Unique Indian driving signals that express driver emotiions

I for sure have had such incidents and felt guilty about not being able to apologise for my ignorance.

BHPian Aravind_M92 recently shared this with other BHPians

Majority of us are in India and well, we all aren’t new to road rage. Even the most sane of us must’ve had the rage at some point of time. We do have a ‘lot’ of ways of expressing our rage, may it be verbal shouting or a sarcastic comeback. But most of us tend to use hand signs to express out our anguish. We do have a lot of them! Most commonly, the finger!

But at instances, we would have come across times where we do realise we’re the ones at fault and feel guilty about it without being able to express it out in a moving car. I for sure have had such incidents and felt guilty about not being able to apologise for my ignorance.

Same goes with saying thanks. Imagine a truck driver allows you to pass on a narrow road. He too has to make an effort on that narrow road to skilfully manoeuver his large vehicle to make way for you to pass. Well, there are some incessantly annoying honkers to whom he has to respond as well! I kind of give two short beeps of horn or a thumbs up in response.

Please share your practices and hand signs you tend to follow on roads for apology and gratitude.

Here's what BHPian SS-Traveller had to say on the matter:

Apology: Don't drive like a miserable idiot, and you would not need to apologise. I've seen such idiots actually take both their hands off the steering wheel to do a namaste sign as an apology. Also seen a few folks let go of the steering and show both palms as an apology sign. If the mistake was intentional, no point apologising. For unintentional mistakes, the other driver would understand and forgive, or at least forget anyway.

Thanks: Indian truck-driver-style thanks include a double flash of the hazard lights at night, or an arm stuck upwards out of the window with a splayed palm during the day. It's part of the unconventional signals that Indian drivers have developed and use, but I think the newer generation of truck drivers are gradually becoming less and less polite.

Aggression: Unlike the rest of the world, flashing your headlights in India is a mark of sheer aggression. Whether at oncoming traffic or while overtaking, the extra-quick repeated headlight flash says "To hell with you, here I come. Get out of the way or suffer the consequences." I'm terrified every time someone is moving at speed (especially large SUVs), and does that. I imagine the guy has brake failure and is about to crash.

Let's hear of more such unconventional signals.

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