Another thing about this topic is that the confrontation is not only likely to fuel aggression in the driver, for me at least, it fuels anger in myself too. That's not pleasant and it's not making the situation any better.

Then again, I don't want to completely ignore drivers that do me wrong. Specifically in the case of drivers that pass too close, there's a moment of alarm in my head. That alarm used to inspire me to flip a bird or shake my fist and yell. Now I sit up tall and give him a friendly looking but high and vigorous wave. The wave is designed to do several things. First, I can't get rid of my feelings by doing nothing at all. I need to do "something". Frequently drivers will pass you too close not because they are just plain a-holes but because they are preoccupied and not thinking and making careful decisions about the best way to pass. If the driver looks up in the rear view mirror and sees me waving like "hey, see me?" then *maybe*, just *maybe* they will reflect on their own behavior and think "uh, I was a little too close". If a driver looks up and sees you flipping a bird, I don't think the same kind of thoughts are fostered.

But another value in the wave is for the drivers that are coming up behind me. I've noticed that if somebody passes too close, I might have a stream of cars right behind them that pass too close also. After all, if you're not reacting at all they might think you don't care. And drivers tend to play follow the leader. They're thinking about other stuff and just getting down the road on auto-pilot. They do what the driver in front of them does. "Worked for him". But my wave calls attention to the scene. Maybe they get the idea, that I'm saying I was passed to close. But if nothing else, the wave just creates some commotion and breaks the flow of "follow the leader".