glass that I never ride it- hence while I was on the road). I got so angry that he honked at me and scared me and was pointing that I flipped him off. Then he flipped me off. Not the best for relations, but how dare he get so mad at me for riding within my legal rights (this is a road that cars don't have to even drive on- it's a lake road that leads to nowhere). I couldn't control my anger.


I need to do the call me thing. THAT is hilarious!!!

[HappyTexasMom]

So far no one has ever yelled at me while I was on my bike, but it's happened to me in the car (for doing things like, say, daring to stop at a yellow when I clearly have plenty of time to do so). Sometimes I will just ignore them, or succumb to yelling back or fliipping them off (I know, not a good idea, but I'm not perfect)...but sometimes I will just grin maniacally and wave frantically. They probably think I am mentally challenged in some way. But I love the idea of confusing them and making them think that I have no idea that I was just insulted, or that I made them mad.

If I know I've truly done something wrong, I'll just give an apologetic wave. It's when I feel that the other person is just being a jerk that I'll do the other things.

[Geonz]

This is great!
I usually smile and wave.
The other day a car drove up behind me and honked angrily. I waved, but as he passed he was pointing angrily at the path next to the road (the path, that in that particular spot is so buckled and littered with glass that I never ride it- hence while I was on the road). I got so angry that he honked at me and scared me and was pointing that I flipped him off. Then he flipped me off. Not the best for relations, but how dare he get so mad at me for riding within my legal rights (this is a road that cars don't have to even drive on- it's a lake road that leads to nowhere). I couldn't control my anger.


I need to do the call me thing. THAT is hilarious!!!

I have an air horn and I know how to use it.

I did have a driver who pulled out right in front of me (from where he was parked) stop and say with indignance "I saw you! You had plenty of room!"

... right. He saw me, and I had room to do as ALL people should do -- get out of HIS ROYAL WAY. He then proceeded to tell me I belonged on the bike lane (that wasn't there), and drive forward, and then when he got to where the bike lanes actually were, point to them. I was compelled to suggest that he wasn't very bright, but wasn't happy with with that, and decided that practicing my Broken Record Technique would have been better: ""you pulled out on me." Not even "and I had teh right of way," since that invites escalation... but perhaps, "You pulled out on *me,* young man."