Road conditions
Dongguan doesn't have many signal lights even though the posh area of it looks pretty nice. That seems to be the norm there. The drivers drive like they're still in horse carraiges and wagons. Even if you are going against the flow of traffic, you just keep going and then one person has to give in and wait for a car to pull out and then keep going.
The drivers play the chicken game every 5 seconds. If you are an extremely aggressive and angry person you can get somewhere fast because if other people think you're not going to stop they will let you go first. However, there will be that one other driver at some point that thinks the same way and it will cause an accident.
It's crazy being in the car when it happens. Sometimes in the middle of the intersection you will find yourself among 4 cars all going in different directions.
Crossing the road has become easier for me. When I first got to Shanghai, I laughed at the people who were standing on the yellow line in the middle of a 6 lane road waiting for the right opportunity to continue crossing the street, but now I do the same thing. If you wait for the cars to stop for you at a crosswalk you will *never* get home. So you start out by walking slowly across one lane at a time. It's safer to walk than to run because sudden moves will make the drivers do weird things and you might find yourself without legs.
The only difficult part is getting used to feeling comfortable with cars going past me on both sides of my body.
The drivers play the chicken game every 5 seconds. If you are an extremely aggressive and angry person you can get somewhere fast because if other people think you're not going to stop they will let you go first. However, there will be that one other driver at some point that thinks the same way and it will cause an accident.
It's crazy being in the car when it happens. Sometimes in the middle of the intersection you will find yourself among 4 cars all going in different directions.
Crossing the road has become easier for me. When I first got to Shanghai, I laughed at the people who were standing on the yellow line in the middle of a 6 lane road waiting for the right opportunity to continue crossing the street, but now I do the same thing. If you wait for the cars to stop for you at a crosswalk you will *never* get home. So you start out by walking slowly across one lane at a time. It's safer to walk than to run because sudden moves will make the drivers do weird things and you might find yourself without legs.
The only difficult part is getting used to feeling comfortable with cars going past me on both sides of my body.
posted by Jimmy at
2:40 AM
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