Like, if you accidentally cut someone off, and they get mad and honk, how do you apologize?

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[–] 9 points 9 months ago (8 children)

Here in the UK, turning on your hazards for a couple of flashes means either "Thank you" or "sorry" to the car following, depending on context.

Someone let you merge in? "Thank you!*

You cut someone off? "Sorry!"

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  • [–] 5 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    In Sweden they blink left-right-left or right-left-right.

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  • [–] 3 points 9 months ago*

    Same here in UK honestly - it's that or the hazards, they both send the same message :)

    I've personally observed that drivers of big trucks tend to do the indicator thing, while most people in cars do the hazards. Not sure if there's a specific trucker reason for that divide! Possibly it's less easy to reach the hazards in a truck but I don't know, that's just a guess!

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Same in Estonia, seems continent-wide basically.

    Truck gives you 2-3 flashes of the right (left in the UK I suppose) turn signal in the middle of the road, they want you to pass because the road's clear and they don't want a convoy forming behind them. So you pass and flash the hazards to thank them. Sometimes they'll flash their brights as "you're welcome" during daytime.

    We can be completely self-centered assholes on the road, but we keep our common courtesy.

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  • [–] 4 points 9 months ago

    In America I do the turn signal hint as well. It seems no one gets the context, even when I can tell by their behavior (body language)?

    That they desperately want to pass, and I want them to pass before I do (left lane is open).

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

    Huh. Same in Korea. Which was odd to me when I moved here since I'm from Canada and it is not the practice there.

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago (1 child)

    Weird. You'd think Canadians at least would have a way to say sorry ;P

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  • [–] 2 points 9 months ago

    Ha! The biggest problem with drivers in my hometown is that they're too polite. It's dangerous when people don't take their right-of-way. It causes confusion in drivers who know whose right-of-way it is. It's also infuriating being stuck behind someone who thinks they're doing people a favor by sitting at a four-way stop until all traffic disappears instead of taking their proper turn.

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