No Stop Signs
There are no Stop Signs in I’m still not over it. From the first time I got here, I was amazed at driving. I still am. But how drivers pull out into an adjoining street is eerie. They don’t look, they just pull out! And I mean JUST PULL OUT!
Think of it from the other perspective: You can be riding down the street, and WHOA! Here comes a truck out from the street intersecting on the right and its in your lane! It might even be headed right at you and slowly making its ways on across to the lane on your left. They are fearless. Honestly, they just pull right out.
My drivers and everyone I know does the same thing when they get to an intersection. If turning right into the traffic they hardly slow down! They just kind of aim to the right and pull out into the first gap they can get! Okay, maybe they glance back at oncoming traffic, but it’s seldom more than a glance.
Drivers just seem to sense this and expect cars to pull out into their lane from the intersecting streets. So they are constantly watching at intersections to allow cars to pull in front of them or else they honk and speed by before the approaching car has a chance to pull out.
If a driver is turning left or going straight, they may be a little more cautious and look left a little more carefully, but they seldom slow down. No, it is a little more harrowing than I can begin to describe, to find your driver just pulling head on into three lanes of traffic bearing down on you. And he’s usually looking more to the rear to see where he can veer over into the traffic of the lane headed in our direction!
You can usually find me in the floor board for most of these situations!
Labels: China, Dongguan, Roads
posted by A Bryson (formerly) in China @ 5:35 PM
Comments: 0
