honking and waving.

[McGiver]

when i drive somewhere with my kids we always play the let's make a new friend game.

what we do is anytime we someone on foot, i honk and we all wave.

i gotta say, most people aren't very friendly.
old people will usually wave back.  black people seldoms wave back.  all the other races and sexes are pretty equal at about 33% friendly.

[maldoror]

Because it probably startles them and they assume that you're being malicious somehow. 90% of the time when, as a pedestrian, a driver tries to interact with me, they are doing it to be a jerk.

[McGiver]

but we are smiling.

[Calandale]

People do this, and yes, my reaction is usually,
"what the fuck?" I got used to this far too
often, people laughing, and smiling, when I
was hitching, yet driving on.

But, even outside of this experience, it
leaves one wondering who the fuck that
was. Or startling you, thinking that they're
trying to warn you about something.

I put it about on par with when an acquaintance
of mine would lean out the window and shout
to people on bikes - "your wheels are turning"

 

[McGiver]

people used to wave to each other.

[Calandale]

people used to wave to each other.

Yeah. And they still do when they know them.
But, just like striking up a conversation with
someone at random, this can be seen as
aggressive behavior. Plus, from the isolation
of your car, it's a very different thing.

I mean, if you saw a new neighbor, and
were driving by slowly, it would make sense
to stop and call out to them. But, drive by
honkings aren't a way people interact.

[maldoror]

Yeah. If someone waved to me from a car while smiling, I'd probably assume that they were mocking me or being ironic in some way. I think when people see a person walking when they are in a car it triggers some deeply rooted instinct that the person registers as superiority. There must be some explanation for why idiots like to yell retarded things out of car windows. I have a car that I use most of the time, BTW, so you know that I'm not just being bitter.

[Calandale]

I mean, even doing this car to car, is viewed
as unfriendly. I think it's that cars just isolate.
I'd feel fine (though maybe a tad nervous),
with someone saying hi from their porch
as I walk by - or vice versa. And I suspect
that whatever nervousness there, would
just be ME.

[maldoror]

I wouldn't have a problem with it car to car.

[Alex179]

I wouldn't wave back and I would think it was weird.   I know I would do shit to fuck with people as a teenager, but not smile at people and wave.  I might wave back at a whole family if I thought I knew them from my neighborhood or something.   I tend to not react to people unless they are flipping me off or if I catch a good looking female smiling/looking at me (very rare).   Even in those situations I might not react actually.

[renaeden]

My reaction is thinking, "Who are they? I don't know them!"

[Natalia Evans]

I don't wave at anyone. I'm too busy driving and when I am riding, it's boring to wave at anyone. I enjoy the scenary or watching the lines in the road or I'm sleeping.

[Callaway]

It startles me when people honk their horns at me, but if I saw kids waving at me, I would probably wave back.

[McGiver]

why is it that some people wave.  and almost all the elderly people wave?

i would.  i just think that not many people are friendly.  or, after reading the replies here....most people are skeptical.

[El]

It's normal in small towns, even now (like where my mom last lived).  It's suicide in the wrong part of a large city.