Knowing, remembering and practising

Natalie Leung

I bet everyone of you knows what a zebra crossing is and what it means to drivers and pedestrians - gives extra rights of way to pedestrians. But remembering and putting things into practice are, certainly, another things, which I think is the best explanation of why those zebra crossings are basically being ignored in Macau.
I was recently in Europe for three weeks. And I was surprised how much I got influenced in this territory. One day in Amsterdam I and my boyfriend were outside and wanted to cross the road, and a zebra crossing was just in front of us. Subconsciously both of us paused there and waited, waited for the cars to first drive away. But then we soon realised that the cars were actually waiting for us to cross. Of course, god knows it was a zebra crossing! I hoped the drivers didn’t think we were idiots... After that we came to the same conclusion of why we stopped - we were so used to it in Macau because it was rare to see cars, regardless buses, private vehicles, scooters or even police cars (without the siren on), brake at zebra crossings and first let pedestrians cross the road. It always seems to me that the cars just want to run over the people and as if the zebra crossings never existed - but only in those drivers’ eyes.
After nearly three years in Macau, I will still get annoyed about this selfish behaviour. It seems like Macau’s zebra crossings are there to give extra rights of way to drivers instead.
I wondered if the driving instructors here ever explained to their students the function of zebra crossings and what they needed to do when approaching one. I also used to suspect whether Macau’s driving regulations were different from other places and if the zebra crossings here did not give the same right to pedestrians as in the rest of the world. I don’t drive and I never took driving lessons here. So I asked a friend of mine who learned how to drive in Macau. She told me the instructor did mention about stopping at zebra crossings for pedestrians, but “who cares” after they have passed the driving exam? True. How realistic is that.
Yet, she pointed out that apart from local drivers, mainlanders also drive their cars here. I don’t know how many of those selfish drivers are from Macau, mainland China or other places, I just know that this situation must be changed, especially when our government is working towards shaping the territory into an international city.
Another commonly seen problem caused by drivers here is illegal parking at bus stops. This is so true that the Transport Bureau director also openly admitted Sunday that currently there is a “big pressure” for buses to drop off and collect passengers as “many cars are parked at bus stops”.
Again, I think those drivers only choose to see what they want to see. There are clear yellow lines painted on the road surface at bus stops reminding people that only public buses (or ambulances and police cars in emergency situations I guess) are allowed to park there. But so what?
Now the bureau says they are planning to install electronic detection systems at certain bus stops, which functions similar to those speed cameras on roads and bridges. Although it’s still too early to say whether this technology will be effective in punishing irresponsible drivers, I’m glad to see the government acknowledges the problem and is really thinking of solving the problem this time.