It is well known that taxi drivers usually drive rudely on roads and trigger car alarms loudly no matter if there is a person crossing the street. In my hometown, it is the same before this year.
When I return to my hometown this winter vacation, I surprisingly find that many taxi drivers no longer push the gas pedal when running into passersby, but tend to reduce the speed. In fact, this new phenomenon occurs more frequently, especially when the bus and taxi drivers get close to zebra crossings. At the beganning, I was not accustomed to it, so even if a car stops in front of me, I did not dare to walk across the street, which makes two of us stay there embarrassedly. Nevertheless, most citizens in my hometown have got used to it now, and almost every car driver is aware that they should slow down when getting to crosswalks.
I think this driving behaviour could provide lots of benefits to both drivers and pedestrians. On the one hand, for making sure that they are able to stop the car in time when encountering foot passengers, drivers are more likely to drive slowly . Besides, there are always around five to six zebra crossings along a one-kilometer-long road. If a driver drives the car at a high speed and then quickly push down the brake when reaching pedestrian crossings, the car will absolutely consumes more gasoline than normally does, which, as a result, increases the gas expenditure and reduces driver’s earnings. On the other hand, from the pedestrains’ perspective, they hardly need to worried about being injured or killed by a rushing car, making them feel more safe.
In the end, I would like to finish this post with my own driving experience. It happened at a late night when I was driving along the road after sending friends back to their apartments. When the traffic light at the crossroad were turning yellow, I looked around quickly and saw no cars. After security checking, I pressed the accelerator pedal. Just then, an electric bicycle suddenly appeared at my left side and was also trying to go across the crossroad although he should have waited for his green light. I hurried to turn the wheel to right in case crashing into him. As a consequence, I nearly collided with traffic barricades. This event really teaches me how dangerous is if drivers do not reduce the speed when crossing streets. For the sake of other people’s and your own security, please please please slow down when you get to zebra crossings.
