Fair

Traffic in China is all about being fair. It's a perculiar type of communal driving, almost precisely what you'd expect "Socialist" traffic to look like. Unlike in the States, in China, the goal of traffic seems to be that no one ever has to stop, even if that means going four miles an hour all the way to work. Merging, turning, and crossing intersections all have a give-and-take. You're expected to budge a little when the crazy taxi next to you is trying to jump into your lane, and the next morning when you're late to work, a few buses and cars will break momentarily for you so you can zip through the intersection on a red light. It's a fair system, and everyone gets their share of law-breaking.

Every time I go back to the US, I think our "fair" traffic system is a little silly. Regardless of who is in a hurry, where traffic is heaviest, or what construction is on the roads, we all agree to stop at lights for seconds or minutes at a time, just so we can expect that others will do the same down the road. I guess Americans are more fixated on life's little comforts and reassurances than the Chinese ever are.

(Coincidentally, traffic in China always reminds me of a game I had when I was a kid called Rush Hour, where you move the cars around to try to get the red car out. Unfortunately, finding the link just now is going to result in me playing several more hours of this than I ever needed to.)