Being 'waved' into traffic: Your comments

It's intended as a nice gesture — waving someone in to traffic — but it can quickly go wrong.

In the past week, CBC P.E.I. has reported on two accidents police say occurred after a driver was waved into traffic, prompting police to ask people not to trust a wave as a sign that the road is clear.

Those stories generated a lot of comments on CBC Prince Edward Island's Facebook page.

(Please note that usernames are not necessarily the names of commenters. Some comments have been altered to correct spelling and to conform to CBC style.)

'A guy did this to me'

Many people shared their own stories of being ushered into an accident or near accident.

"A guy did this to me" wrote Kathryn Thompson. "I was turning left into traffic and he stopped to wave me through. I shook my head and waved him on. He then shook his head and gave me a dirty look. I could not see past the cars for my safety so I waited until it was all clear. I will not go by somebody else's judgement."

"I hate this! This is my number one pet peeve with P.E.I. drivers!" wrote Rachael Cameron

"I've been crossing the street in a marked sidewalk with a double stroller and had someone try and wave a car through on top of me. If the driver hadn't looked and not accepted the wave he would have ran us over. You can bet I did some yelling and waving of my own!"

Joe Mullen sent a photo. "This is what happened to me due to someone waving another person out," he wrote.

'Perhaps we should also stop being nice'

Roundabouts were mentioned in many comments, as were pedestrians.

Alan Dixon wrote "Perhaps we should also stop being nice to pedestrians who seem to think they have the right of way crossing the road when not on a crosswalk."

"Where I come from you definitely would be in trouble if you did not heed the traffic before you stepped on the road!" posted Ken Mayhew.

'Too many driveways'

Other comments took aim at the design of University Avenue, where the two accidents CBC reported on took place.

"University Avenue it too congested," wrote Kendra Dollar. "too many driveways for businesses. Too many people being nice to let people out because we have all been the person waiting to get out."

"This avenue is poorly designed and poorly paved in many sections," wrote John Francis Wood.

Some comments suggested left hand turns be banned altogether on University Ave.

So how do you handle the kindly wave?

"I try to avoid turning left over multiple lanes," posted Melissa Compton. "Even if it means going right, driving for a while and turning back to the way I want to go. If gestured to, I wave them along and shake my head saying 'no!'"

"I just shake my head and refuse to try to pull out because one driver in one lane wants to be nice," wrote Debbie Phillips.

"They really aren't thinking about the other two lanes. I'm sure they think I'm rude when I shake my head but I'm trying to get them to realize that they shouldn't be encouraging anyone to pull out when they only have control over one lane."