How to Avoid Getting Hit on Shanghai Streets: A Word Problem

Location: Anfu Road, Shanghai, China

Incident: Twice this morning I was very nearly mowed down by hurtling cars, flying scooters, and zooming bicycles while walking my daughter to school. Twice in 4 minutes. This a ridiculous daily occurrence in Shanghai where pedestrians have no right of way and where vehicles do not obey the rules of the road. Such anxiety-inducing incidents often result in very bad expat behavior (i.e., hollering, cursing, waving of the middle finger, tire kicking, etc.). Instead of "road rage," we have "pedestrian rage." (Well, there's road rage, too, but one thing at a time.)

Thought Process: Today's incidents made me think about word problems. You know, from 8th grade math: "A train is heading to Chicago at 175 mph. A second train leaves for Chicago an hour later..." Blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I always hated word problems, but finally I've found relevance for them in my life. Here we go...

Word Problem*

A scooter leaves the corner of Wulumuqi Road and Anfu Road in Shanghai, China, traveling at 35 mph. One second later, a car leaves the same location traveling at 45 mph. How long does it take the car to overtake the scooter (and run down the PEDESTRIAN who is crossing Anfu Road at exactly that moment)?

(Please note: Both vehicles are swerving and veering around bicycle carts, bicycles, an old woman, and a stray dog.)

Let t = the time the scooter has traveled when overtaken

Let (t - 1) = the time the car has traveled before overtaking

Equation: 35t = 45(t - 1)

Therefore: t = 4.5

ANSWER: PEDESTRIAN has 4.5 seconds to get her ass off of Anfu Road before being crushed to bits by the car. (And maybe a second more to escape the scooter...give or take a few tenths of a second.) Run, PEDESTRIAN, run!!!! Faster, faster!

___

*Note to Math Geniuses Around the World: I was always (and assume I am still) terrible at solving word problems. If this answer (or my equation) is wrong, please don't tell me. If you are a math teacher, just cheer on my attempt to create a mathematical solution to my pedestrian challenge. Thank you very much.

Comments

[paris (im)perfect]

I'm so sorry you almost got mowed down, but that was a really funny post.

Out of curiosity, are there street lights and crosswalks - or is that just silly talk?

Be careful out there!

[Kristin Bair O'Keeffe]

Actually most intersections in Shanghai look the same as they do in Europe and the U.S. Streetlights, crosswalks, etc. The difference is, no one pays any attention to them. Pedestrians are the lowest beings in the food chain. Squashable. Mashable. Crushable. Even the sidewalks aren't off limits. Scooters & bikes frequently race at you on them, and sometimes even cars (you know, for that prime sidewalk parking spot).

Stay alert! :)

[lisa walz]

Christoph got hit by an electric bike at the begining of July. It was on Huai Hai as he went running out onto the sidewalk from a laneway. The driver didn't have a chance to stop and, to his credit, he came with us to the hospital and paid or everything. Nothing was broken and I hoped that it put enough scare into Christoph that he wouldn't do it again... We'll see next week when we get back.

lisa

[Kristin Bair O'Keeffe]

Hey Lisa...Hope Christoph is okay. Must have been awful. It is so gosh-darn hard to tell a two-year-old not to run.

Give a holler when you're back in town and we can get T & C together. Been living at the Ambassy pool. :)

[Miss Footloose]

Ah, traffic the world over! Lots of horror stories. My prince and I lived in Armenia for 6 years and people would ask us if it was dangerous there. They asked the same question when we lived in Ramallah, Palestine, and in Ghana, West Africa and the answer for all three is no.

However in Armenia, the most dangerous thing you could do was step off the sidewalk, and often just standing on the sidewalk was putting yourself in peril.

Drivers seemed to make it a sport to see if they could mow you down, and traffic lights and pedestrian crossings were there to be ignored.

We went on vacation to Italy, spent time in Rome, and were amazed how civilized the traffic was. In Rome, yes. We'd stand at the edge of the road and cars would slow down and stop to let us cross.
"We're in Europe!" we'd say to each other.