Magores the Traffic Cone

First， let me apologize for the troubles I seem to be having。 I can create posts on this blog， but I cannot view the blog itself， nor can I see comments or respond to them。 Not sure what the trouble is。 Hopefully， it will resolve itself when I get my own computer installed in my office， and I can actually use English language software。

So for now， let me just tell you about Magores the Traffic Cone。

First， a little background info。。。

Traffic in this city is a nightmare。 You could not pay me enough for me to actually try to drive a car in this town。

Red lights mean that 5 more cars should go， even though the traffic with the green has already started coming。

Yellow lights last about 1 second。

Right turn on red？ Yes。 That‘s allowed here。 But， here， people do not stop at the red before turning。 They just continue as if it were a green， with no pedestrians。

Speaking of turning。。。 The way I learned it， when you turn， you are suppossed to turn into the closest lane。 Not here。 People will make the turn， and cross 8 lanes of traffic to get to whatever lane they want。

And the bicycles。。。 Bicycles， mopeds， scooters， and every combination imaginable of these things share the road with the cars。 They follow their own traffic rule。。 That rule seems to be Do not stop for anyone or anything。 Bicycles in the middle of traffic will make left turns， right turns， and u-turns no matter what the signals say， or other people are doing。

Pedestrians？ Jaywalking is the rule， not the exception。 Go ahead and stand on the lines dividing the lanes。 The cars and bicycles will （probably） miss you。 When there is a lot of traffic coming， and no gap for people to cross， the general concept seems to be。。。 Wait until there are 6 or more people that want to cross at the same spot。 Then， everyone step into traffic at the same time。 The cars can’t hit everyone can they？

So。。。 I think now you can understand a little of what traffic is like here。 The amazing part of all this？ It seems to work。

The newspaper mentioned the other day that China has a large number of accidents per capita， but。。。 I haven‘t seen it。 I did see one bike bump a car， but that’s it。 It‘s almost like a dance。 Each of the people， cars， bicycles， etc。 is a dancer in a finely choreographed ballet。 Well， about a week ago， either I， or the driver of a truck， forgot the steps of the dance。

I was walking to work。 There is one resonably major intersection （2 lanes each way） that I have to cross in order to get there。 I waited for the green light， waited for the 5 cars， that insisted on going through， and started to cross。 I was across 1 lane of traffic when all of the sudden a big truck （not pickup truck， more like construction area truck）decided to take a right turn into the lane in front of me。 I bounced off the truck， and then waited in the middle of the traffic for the signals to cycle around before attempting the other half of the crossing。
So now you know where the title of this post comes from。

I honestly wasn’t too shaken up by this whole thing。 After all， I got my training wheels for dealing with this kind of traffic in San Francisco。 Been there， done that。 A dancer stumbles， but the dance continues。