[vinayrathore]

A very good idea indeed.

Being on Bangalore roads, you very often feel the need to convey your feelings to the drivers around. Most of the time though, its the negatives that come to the mind.

I was thinking about the same some time back and thought of using those LED ticker apps that mimic real LED scroll boards. A quick search on the play store gives up a lot of useful apps. Can be used for the same with some preset templates which are quick to use.

[teemus]

Nice idea!

But as many would agree, also need to pass on a not-so-nice truthful message too. Something on the lines of "use dipper", "hold on, giving way", "can you not see your mirrors?", "open your IRVM's and check it once in a while", "don't keep driving in the fast lane" (last one especially on Mumbai - Pune E-way.

On a different note, when I was in France, the usual speed limit on Freeway was 130Kmph and there used to be Automatic stationary speed guns placed at random locations. To avoid the fellow travellers from getting ticket for over-speeding and also to warn them of presence of a speed gun the traffic from opposite end would switch on their headlights even on a bright day. This would serve as a warning and for the next 4-5km's the speeds of the cars would come down within regulations until we spot the speed gun and pass it. Sure enough there would be a speed gun, never was it a false alarm.

True it only worked on bright days, still it helped!

[Rajeevraj]

Nice idea

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Very cute.
Lovely idea indeed.

In the 70's/80's/90's in the Hilly regions of South India, everyone who used the roads had this simple quaint way of thanking someone else, especially when they gave way to "uphill traffic" on those narrow roads. All that we used to do, was quickly toot the horn in quick succession, twice.

And receive a similar acknowledgement from the other motorist.

I actually still do this a lot especially to heavy vehicles. My regular drives to my home town involves ghat driving and it's very hard in some areas to overtake the slow moving heavy vehicles unless the person in front helps by acting as an extra pair of eyes and signals you to go and gives you way. Mostly done by truckers and I typically acknowledge with 2 short beeps as I pass. Most acknowledge too.

I also spent lot of time in buses in the hills of ooty in the 80's. Guess I too got it from there.

[aroonanand]

Originally Posted by shaggydogg

In the UK, people use their dipper/flash their lights for the exact opposite reason as in India - to let you know its okay to cut in front of you or to let take a turn in front of you. Example: you're driving on the motorway and turn on your indicator to change lanes. More often than not, the motorist who you are going to cut in front of will flash his headlights to let you join in front of him and it is customary to turn on your hazard lights for a couple of seconds to say thank you!

I used to live in the Middle East between 2007-2010 and this was the same practice there. Flash lights to let the other driver know that he can cut across you, and the other driver (irrespective of who it was - car, bus, truck) would reciprocate with a couple of seconds of the hazard lights on. I have tried this in India too but dont think most drivers understand why. Have seen a few decent folks here wave their hand to thank, alas none of this common sense or etiquette work with any of the morons with yellow board vehicles in cities like Bangalore

[dileepcm]

That is a good one.
Here in Netherlands, people use hazard lights [a couple of blinks] to express thanks though it's not very common. Some of them show a thumbs up if the drivers are facing each other. Head light blinks are also occasionally used as a note of thanks. Bikers wave hands or thumbs up.

Back in Kerala [India], we have been using a quick short horn to say 'Hi/Thanks' and I have to admit, it works pretty well.

[Zappo]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

In the 70's/80's/90's in the Hilly regions of South India, everyone who used the roads had this simple quaint way of thanking someone else, especially when they gave way to "uphill traffic" on those narrow roads. All that we used to do, was quickly toot the horn in quick succession, twice.

And receive a similar acknowledgement from the other motorist.

Well, I think it still works. My wife tells me the same about the hills of NE where they used to do the same back then. So roll over to the current times and we tried that some years back when we were on the hilly stretches of the NE/NB. To our surprise we found it still works. Tried thrice, response came back twice!!!

[Pontiac]

Originally Posted by Venkatesh.C

Open palmed thank you gestures have always been received properly. At least in my experience. True to the advice given in the DMV book, when you sign thus, make sure the other driver can see all your fingers being open.. lest the other driver think you flipped them one.

My 2 cents. I have seen many do the same. And I always do it when some one give way. Always received positively.

The one other country that follows this religiously is Japan. It is considered rude if you don't say thanks. . Blinking hazard lights also a common thing there.

[fine69]

Gadgets with customized messages should be used with caution, especially if your plan is to "educate" the driver behind. Trust me when I say this, even a polite message can turn into, "tu mujhe sikhayega!" (you want to teach me!)

I think whatever is the local gesture for saying thanks, like the hazard light blink, should be enough. I wouldn't even recommend taking any body part to convey even the best & politest intention.

There's a bhpian's account where he just stopped his car because 2 other cars were in the middle of road. He had no clue what had transpired before but unfortunately what followed was that he was beaten black and blue by few guys who were drunk and the other car with which they had the original altercation had actually left the spot. Till date he hasn't been able to answer what his fault was.

Oh and just in case a lady bhpian (or reader) is thinking about it. Ma'am, with all due respect, you don't want cars following you anymore than already. So smileys/emojis better be left to guys. However gender biased it sounds, its for your own good.

These products are best left to those countries where the drivers are well aware of road regulations and what counts as a good/bad behaviour on road. Haven't we seen the Mamoo Patrol video to understand that 9 out of 10 drivers on our roads don't have a clue what basic road/traffic manners are.

Then there was this LED display in certain parts of Germany that I encountered, it'd record the speed a car was doing and would accordingly light up as a green smiley or a red sad face. In a 30 kmph zone I crossed this sign doing 35 kmph. The red sad face was enough for my mind to register that what I did was wrong and I immediately slowed down.

I'm not trying to be negative of this whole display thing but with my experience and weird triggers for road rage that I've seen or read about, its pretty clear to me that the best of intentions can be taken otherwise by our fellow pinhead drivers. So better avoid any interaction with fellow motorists.

[swiftnfurious]

That's a nice one. Atleast in Kerala, when I overtake a good trucker / bus, I usually give a quick short honk (when I am parallel to their cabin) to "Thank" the driver. It's almost always acknowledged too.

If I want to appreciate someone at the rear (which is fast enough), I put my left indicator ON and let them pass as soon as I have some space.

As suggested, I'd love to have proper LED display saying a "Thank You" rather than this smiley. Some of these smileys are tricky, can make a grouchy one behind think it's a "tease" smiley, if the quality is low.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I also spent lot of time in buses in the hills of ooty in the 80's. Guess I too got it from there.

Me too. Most of the 70's and 80's and early/mid '90's (when on the road) were spent trundling up and down the hills of Munnar, Anamallais and Nilgiris and Coorg and Chikmagalur in a succession of cars and jeeps and estate tractors, motorbikes, estate lorries and state transport buses.
Nowadays I visit but rarely though I love the place (Nilgiris) very much. I don't go simply because I can't bear the Bangalore-Mysore drive any more.
Also, when I do go, I notice that there is a marked lack of "good manners" these days, probably because there is a high percentage of plains vehicles trundling about the hills these days and even the local vehicle pilots seem to have lost that essential "kindness", "decency" and "good manners" to a large extent.

Occasional flashes of good behaviour are certainly evident but they are more of an exception than the rule.

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by revharder

It's actually an appreciation of recognizing the good move.

Even the traffic police should also start ...

Originally Posted by krackr

This is a superb idea, ...

Originally Posted by GTO

Very cute , thanks for sharing!

Wish it explicitly had some 'thanks' text as well.

Originally Posted by Tanveer_2558

I had seen this sometime back, Was happy to see such an idea and i am glad i saw someone who would be using it on Indian roads now, I am eager to know the after effects of this, ...

Do keep us posted!

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Very cute.
Lovely idea indeed.

In the 70's/80's/90's in the Hilly regions of South India, everyone who used the roads had this simple quaint way of thanking someone else,...

And receive a similar acknowledgement from the other motorist...

Of course, that was then....

OK, you good people I started agreeing with everyone here and even typed "I make it a point to wave, especially if it is a BMTC driver who gives way. Of course, waving is hard to do and see at night, while with this gizmo, it would be hard to see in the daytime but better in the dark."; but call it serendipity - I had to drive without posting it, and guess what, I got stuck in a jam, with horns screaming for no reason. I realized the folly of creating another device for humans to misuse.

And here is my considered opinion after seeing a harmless 'toot' being misused: Such signs should be banned! What if people came up with huge cuss-word emoticons? What if people started using multicolored marquees - I have seen a green one on the front of a bus, which looks like a green signal from a distance. What about the legal implications, if a marquee or emoticon confused someone and caused an accident?

Would this gadget even be legal (I'm thinking 'developed' countries here)?
And I agree completely with fine69

Originally Posted by fine69

Gadgets with customized messages should be used with caution, especially if your plan is to "educate" the driver behind. Trust me when I say this, even a polite message can turn into, "tu mujhe sikhayega!" (you want to teach me!)

[anshuman_v]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Very cute.
Lovely idea indeed.

In the 70's/80's/90's in the Hilly regions of South India, everyone who used the roads had this simple quaint way of thanking someone else, especially when they gave way to "uphill traffic" on those narrow roads. All that we used to do, was quickly toot the horn in quick succession, twice.

And receive a similar acknowledgement from the other motorist.

This used to work across all classes of vehicles, Buses, Trucks, Tractors, Cars, Bikes and the works.

Of course, that was then.

Nowadays, with so much money around and fancy cars and absolutely no time at all, it appears that no one at all has any manners at all, so this kind of exchange of pleasantries has now become a thing of the past, fading quickly into the sepia coated memories that make one smile whenever one thinks of it...

Shankar, I still do it - and yes, all the bigger vehicles like trucks, buses etc - almost always respond. It creates a sense of harmony and well being on the road, very essential on the long drives! Time we started doing more and more!

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by shankar.balan

Nowadays I visit but rarely though I love the place (Nilgiris) very much.
Also, when I do go, I notice that there is a marked lack of "good manners" these days, probably because there is a high percentage of plains vehicles trundling about the hills these days and even the local vehicle pilots seem to have lost that essential "kindness", "decency" and "good manners" to a large extent.

Occasional flashes of good behaviour are certainly evident but they are more of an exception than the rule.

I was brought up in Nilgiris and the signal of 2 quick horn as a way of 'thank you' is still there in Ooty. But as you said it is not so common with younger drivers and taxis. When I was there last week, I was probably one of the few drivers who took due diligence in giving way to oncoming uphill traffic ( I had to as my Safari is too big for the narrow roads) and most of the time I was 'thanked' by other drivers.

Most of the state transport buses I met were polite and guide the cars behind if it was safe to overtake them.

You have to give a single quick horn as an acknowledgement. It would be nice to see such gestures in plains.

[Dr_MNC_SK]

The horn method still works here in the hills of Sikkim ( Well now there is an no horn policy being actively enforced by Police recently so it may soon die ). A short beep after overtaking a vehicle especially when he made it convenient for you to do so, or a upcoming vehicle who gives way when the down vehicle has a difficult path or something (Contrary to the Uphill Vehicle Have Right of Way Dictum) stands as a Thank you and is usually reciprocated unless the Driver is new or naive.

[shaikhmimran]

That Emoji is cool and I also wish for an angry emoji.
I used to drive in Japan and the usual way to show courtesy is to quickly switch ON and switch OFF your hazard lights. For example, if a driver stops to allow you to enter into a lane, you get into the lane and quickly turn ON and turn OFF the hazard lights.