|
|
Post by lowpt on Jul 11, 2008 13:48:49 GMT -5
What happened to the friendly south we used to live in? Although I spent my early years growing up in busy (and not so friendly) south Florida, I picked up the habit of waving to people in passing while driving from my parents, who were born and raised in the foothills of South Carolina. This has always been common practice for people in the rural south, but it is becoming much less common. The reason in particular I started noticing this is in all of the other automotive sub-cultures I have been associated with (mini-trucks, motorcycles, low-riders) the people in the same group would always give a friendly wave or at least acknowledge that they "see" you. This is not the case with the majority of PT Cruiser drivers. All of the cruiser owners I meet and talk to are very friendly, however I almost never get a "howdy" from them while driving. Has this been my solo experience or have you guys and gals noticed this too? If you have then less all try to change this image of cruiser owners and at the same time bring this old southern tradition back.
|
|
|
|
Post by FlowRW on Jul 11, 2008 15:54:38 GMT -5
I have a theory on that, just my thoughts.
The PT has become just another car for many people. It doesn't have the cult following it did in it's early days. Early on, it was a rarity to see a PT so naturally everyone would wave or flash their lights. The PT has been out for over 9 years now. They first started hitting the streets in March of 2000. So there is nothing "new" about it. What a shame. We still flash or wave to others when we're in our PT. (flash our lights that is, we would get arrested if we "flashed" them).
More rare cars like Prowlers, Vipers, SSR's, etc will acknowledge other drivers only because they are not every-day type of cars. Even Porsche drivers no longer wasve at each other.
What's this world coming to?
|
|
|
|
Post by Stoke on Jul 12, 2008 6:50:08 GMT -5
Waving at fellow owner/drivers is still alive and well in the Jeep community - at least around here. I'm usually the one not waving back because for one thing, I'm not really looking at the driver of the oncoming jeep and I generally just forget it. I end up doing it about half the time.
I think we sort of stopped trying it when driving the cars because it seems like 90% of the time its a 98 year old grandmother that can barely see over the dash anyway.
|
|
|
|
Post by lowpt on Jul 12, 2008 8:55:17 GMT -5
That is my point. It IS still around in other groups. You would think the older, more mature, cruiser owners would wave even if the younger ones didn't. I wave to a large portion of the people I meet regardless of the car type. It is just habit for me.
|
|
|
|
Post by Carrol Amerson on Jul 22, 2008 3:51:55 GMT -5
Those of us here in the Roanoke area have always said that if they didn't wave to us they didn't deserve to be driving a PT ;D Actually, I would say that 50 - 60 % do acknowledge our waving at them. Now when you have several PT's together on the road the response goes up to around 80%. I guess this means we should cruise together more often. We just keep on waving to other PT's to set an example.....maybe those that don't will catch on.
By the way, the Roanoke area PT population appears to have grown in leaps & bounds. You can't drive anywhere these days without seeing at least 2 - 3. I remember back in July of 2000 when I had the only one in this area and people chased me down to see what kind of car it was.
|
|
|
|
Post by Tan-G 03 on Jul 22, 2008 6:48:18 GMT -5
I remember thinking when I first bought my PT and read on this site that we wave to fellow PT'sers and flash lights that it surely doesn't happen in SC but guess what ? After two years of owning my PT a fellow Pter flashed his lights and waved at me yesterday. I was so shocked that I almost forgot and didn't wave back but I didn't and I felt really good. I think maybe people are just cautious because of all the crazy in the world, you never know who is the good guy anymore. So don't give up hope, there are some wavers left in the PT world.
Cruise on cruisers!!!!!!
|
|
|
|
Post by JamesP on Jul 22, 2008 14:10:32 GMT -5
Sometimes I see the same PT's everyday and I wave no matter if they wave back or not.Some have started waving back,guess they got tired of seeing me smile and wave at them. Just
keep the faith so to speak and those other people will come around to our way of thinking.
|
|
|
|
Post by airevac19 on Jul 28, 2008 21:31:04 GMT -5
You know, i see alot more PT's on the road here in the AK especially with the way gas prices are up here. People up here (present company included) are getting rid of their big trucks and getting a small car for gas mileage. I will wave sometimes to other pt owners, but more and more, it seems that people have blinders on while driving (or they are distracted by texting and making phone calls).
|
|
guess who