Dangerous Places...

I saw this on chinaSMACK. I don't go to China that much but I've seen the same behavior over and over again. For the most part, cars obey (barely) the traffic signals but pedestrians, bicycles, scooters, and motorcycles typically plow through the intersection with no regard to whether the light is red or green. Looking at the video, most of the accidents are caused by scooter riders running a red light. Sigh... no one seems to be wearing a helmet either. Crazy!

It's a lot worse in Chengdu than in Beijing. Outside the Jiaoda west gate, there is a pedestrian crossing. When the light turns green for pedestrians, most cars and buses will stop. However, none of the bicycles or scooters on the main road bothers to stop and I have avoid being run over each time I cross. WTF? A lot of people ride long distances to their destination so what is another 3-5 minutes on top of a 60 minute ride? I'm pretty sure they know what the traffic lights mean (red = stop; green = go; yellow = go faster) so do they just not care?