Traffic

You can only see 8 of them here but there are sixteen traffic lights at this intersection and they all seem to have been programmed by an engineer who was a) on coke and b) thought playing Russian roulette with 5 slugs in the chamber would be “a fun idea!”

That’s why you should never ever jaywalk in this country: I was almost turned into bus mush the other day by a giant double decker that materialized over my left shoulder while I was crossing what looked like stopped traffic.

Why on earth would you need 16 traffic lights?

Because this is a 12^th century city, so at this one intersection you have, all converging at the same spot: a) a four lane roadway coming across the bridge from the south b) 3 bicycle paths c) another 3 lane roadway coming at an angle sort of from the northwest d) another roadway coming from sort of the northeast that might be 2 might be 3 lanes, depending, on how the drivers feel that day e) 2 more pedestrian walkways and f) no fewer than 5 crossing points.

Add to that the fact that the road widths don’t match, so sometimes the traffic streams going sort-of north and sort-of south both get green lights and are both moving at the same time and sometimes one is green and one is red, so they’re not.

Now you understand why I nearly got smushed.

The locals seem to have a 6^th sense about these things and merrily cross against the lights all the time; or maybe they’re just idiots.

All I know is this: even if the traffic has stopped and it looks safe to cross, but the light hasn’t changed yet, don’t move.

There’s likely a bus lurking over your left shoulder just waiting for you.