Can You Be Sued if You Wave Another Driver to Go Ahead?

Nodle Brothers vs. Wray

In 1980, the Virginia Supreme court adopted a principle from the Nolde Brothers v. Wray trial.

During the trial, the court stated found that, “If a driver’s waving signal was or could be interpreted to another driver as a signal to proceed across lanes of incoming traffic, then the driver who waves has to be certain the other driver can cross safely.” 

The court reasoned that the driver who received the wave was able to see that the other driver was not positioned to see whether there were any vehicles in the other lanes of traffic.

Ten years later, the Virginia Supreme Court confronted the waving issue again.  

In Ring v. Poelman, a driver in the left lane of traffic struck a car that pulled out in front of it. 

The car came from behind a line of traffic stopped in the right lane.  

The driver of the car pulling out claimed that the stopped driver in the right lane waved him out.  

But unlike Nolde Brothers v. Wray, the court found that the driver giving the signal “was positioned that the jury reasonably could find that he could have and should have seen the danger of traffic approaching from the rear in the left turn lane.”

If that was true, and the jury found that the driver being waved out reasonably believed that the wave was a signal to proceed into the left turn lane, the waving driver would have been found liable.

If you ever wave another car in front of you, you could be found liable if an accident or injury occurs. 

Even though it seems like a nice thing to do, you do not want your well-intentioned actions to lead to an accident and injuries. 

If you want to help, avoid making a wave. 

You can leave a gap, giving them the option to go through, but don’t make eye contact or wave people in because you may be held liable.

Waving someone through can indicate that it’s safe, which means you’re assuming liability.