London - The head dance

It is a well-known fact that the Brits drive on left side of the street. I don't know how drivers from other countries cope with sitting on the right side of the car and no being able to turn right on red light. Even as a pedestrian, I had a hard time walking in London.

Love the double-decker bus

It wasn't a big deal when I first arrived in London, actually, I hardly noticed the difference, because I took the tube and didn't run into a lot of cross-walks. The second day, it hit me hard. I couldn't sleep long and was up in the street early to check out the neighborhood I was in. I stepped into the crisp morning air, leisurely looked around and walked into the street as I was taking in more air. You know the kind of deep breath Snow White takes when she sniffs a beautiful rose. “Honk, honk” loud car horn broke my Disney moment. A taxi stopped right in front of me on right and here I was with my head turning to the complete opposite direction. I jumped out of the street as fast I could and told myself to look right next time.

I intellectually understood it, and with the almost accident, I was determined to do the "right" thing. However, when it came to execution, it was very hard. I am no alone here. It is hard for all international travelers to this great big city. A study found that traffic accidents involving pedestrians who are overseas visitors are almost 3 times higher than those involving pedestrians who are UK residents. Not sure if the act is related to this study, but at every cross-walk there is a big arrow considerably painted on the road, pointing to the direction traffic is coming front. Just to drive home the message, there are also big letters painted next to the arrow that read “Look right". 

Busy cross-walk at Piccadilly Circus

Even with all this help, I am still often confused. As I was approaching a cross-walk, I would remind myself to look right. However, as I stand in front of the cross-walk, my reflex would turn my head to the left. Old habits die hard, I guess. I would look down and realize I need to look at the the direction of the arrow, which is not where I was looking. So I would jerk my head to the right. Then I would have this uneasy feeling that a red double-decker bus full of tourists was racing down from the left side about to hit me, so I would quickly turn my head to the left again just to make sure. As a result, whenever I was in front of a cross-walk, I would swing my head left and right a couple of times before finally cross the street. I call it doing the head dance. I got very exhausted after a few days of head dance, so I decided to do what a good old Seattle citizen does best - wait for the pedestrian lights to show me the sign!