safety second

"Safety second!" That's what Kevin said today on the way home from the grocery store. We had another construction zone where there was barely even one lane open for cars to get by and no one to direct traffic. In America, I always hear "safety first!" But here, well, safety seems to come second to convenience or whatever. I have seen countless infants riding in their rear facing carseats in the front seat of the car. There are only ten million warnings about that stamped on every part of the carseat, on the box it came in, on the tags, and in the car. I don't understand why you would put your child in that danger.

Motorcyclists are concerned about safety second after speed first. They break every law imaginable to get in, around, and through traffic. There are lots of accidents involving motorcycles because of their dangerous driving habits, and I myself have been scared by them countless times when we have been out and about in someone's car. A few weeks ago when we were borrowing the Winters' car, I had one actually drive in the non-existent side of the road under construction to pass me! Another time I saw one just drive onto the pedestrian sidewalk to get around the traffic. Wow do they make me nervous!

Oh, and a few weeks ago I learned of a few rules of the road that are a bit different. There were a bunch I was surprised at, but one sticks out in my mind that I must share. There are tons of one-way streets in the city, but the rule says that as long as your car is FACING the direction of the one-way, you can go any direction. So we can drive backwards down a one-way street so long as our car is facing the direction that the traffic should be going. This is especially good to know as we are easily lost in the city of one-way streets with no left turns.