Traffic

January 22nd, 2013

Yangon, Myanmar

Song of the Day: Last Christmas (played at the restaurant where we had lunch on Sunday)

Mood: Happy

Mingalabar (hello)!

I've made it to Myanmar and am having a wonderful time so far. To introduce you to the culture, let's check out the traffic

An example of the Burmese language on a bumper sticker. People say that once you learn the alphabet, it gets easier. Maybe next trip...

Orientation

In Myanmar, cars drive on the right side of the road (same as the US). However, nearly all the drivers are also on the right side (opposite to the US). People in Myanmar used to the drive on the left side of the road, probably due to British influence, but it switched in the 1970s for reasons that aren't clear (source: WSJ)

However, in one taxi we did find a driver on the left

New Cars

The government recently eased import restrictions, resulting in a flood of new cars. A significant portion of the taxi fleet has been upgraded from Japanese cars from the '50s and '60s to Cherrys (China) and other newer cars. The government has initiated a lot of reforms in the past 1½ years, leading to a 67% increase in tourism income and over 1 million tourists over the past year.

As cars come in and visitors increase, there has started to be major traffic jams around Yangon. As cars increase, pollution has as well and every ride is filled with the smell of engine exhaust.

A fresh burst of exhaust

No seat, no problem

In America, the driver and the passengers in the front seat are required by law to buckle their seat belt. In some states, the back seat passengers also have to buckle up. Not so in Myanmar.

Share the road

Although car is the primary mode of travel, there are several options:

No motorbikes

One of the most surprising aspects of Yangon are that there are no motorbikes. Motorbikes are a staple of any other major Asian city, but are banned here.

Frogger

Did you ever play the game Frogger? Frogger was my first game when I first started playing Game Boy. The goal of the game is to take the main character (a frog) and navigate him through traffic to reach the other side without getting smooshed. This is exactly how you cross the street in Myanmar.

Essentially, you wait on one side until you see a gap that you think is long enough. Then you run into the middle of the road and wait on the thick white line until there is another opening. Cars continue to zoom around you from both sides and you hope you don't get hit.

Pace of traffic

Sometimes people come up to your window at red lights to sell small items:

Sometimes red lights can be minutes long

 As far as order on the road, Myanmar is closer towards the developing world than the developed world. To be fair, it is not nearly as chaotic as a country like India because people generally stay in their lanes (when it's convenient) and follow traffic lights.

Remember kids: