I just almost caused a little fender bender, turned onto a road and she appeared out of nowhere. Must of been in my blind spot but it was entirely my fault for not checking it.
Obviously I felt really bad about this but was in front of her afterwards, so my signalling options were flash my hazards or wave my hand. But those are usually a "thanks" which would just make me look like a snarky cunt. My other option would be to try to improvise a hand signal but decided whatever I did would just look like my hand was spazzing out.
Eventually I took the "Look straight forward and pretend they're not right behind you" option. But is there some kind of clear way to say "I fucked up, sorry"?
Holding your hands up while looking in the rear view mirror is probably the best you can do.
I don't think there's an easy answer to this problem. There was a documentary about body language fronted by John Cleese that explained a major cause of road rage is an inability to see other drivers' faces, as when we bump into each other in person we automatically pull apologetic expressions.
>>3386 Holding your hand up. If you really want to grovel and show just how much of a pussy-whipped wimp you are, then get out of the car, start crying and crawl on all fours while shouting "sorry mum, I swear I love you, I promise I will get 3 A's and become a doctor. Please mum, don't take my phone from me, I'm 18 mum, my mates will laugh at me. Mum please, I will make you proud come 14th of August, just let me enjoy this summer. I swear I will kill myself if I fail mum. I ain't a Paki, but I will kill myself mum."
I think holding up your hands is good enough. I don't think flashing or waving will be seen as snarky, more like "thank you for tolerating my abhorrent motoring".
While we're here the other day I tried to do a three point turn and it took about seven, and also I managed to stall. All while holding up a police van. I flashed my hazards AND did a hand wave thing that I think translated as "sorry officers, I'm not drunk"