Introductory Class for Foreigners on How to Not Get Killed by a Bus

If I am killed or seriously injured in Asia, it will not be from a mugging/robbery by a gang of a dozen 7-year-olds (which did happen to someone I know, in Bali), or by an evil gang fight on Hong Kong Island. No, my demise will probably be from stepping out into the street and getting hit by a fast-moving city or campus bus. In this article I will outline the traffic awareness problems we westerners face when going abroad, which is rooted in our Drive-On-the-Right-side-of-the-Road Bias (DORRB). Two main points will ensue, with advice on how to prevent an untimely Death By Bus (DBB).

1) While walking down the left side of any street, we are accustomed to approaching cars to be in the near lane. A product of the DORRB, this preconceived traffic-awareness assumption is dangerous because we learn to comfortably stroll relatively close to the curb. In a city like Hong Kong, this may lead to serious injury to the arm, shoulder, ear, hip, leg, or may even result in DBB (see above). We may stroll so close to the curb that we don't see the speedy bus approaching from behind in the near lane. Solution: When in Asia, stay to the left side of the sidewalk when walking down the left side of the road.

2) As Americans, we are trained from a very young age to look both ways before crossing the street. As this habit becomes second nature, we begin to look on the near left and far right for cars. We begin to naturally expect vehicles to come from the left on the near side and from the right on the far side of the road. We trust that no vehicle will be coming from the near right side, so we look to the near left first, and then look to the right AS we are stepping out into the street! Herein lies the fatal nature of our American training! Do this while in Hong Kong or any other city where vehicles drive on the left, and you may find yourself being scraped off the windshield of a bus, or you may experience the dreaded DBB (see above). Solution: We must re-train ourselves to look right while still well away from the curb, then to the left, and then proceed into the street. [One may even need to do this twice while in downtown Hong Kong, because the traffic there can be quite crazy; anyone who is not at their absolute sharpest level of mental performance (i.e. within an hour of a Starbuck's coffee) should proceed with the utmost caution and care for their own life.] Now if the road is curved, especially at a funny intersection, then an even more advanced level of thinking is required, which is beyond the scope of this text.