tHouGHts While STARing AT A Wall
the other day i was having a discussion with a friend explaining things that i thought were cool about driving in other countries that i've been to. being that i've been only to Japan and Italy, this is obviously a generalization, but hear me out.
my experience in Italy was great and it was interesting to observe the brashnes of their driving style. the fast lane is truly the FAST lane; if you're in the left lane and someone is coming up behind you on the autostrade flashing their brights from a chilometre away, you'd better move out of the way, or you'll get run over. lanes are merely a suggestion there, as well as speed limits.
in Japan, people flash their brights to let you go ahead of them... even at a yielding left turn - if there is more traffic that needs to turn across, you let them go! also, every train track is like a stop sign... they're pretty much the only "stop signs" there. bicycles are neither a motor vehicle or pedestrian, but some sort of hybrid of the two that allow them to have the right of way on the road and the sidewalk.
these driving styles are quite different from each other but work very well in their respective countries. i was out today in traffic an realized that that may be one of the problems of our situation in California... in our melding of cultures and societies, we've not allowed for a solid driving identity; we've mixed some things that shouldn't be mixed and that's why good driving is so hard to find. there could be some deeper meaning...
also these "thoughts" aren't supposed to be this long. until then---
2 comments:
good post.
this is clever. i think the japanese driving style is really funny, now that i've lived in taiwan for a while. you would think the taiwanese would be much more polite like the japanese, but they drive a lot like europeans here. lanes aren't lanes so much as suggestions, as are lights and pedestrians crossing the street. motor scooters pretty much get the right of way, but not because that's part of the law... it's because they take it. and if they get run over trying to do so, well... i guess they'll try not to fight that bus next time. or so the bus drivers seem to interpret their driving rights.
i've become numb to the organized chaos, but it was terrifying for the first few weeks.
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