The busy, six-lane road that runs in front of my school’s main gate is being torn up to build new bus-stop shelters, making a chaotic crossing even more hazardous.
I live across the street from the campus, so I have to cross it several times a day. There’s a traffic light near the front gate, but nobody pays much attention to it. Students walk haphazardly across the road while the light is green, and drivers whiz through red lights as if they were color blind.
The construction area is surrounded by corrugated blue fencing, leaving blind spots when you’re walking across the road. Making matters worse are all the bicycles and electric scooters constantly darting in, around and through the traffic, creating a potentially deadly mix with cars and pedestrians.
I haven’t seen any major accidents, but I’d be shocked if one doesn’t happen soon.
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Having worked in New York for 25 years, I’m used to honking horns. But I’ve never heard as many tooting cars as I have in Zhengzhou.
Drivers honk every time they pass another car. They honk whenever another car comes too close. They honk at pedestrians who walk in front of them, even when their car is stopped at a light.
Honking isn’t considered rude here. It’s more like a warning system, with the horn acting as a megaphone.
