4 ms·

When I visited Shanghai a couple of years ago, I was taught to never, ever look directly at a car as the driver would take that as a "you've seen me, I can go f

When I visited Shanghai a couple of years ago, I was taught to never, ever look directly at a car as the driver would take that as a "you've seen me, I can go first"-signal. Instead i was supposed to only sneak peeks at the traffic, never let them know I saw them coming, which would make them stop. I was only there for about three weeks so i can't really testify for the long term effectiveness, but at least I'm still here to share that anecdata, so there's something at least. :-)

tostitos1979 10y ago
I ran into this situation with a driverless car at an intersection in Mountain View. It got me all confused. The car too .. it slowed because it was unsure I was getting into the crosswalk or not. Quite a corner case.
fpoling 10y ago
Similarly in Moscow I was told when changing the line I should never look that other cars show any indication that they would yield. I should just blink for some seconds and then go. Then I should trust that other drivers want to avoid collisions and yield. It worked while I have been there for 9 months in 2009, but it never become emotionless instinct to drive like that.
- mollmerx 10y ago
  blink = indicate
  - fpoling 10y ago
    Thanks for pointing this misusage of the word that totally changed the meaning. In common Russian usage the word for "blink" also means indicate-a-turn-with-signal and that is what I meant.
    - arkem 10y ago
      As an aside, in Australia a car's turn indicator lights are commonly referred to as "blinkers".
      - kbenson 10y ago
        It's common in (at least portions of) the US as well. I think this was just a case of it being somewhat ambiguous, since we are also talking about vision.
ajmurmann 10y ago
Interesting, I didn't have that experience in Shanghai at all. When did you go? I was there in 2005 and 2009. When I visited Chongqing on the other hand...
- sandebert 10y ago
  I was there 2008, stayed on DongZhuAnBang Road. Somewhat near the Bund, if I remember correctly. I got the instruction from a Swedish expat who had lived there for three years or so.

tostitos1979 10y ago

I ran into this situation with a driverless car at an intersection in Mountain View. It got me all confused. The car too .. it slowed because it was unsure I was getting into the crosswalk or not. Quite a corner case.

fpoling 10y ago

Similarly in Moscow I was told when changing the line I should never look that other cars show any indication that they would yield. I should just blink for some seconds and then go. Then I should trust that other drivers want to avoid collisions and yield. It worked while I have been there for 9 months in 2009, but it never become emotionless instinct to drive like that.

mollmerx 10y ago
blink = indicate
- fpoling 10y ago
  Thanks for pointing this misusage of the word that totally changed the meaning. In common Russian usage the word for "blink" also means indicate-a-turn-with-signal and that is what I meant.
  - arkem 10y ago
    As an aside, in Australia a car's turn indicator lights are commonly referred to as "blinkers".
    - kbenson 10y ago
      It's common in (at least portions of) the US as well. I think this was just a case of it being somewhat ambiguous, since we are also talking about vision.

ajmurmann 10y ago

Interesting, I didn't have that experience in Shanghai at all. When did you go? I was there in 2005 and 2009. When I visited Chongqing on the other hand...

sandebert 10y ago
I was there 2008, stayed on DongZhuAnBang Road. Somewhat near the Bund, if I remember correctly. I got the instruction from a Swedish expat who had lived there for three years or so.