The thread about pulling over for funeral processions reminded me of this…
So, I live in a part of Los Angeles (South San Gabriel Valley) that is overwhelmingly ethnically Chinese, with an additional heaping spoonful of Vietnamese and sprinklings of Korean, Latino, and white. But mostly Chinese, and mostly immigrants or the children of immigrants.
The traffic around here is…interesting, which I attribute not to the “Chinese are bad drivers” stereotype, but to the fact that driving laws and customs are radically different over there, and many of the folks who are new to the U.S. haven’t adjusted yet.
One of the things we’ve noticed is that often, when an emergency vehicle goes by with sirens on, some drivers will not pull over, but will instead either continue on or stay in place (if they are stopped at a red light, in a turn lane, etc) even if the vehicle is in the wrong lane heading toward them with horn blaring. We speculate that either 1) They’re thinking “Oh crap oh crap an ambulance wait what do I do I know it’s different from back home oh crap” and freeze rather than doing the wrong thing or 2) that’s what you’re supposed to do back home when you see an emergency vehicle - stay put and let them navigate around you, rather than getting out of their way.
So, those of you who’ve lived in China and associated areas - which is it? Or something else? The people who do this seem to be mostly middle-aged and older, who probably were driving for quite a while back home and haven’t adjusted yet.