TAKING A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE

At first glance I was going to write that traffic here in Shanghai is like traffic no where in the world, other than every other major Asian city outside of Japan and Korea. This may not be true; all I do know is that traffic in Shanghai is like a stampede of cars being rounded up by Cowboy Cats.  To create a confusion of metaphors,   the cars stream off in every which direction regardless of the traffic lights (though most stop on red, but not for long), and the unruly streaks of bicycles, mopeds, motorbikes, and motorcycles weave in and out of the pedestrian traffic like streaking lines of flaming fireworks.   Walking the streets through traffic, even with the Walk signal, becomes a maze of confusion and surprises.

The other night I saw a middle-aged couple cross the street against the light.   The man looked neither left nor right; he just held his wife's hand and started walking purposely across the street.  The cars navigated around him.   As I watch the traffic flow through the crowds of people and the cyclists weave across the path of traffic, I get the sense that everyone is on a path created in the driver's mind or the walker's mind, and that's all that matters; somehow, like that asteroid that missed the earth, these drivers miss each other and the pedestrians.

The middle-aged couple?  When they got to my side of the street, they found a parked moped, which the husband cranked up and, with his wife behind him, headed out into traffic.  I think the way he walked across the street is the way he and all others navigate their way home. 

That got me to thinking that the safest way to cross a street is not to look, to set a path and walk purposely along that path. (It sounds like a way of living one's life, though I'm afraid on the real streets of Shanghai, it may  be a short life.)

The big shocker happens when I'm feeling safe because I've made it across the street.  I am happily walking toward the mall when I am confronted by a full-size motorcycle coming at me down the sidewalk!  Not only do they have the streets and the crosswalks, but  the burly bikes can magically appear riding down the sidewalk in front of Shanghai's grandest mall (more of that another time.)

This photo has to be my favorite traffic moment.   The black car spotted the smallest opening in the traffic and swung its nose into the left lane, where it is now, but it got itself locked in place with no where to go or turn, and blocked both lanes.   He needed the bus in front to move just a little to get himself straightened out, and just when the bus moved, the black car was a little late, and the taxi squeezed its nose between the black car and the bus;  the taxi was the lynchpin that locked the traffic up for the next five minutes.  No one could move until the traffic on the other side of the light could make some room.

What's truly fascinating about this and all the other days I have watched traffic is the absolute determination of everyone to take the lane they are going to take--no looking around to keep from hitting or being hit by an oncoming car--just eyes straight ahead. True of both vehicles and pedestrians.  And with all the near misses and dumb driving moves, no one seems to lose his or her cool.   No road rage.   Just an acceptance that there are a lot of people trying to go in different directions every hour of every day..