Crossing the Street

As we were walking down the street after an English class, one of the students said to me, “My English teacher told me that in the United States cars stop for people.” I said, “Yeah, in Canada too!” He was incredulous. If you have travelled at all, you will know that only in North America do pedestrians have the right of way. This has taken some getting used to, and crossing the street is still one of our daily challenges!

Since we are here short term we don’t have a vehicle as most of the long term missionaries do. Not only that, but we live in a fairly central location and really have no need for a vehicle. Consequently, we have been walking everywhere we need to go: to school, to church, to Supermaxi, to the market. This then, involves crossing many streets. You really wouldn’t think it would be that difficult.

Many of the streets are one way and some of the intersections have traffic lights. This doesn’t necessarily make it easier since there are no lights for pedestrians. In Canada, if the light is green, you go and trust that if any cars are making a left turn they will wait for you. Here you have to first look in all directions to make sure no cars are going to turn down the street you are about to cross. With no posted speed limits, they can sometimes seem to come out of nowhere. Streets without traffic lights usually have a stop sign. In Canada, even if a car is approaching, you know it’s safe to cross because they have to stop. Stop signs don’t seem to have the same meaning here. It’s more like, honk your horn and go.

One must also be careful of oncoming cars turning right onto the street you want to cross. Signal lights were a great invention but are not to be counted on here. Dave and I stand on the corner watching the traffic go by and one of us will say, “Okay, after that taxi.” The taxi is almost at the corner so one of us (usually me) starts out into the street, only to hear Dave say, “No, he’s turning!” By then it’s too late to turn back so I sprint across. Dave is still on the other side of the street, laughing. In fact, we have laughed at ourselves many times.

We have found that it’s easier (and safer) to jay walk halfway between intersections. That way there is enough time to cross even if a car comes around the corner. If the traffic is piled up waiting for a light it’s safe to walk between the cars. However, you have to check to see that the light is still red, otherwise the cars will start moving. You needn’t fear that you will stop traffic if you step out onto the street when a car is coming like you would at home. In fact, you need to step out before the car is there in order to have enough time to cross before the next car gets there. We are learning this as we watch the locals.

As the days and weeks go by, we are slowly getting the hang of crossing the street. But it seems that every time we think we’re getting pretty good at this, a car comes out of nowhere and we have to make a run for it. As long as we stay focused and alert, we’ll be okay!