Yes, you are breaking the law. The dufus was NOT supposed to wave you on, that’s how accidents happen.
...next time just sit there and start counting to 30 on your fingers so the other driver can see you.....soon enough he’ll leave...*smiles*
The other habit here which bugs the hell out of me is people who will drive up an entrance ramp with a football field length of merge lane (or more) and suddenly slam their brakes because they can't immediately get into the driving lane.
So you've got all this to watch whenever you enter a controlled access highway:
In similar situations we have had people wave us on and we go ahead. They know why they aren’t ready to procede, I don’t. No point in backing up traffic. I have also waved others on when I was quite ready to procede. My husband does this frequently because he hates being tailgated and he really hates headlights in the rearview mirror.
I call that Laws by Feeeeelings. He FELT nice or maybe morally better letting you go first. We have laws so we don’t have to operate on feelings. I cannot stand that. But I do go first if someone lolly-gags at the stop sign. He who decides first gets to go, imho.
I’m not sure you’re breaking the law. You stopped, right? That might be all the law requires—it might vary by state. Of course, there are also laws that would cover pulling into traffic in a reckless or dangerous fashion, but it doesn’t sound like that would have been the case here.
And I’ve stopped at intersections where there’s no stop sign before, just because my mind wandered. (Better than going through a stop sign.) His grin and wave might have meant “Sorry, dude, I know I spaced out there for a minute.”
This often happens to me when two of us are stopped opposite each other at stop signs for a main street and I have my left turn signal on. The other car, not turning, has the right of way. Fairly frequently they wave me on, however. If there’s no other traffic, I just go.
Yep you’re still breaking the law. I run into that at side streets sometimes, I’ll have the stop but the other person thinks it’s 4 way, they wave me on, I shake my head and point to my sign and their lack of. Eventually they go, they probably think I’m a jerk, but if I go and they hit I’ll get the ticket, and when their lawsuit turns the incident into a lottery win for them I’d be stuck thinking “I knew I shouldn’t go”.
When drivers do that to me I give them that “You’re an idiot” look and sit there and outwait them. Eventually it dawns on them that I’m not going to move. Sure some drivers are just trying to be nice, but with my luck the one time I decide to trust the other guy is when I’d get hit and be at fault.
Agreed, never go even if someone waves you on. My stepson learned that lesson the hard way.
I hate it when another driver makes up an ad hoc traffic rule and seeks to apply it to other drivers (except, possibly, in a true emergency). I’ve gone the other way just to avoid that stuff.
I get that at traffic circles all the time. People coming from my left don’t realize that they have the right of way and will stop dead if they see me approaching from their right. Then, of course, there are the idiots who come breezing through from my right even when I’m already in the circle. Sigh.
Your situation is a pet peeve of mine. I’m sick of drivers who yield when they are not supposed to. It happens to me when I have to turn left when I as the turner am supposed to yield. There’s always somebody coming from the other direction who wants to yield for the left turner, even though the law says the left turner must yield. These overly-aggressive yielders must be libs who think it’s “not fair” that the left turner always has to yield. They don’t get it. Those traffic laws are not there to punish people. They are there so we can all agree on who has the right of way.
I look down at the passenger seat, tune my radio, and eventually they go. I’ve had people wave me on, absolutely clueless that others are coming around them on the right while they sit there and stall everyone. I HATE it.
Also a PA thing - people who pull waaaaaaaaaay over to the right - to make a left turn.
Given the tense in this post, you must be texting while driving.
Dang, I hate that. I’m with you though - a reasonable exception is a vehicle that can’t physically make the turn unless you go first.
I encounter a similar situation every day leaving work. We are at the top of a hill, and you really can’t see traffic coming from the left or the right, and I have to make a left turn...so you just have to gun it and pray. No problem.
But then there are the cars exiting the apartment complex from across the street. Ninety percent of them are making a right turn...no problem. But they wave at me, like they want to let me go first. So now, in addition to swinging my head left and right looking for traffic, I now have to keep my eye on a third point...to make sure they R-e-a-l-l-y aren’t going. Its physically impossible. So I just sit there until they make their right turn...which takes around a half second and is incredibly easy for them...if they’d just take the right of way.
I pretend that I don’t see them. The right of way rules are quite clear.
I have always maintained that if you got the exact proper combination of four drivers to arrive at a four-way stop at precisely the same time...
The world would come to a complete and total standstill.
So the guy waves you on, you stare at him stupidly and then seem annoyed when he gets tired of waiting for you to go?
If someone shows me a courtesy, i accept it gracefully.