handedness, especially of roads
Or as Wikipedia calls it, "right of way"; the side of the road people drive on. Hong Kong, as a former British colony, requires cars to drive on the left (and drivers to sit on the right side). Other than a harrowing terminal transfer shuttle at Heathrow, I'd never been in a right-hand drive vehicle, and so in this last month or so, I've had quite a few questions answered.
1. Will I, as someone who grew up in a drive-right country, continue to panic every time I see an oncoming car, make a turn, or really just look at the road?
Still undecided. I'm mostly over it, but every so often, I'll see a bus out of the corner of my eye, and those six years (and 40,000 miles) of driving reflexes kick in, and I panic a little. But these moments have been happening less and less as the year goes on.
2. What's the gear map on standard transmissions look like?
It's actually the same as on left-hand drive cars, with first gear in the upper left, etc etc, and reverse someplace strange. However, the placement of the shifter seems to be different, and the angles gears are at are different. So it sits a little higher on the dash in at least some vehicles, and its motion describes more of a downward arc, with first and second being nearly vertical, though leaning towards the driver, and overdrive being more like at 45 degrees or so.
3. Will I get hit by a car, because I'm not looking the right way when crossing?
Almost certainly. In HK and Kowloon city, building density has produced a lot of one-way streets, on which the government has helpfully painted LOOK LEFT --> or LOOK RIGHT <-- depending on which way you're crossing, for the benefit of pedestrians. However, Tai Po does not have these helpful warnings, and I often cross not at designated crosswalks, and there have already been enough times where I was about to step into the street staring COMPLETELY in the wrong direction that it's almost just a matter of time. Drivers here are relatively courteous when it comes to stopping for pedestrians, which is reassuring. However, these factors are dominated by the potential for trips to mainland China (three train stops away), where they drive on the right. Don't ask me how the border crossing works (flyover ramps? we haven't been close enough to see yet), but traffic switches, so just when I get used to looking right before I cross, I'll have to remember to start looking left some of the time.
4. Do people walk left / stand right on escalators and moving walkways?
Yes. HK does not have a fixed escalator identity, which is to say that some people feel entitled to walk left all the time and will get pushy when you stand in their way, while sometimes the escalators will just fill with standing people on both sides. But I haven't ever seen a stand left / walk right escalator.
5. Do people walk up the left side of stairs?
About half the time. This is where things get confusing. Metro stations often have directed pedestrian traffic with a median running in between. These divided corridors almost always have arrows on the walls indicating which side you're supposed to walk on. But. Sometimes you're supposed to walk left, other times walk right. And unless it's rush hour, people often just walk on whichever side suits their fancy, arrows or no. The key seems to be to walk on the side that has the most disruptive group just ahead of you (i.e. lots of people or young children or carrying large bags or old people), because they will create a lee spot behind them so you don't have to push through people.
6. When you're walking and all of a sudden you're about to collide with someone, which side should you dodge to?
I hadn't actually ever thought about this before it started becoming a problem here. That weird dance-like thing people do when they're about to walk into one another acquires an extra layer of awkward once you start feeling self-conscious about why you initially tried to step out of their way to the right. Like maybe it's an instinct reinforced by our stairs'/streets' handedness, and I should be trying to step left every time. So then I try to remember to step left every time, but it seems like I'm still always going the wrong way. I don't think this has anything to do with any of the other questions, to be honest. I think people just try to get out of each others' way here more often because space is tighter, or something, so it's more noticeable.
7. When people do those cheek-kiss greetings, which side do they go to first?
As anyone who studied with me in Budapest can verify, I always always always got this wrong, and in a right-hand drive country, no less. Fortunately, it hasn't come up here at all so far. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about it.
8. Do people look at me funny because I use my left hand to hold chopsticks?
Probably. It's hard to tell, though, because people are usually already looking at me funny for so many other reasons that they might not even notice which hand I'm eating with.
1. Will I, as someone who grew up in a drive-right country, continue to panic every time I see an oncoming car, make a turn, or really just look at the road?
Still undecided. I'm mostly over it, but every so often, I'll see a bus out of the corner of my eye, and those six years (and 40,000 miles) of driving reflexes kick in, and I panic a little. But these moments have been happening less and less as the year goes on.
2. What's the gear map on standard transmissions look like?
It's actually the same as on left-hand drive cars, with first gear in the upper left, etc etc, and reverse someplace strange. However, the placement of the shifter seems to be different, and the angles gears are at are different. So it sits a little higher on the dash in at least some vehicles, and its motion describes more of a downward arc, with first and second being nearly vertical, though leaning towards the driver, and overdrive being more like at 45 degrees or so.
3. Will I get hit by a car, because I'm not looking the right way when crossing?
Almost certainly. In HK and Kowloon city, building density has produced a lot of one-way streets, on which the government has helpfully painted LOOK LEFT --> or LOOK RIGHT <-- depending on which way you're crossing, for the benefit of pedestrians. However, Tai Po does not have these helpful warnings, and I often cross not at designated crosswalks, and there have already been enough times where I was about to step into the street staring COMPLETELY in the wrong direction that it's almost just a matter of time. Drivers here are relatively courteous when it comes to stopping for pedestrians, which is reassuring. However, these factors are dominated by the potential for trips to mainland China (three train stops away), where they drive on the right. Don't ask me how the border crossing works (flyover ramps? we haven't been close enough to see yet), but traffic switches, so just when I get used to looking right before I cross, I'll have to remember to start looking left some of the time.
4. Do people walk left / stand right on escalators and moving walkways?
Yes. HK does not have a fixed escalator identity, which is to say that some people feel entitled to walk left all the time and will get pushy when you stand in their way, while sometimes the escalators will just fill with standing people on both sides. But I haven't ever seen a stand left / walk right escalator.
5. Do people walk up the left side of stairs?
About half the time. This is where things get confusing. Metro stations often have directed pedestrian traffic with a median running in between. These divided corridors almost always have arrows on the walls indicating which side you're supposed to walk on. But. Sometimes you're supposed to walk left, other times walk right. And unless it's rush hour, people often just walk on whichever side suits their fancy, arrows or no. The key seems to be to walk on the side that has the most disruptive group just ahead of you (i.e. lots of people or young children or carrying large bags or old people), because they will create a lee spot behind them so you don't have to push through people.
6. When you're walking and all of a sudden you're about to collide with someone, which side should you dodge to?
I hadn't actually ever thought about this before it started becoming a problem here. That weird dance-like thing people do when they're about to walk into one another acquires an extra layer of awkward once you start feeling self-conscious about why you initially tried to step out of their way to the right. Like maybe it's an instinct reinforced by our stairs'/streets' handedness, and I should be trying to step left every time. So then I try to remember to step left every time, but it seems like I'm still always going the wrong way. I don't think this has anything to do with any of the other questions, to be honest. I think people just try to get out of each others' way here more often because space is tighter, or something, so it's more noticeable.
7. When people do those cheek-kiss greetings, which side do they go to first?
As anyone who studied with me in Budapest can verify, I always always always got this wrong, and in a right-hand drive country, no less. Fortunately, it hasn't come up here at all so far. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried about it.
8. Do people look at me funny because I use my left hand to hold chopsticks?
Probably. It's hard to tell, though, because people are usually already looking at me funny for so many other reasons that they might not even notice which hand I'm eating with.
posted by sam at
1:47 AM
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