Traffic Etiquette

    It has been a little over a week since my last post.  School began and I've been busy chasing my tail so to speak.     

    For a couple of years motor vehicle traffic in China has confused me.  Pedestrians have absolutely no rights even on the sidewalk.  I discovered that there is a pecking order and pedestrians are on the bottom of the totum pole. 

In America crosswalks generally mean that this is a safe place to cross and motorist will slow down for you because of this safety zone.  Not so in China.  A crosswalk is nothing more than a suggestion of where to cross.  If you think for one minute cars or motorcycles will stop, you will be sadly mistaken.  If you choose to walk in front of a car then it is a test of who has the biggest cahones.   If a driver starts honking his horn, which they do almost no-stop, it means he/she is not stopping.  If you still step out then it is a test of the will. 

My method was walk, if they stated honking at me look to see if it was a man or a woman.  If it was a woman then keep walking because she will stop.  If it was a man I generally stopped.  If I saw the slightest drop to the front of the car I stopped, otherwise I walked.

My theory doesn't always work but I am still here to talk about it.

Sidewalks are generally for pedestrians.  Not so in China.  They are for pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles both electric and gas powered, and cars parking.  I don't know how many times that I was exiting a store when suddenly a electric moped came whizzing by about to run me over.  Problem is being electric they are quite.  How I would like to knock one of the electric powered menaces of the road down with a door to the face.  The problems is most doors either go up or into the store.  Rats.

Funny story.  One day Xin Jiao and I were walking down a narrow street, more like an ally, a car honked behind me and I moved over close to the wall to accommodate the car.  I was pulling a suitcase that didn’t belong to me.  It was pretty small but the man in the car ran over it.  I turned and jerked the suitcase out and looked at the driver.  I yelled at him.  I wanted pull him out of the car and beat his face in.  He looked at me like it was my fault even though he had plenty of room to pass.  You could read his look like, “You stupid American I honked and you were in my way.”  I was angry for a little while but eventually laughed it off.