I rode a scooter in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for about six months. It was fascinating because the road traffic controls are largely ignored, in favour of communica

I rode a scooter in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for about six months. It was fascinating because the road traffic controls are largely ignored, in favour of communicating via body language with the vast numbers of other scooters around you, pretty much treating the odd car as a stationary obstacle. There's also a strong feeling of "we're all in this together and we co-operate to keep things moving and get where we need to go". Crossing the road there is a matter of slowly and clearly walking into oncoming traffic, trusting that they will stop or go around you [0]. It kinda works the same on a scooter - you slowly and clearly do the utterly illegal thing that you want to do, and everyone will stop for you or go around you. Riding the wrong way up one-way streets, or on the wrong side of the road, is common and perfectly safe as long as you take it slow and keep your eyes open. I think this concept of clear communication works better than the conventional system of road traffic controls. IIRC there have been tests done in the UK where removing road traffic controls led to people slowing down and communicating their intentions more, with greater flowthrough and reduced collisions. Automating this will be interesting. Yes it'll probably work, and accidents will be reduced. But it moves us further into making the act of driving illegal. If we are all safer when the robots drive, then it's reasonable for humans to be disallowed from driving. But is the world a better place if we don't drive our own cars any more? [0] I have had to explain this to very confused German tourists a few times. "The light is green for me to walk, why are they not stopping?" cries a worldview being shattered.