by Koto

In Myanmar, there were many facts about the way of driving which embarrassed me who was trying to be a better driver in Japan. These facts were following.

Firstly, the taxi drivers in Myanmar made gear neutral except the time when they wanted to raise the speed. Therefore they drove with neutral gear when they drove in the curves. I thought 'Hey! Hey! Driving with engaged gear is to make to make the engine gear functions work well. If you drive with neutral gear, how will you do when you need the changes? You will not be able to control the car at that moment. You will fail if you take a driver test in Japan.' Although I wanted to explain about this to a driver who could understand English Language, I did not get any chance.

In Japan, pedestrians were given priority well. It was in the same way in America and Singapore. Pedestrians could cross the road when the traffic light was green. Even when the light was red for the pedestrians the car would step if there were any pedestrian on the road.

But, in Myanmar, pedestrians could not be given priority even when the traffic light was green. It was out of the question to pass the road at the red light for pedestrians. It meant that cars were always given priority whether the traffic light was green or red. This condition was the same under the sight of traffic police. The light was green for pedestrians. A car passed near by. I thought, 'Ah! Police! Catch the car.'

At the end of a road, which was at the middle of Yangon and had a traffic jam, although the traffic light was green for pedestrians, if a car turned, a pedestrian could not cross on the zebra crossing. Therefore people in Myanmar crossed the road at the red light, not at the green light. They crossed the road though the cars wherever the arrived. Because cars and zebras broke the rules of the road were meaningless. Probably, the person who always went by car and had no chance to walk like Japanese would think that, everywhere in Myanmar, the number of pedestrians who did not the road at zebra crossing was more than those who crossed the road at zebra crossing. That was real life.

It was horn, which embarrassed us. According to the facts mentioned above, the car in Myanmar blew the horn when they wanted to remove the pedestrians who were passing the road at the green light for pedestrians. At these conditions in Japan, the car will stop silently. The car would reduce its speed or stop. But, in Myanmar, the drivers would blow to warn the pedestrians. In Japan, unnecessary horns were prohibited. However, it would hardly be understood in Myanmar.

In Yangon, the car could not drive out from a narrow lane, which was situated near the crossed roads when they were jam, especially, at Helton traffic light. When the traffic light was red, the cars on the road were jamming like a string of beads. They blocked the exits of the lanes. However long did the cars wait, they could not drive out. In Japan, if a car would stop when the light was red, it would shun the entrance of the lane. In the rules of traffic, the car could not stop in the type of intersection.

When I rode a car with Myanmar, I said to him, 'Please, stop shunning the entrance said to him of the lane. He replied, 'I can't do that because the cars behind us make me drive quickly by blowing their horns'.

In Myanmar, they were very kind to the visitors and foreigners. They treated well to foreigners. But they treated strictly among them.