A polite white van man!

A good number of years have passed since I began to notice an increasing level of courtesy on the roads – between drivers at least. They would let each other in from side streets or work out a fair way of taking turns to negotiate the narrowed space between the cars parked on either side of the roads through the villages. And a system of signals of acknowledgement developed – a wave of the hand, a thumbs up through the side window when the weather is clement, or a bus or lorry driver might give a quick double flash of the indicators to thank the motorist out of sight behind for letting him out.

That inspired me to develop a way of acknowledging the kindness of any driver who let me cross the road in front of them – something which happens much more frequently now in town, though there are still those who are either completely oblivious of pedestrians or who react with astonishment & outrage at the very idea that anyone without wheels might consider they have a right to road space too. Even on a zebra crossing.

It can be quite an awkward encounter – with curved windscreens & even slightly tinted glass you cannot clearly see the driver’s face – or, more importantly, eyes - & when you are no longer young & agile it is unwise to start to cross in front of even a quite slow moving car unless you are sure the driver knows you are there; often someone has slowed just to change the track on the cd or take something out of the glove compartment; task completed, they put their foot down before they have even looked up. Others may feel put out that their slight nod or sideways movement of the head has been ignored by the old bat who stays firmly put, unsure of the driver's intentions.

But, launched on my crossing, I try to remember to turn my head & smile, wave my hand if its not encumbered by shopping bag or brolly.

The other day, around 5 o’clock - a time when the mad rush of evening adrenaline makes it very unlikely that a driver intent on home will notice you, let alone slow down even though the back of the queue for the next set of traffic lights is a mere twenty yards ahead - one did just that.

And white van man responded to my wave with ‘Oh you’re very welcome’ through the window that was open to the evening sun.

Result.

Related post
A safe country