I mean is it really that frigging hard?

I was driving on a single track stretch of road this morning & I pulled in 3 times to let oncoming cars pass. Of the 7 cars I let pass, not one person acknowledged me with raised palm, a quick light flash or even a small head nod. They all looked straight through me - not even eye contact (and also, no one else even hinted that they were going to pull in to let me pass for once).

Maybe it's because I've just been back in England for 3 weeks, driving the back lanes of the countryside where literally everyone gestures a thanks (christ, even in bloody London you get one most of the time!).

WTF? Not one out of 7 people. Am i missing something.
Is it something weird like the Swiss consider it a display of weakness to say thank you for such a thing or something?

Sorry, it's been really bugging me for the last couple of hours...rant over. As you were.

You live in NA, those people are invisible.

I know it's frustrating but..
...how do you know theese 7 drivers were all Swiss ?

if you think that's hard, try getting a 'sorry'

I guess there are rude people all over the world.

I have been very impressed with how people always thank the bus driver and he too wishes everyone a good day on the buses I travel on. I never experienced this in the UK!!

I don't of course, but seeing as they were all Swiss plates & in deepest darkest rural St. Gallen, I'd happily place my bet, tbh

I do, as a rule, find the Swiss to be very polite in most situations - like the bus drivers mentioned above. But the occurrence this morning was just very odd as I guess I just assumed that most people thought like me on the subject - that thanking a driver for letting them pass was just basic common decency.

You're doing it wrong.
If you're looking for a response, then don't move over; stay in the middle and block the road ..... at least that way you're guaranteed some reaction.

Stay put, glare at them, flash your lights, sound your horn - then see what happens.

[that's what I do, anyway]

That's odd, my experience is the opposite: people thank me when they DO have the right of way.

Maybe you should not pull over, they may be suspicious of you. It could be the reason they did not wave or do anything you expected them to do.

Agreed. I almost never get an acknowledgement from other drivers.

I can only put it down to different driving cultural habits as I don't find the Swiss rude in general -- or any ruder than you would get in the UK. Same goes for not indicating on roundabouts, and the tendency to pull out sharply in front of you and hope for the best. These things pissed me off at first but eventually I came to regard them as the norm rather than them being hostile or unthinking.

Some people asked me why sometimes I am so "self-aware" about swiss and foreigners.

I do see many swiss drivers wave thank you.

However, I also noticed when they get a clearer look at me and figure out I am actually a foreigner, that half-wave was quickly retracted, the smile that was coming on, suddenly disappeared.
TBH, I stop more often to give way, way more than a normal swiss driver here.

Therefore, I do have the "black sheep are black and discriminated against" mentality.

But like all black sheep, not all swiss are bad to foreign behaviours or foreigners.
Meeting some who do, will however make me very very sad.

People here keep tell me I am oversensitive. Maybe I am.

Just in the UK for a few days - staying in Bucks and today went to the local Tesco in Leighton Buzzard to stock up the holiday cottage. It seems that drivers with low IQ are now required to have a red, white and blue flag flapping out of their car windows to alert other drivers.

As we entered a village, the Satnav bleeped that there is a speed camera so slowed to 30mph. The prick behind me threw a benny and started honking. I slowed down and let him get past.

In the supermarket, I was looking at the beer shelf and trying to decide what I fancy. This couple said "excuse me" and elbowed their way in so I couldn't browse anymore. People push their trolleys in a zig zag and block the aisles - and they get a cob on if you ask politely if you can get by.

My local Coop and Migros are great to shop around by comparison and Zürichers are a model of politeness and friendliness.

Admittedly this is Darn Sarf. Northerners still have a few manners.

Oh, and the choice of Swiss cheese in Tesco is rubbish. No Raclette!

Cheers,
Nick

Maybe you misunderstood the traffic rules and actually had to let them pass?

Nope. Box standard narrow country road.

Although being Switzerland, you may be right - I mean something not having a rule attached to it is unthinkable & surely must be against the rules

Are you in a right hand drive?

Maybe they didn't think there was anyone driving so they didn't need to thank anyone...

Because the choice of British cheese in Migros & Coop is so wide that one never knows where to start, right?

And what were YOUR gestures ? Did you make "inviting" gestures ? or did you simply pull in and wait ? You see, hand gestures are not exactly appreciated in Switzerland. When being on the "right side seat" when a nephew was driving, he stopped on demand of his father (behind him) and I made the required gestures to the approaching folks, and the reaction were enthusiastic gestures and thanks from the other side !

I mean, if you are driving in places like Casablanca or Tunis or Alexandria or Cairo or Beirut or Istanbul you are doing hand gestures all the time. While quite many Central Europeans regard this as the behaviours of people from "underdeveloped Third World countries".

That's just reminded me of a family camping holiday in France when i was a kid, where my mum kept freaking out the French by looking at stuff through her binoculars whilst Dad was driving

When I was a kid, if I was sitting in the front passenger seat on holiday in France, I discovered I could make people jump at lights and pedestrian crossings by grinning, lurching a bit forwards, and pretending to steer straight at people (with an invisible steering wheel!).

I seem to average about 75% on hand gestures when driving in and around Zurich, including pedestrian crossings and bus drivers. don't get me started, though, on the fotzies who can't be bothered to mutter a simple "danke", "messi", "grazi", "gracias" or "thanks" when somebody holds a door open for them.