It takes time to walk through your apartment complex there, and out the gate into the street, down a few blocks to the bus stop (if you choose to ride a bus), and then make a transfer to the subway station (if you need to go long distances), and in-between these modes of travel, there is walking. Sometimes significant distances of walking and then standing to wait for the next bus or train to arrive, sometimes 10 to 20 minutes.  All of this time spent standing and walking.  But it is on the streets where pedestrians have the most danger:

In China, where 90% of the population does not even drive, you have a lot of people (1.5 billion x 90% = 1.35 Billion people) who need to jocky with the automobiles everyday in a crosswalk, or in the street when they are J-WALKING, or even if they are minding their own business on a sidewalk, drivers in China often use the sidewalks to PARK their cars, so the pedestrian there hardly has a safe haven. In fact, they don't as a general rule, at grade.  This is why there are 10 times as many fatal accidents with vehicles in China per 100K vehicles than there are in the USA.  They have many more pedestrians in harms way, as a default.  In the USA, we mostly drive cars and are "protected" from severe harm from other vehicles, as a default, with the exception of very high speed accidents where even a seat-belt or airbag is not going to save you.

I personally experienced the very exciting transportation system in Hong Kong, China, and underneath these same streets are extremely modern subway systems that rival any in the world. They also connect the Island to the mainland, and include a high speed express service to the airport.  It is fun to navigate, very interesting and despite the massive double decker buses right near the sidewalk curbs at brisk speeds and quick stops, if you are careful you will not get hit... but the potential is still there, with careless on either side.  The numerous fences help, but they are no match for an out-of-control bus or truck or car.  They help guide pedestrians, and help pedestrians not make a fatal mistake by stepping off a curb.  Despite the obvious dangers of mixing pedestrian traffic with vehicle traffic in large numbers, I still like the system. It is exciting and interesting, especially from the vantage point of a front seat on the second floor of a double decker bus!

Grant Johnson, TE, visited Chongqing, CHINA in January 2018 and observed traffic conditions throughout the city of 30+ Million, and took video to document the various changes that have taken place in the last 5 years.  Traffic congestion has worsened, but several improvements have been made to traffic situations to better control traffic flows and to improve pedestrian safety, a major concern.

That train is not in service yet (still have to get the trains installed and stations finished out).  In the following video I show our 320 km trip from Chongqing to Chengdu, China, at high speed.  Video taken in 2014 is a little over two years old.  This train has been in service a while and is not as fast as the newer HSR train construction I was working on (they go 230 mph), but this still went about 140 mph. 

So what does this have to do with Traffic Engineering?

Actually, a LOT.  Different cultures respond differently to traffic control.  I rode a scooter for almost a YEAR in what most Americans would call chaos and crazy traffic with few rules, or few rules obeyed.  But its no more dangerous to ride a scooter in the "chaos" traffic of China than it is to take a run down a ski resort and avoid all of the other skiers... don't run into them and look all directions and expect incoming at any time.  As long as you are AWARE, you can be safe on the ski slopes where there is absolutely NO traffic control and no speed limit, etc.  A free for all. China traffic is not that bad, but there are some rules bent and the riders of scooters are in a class all by themselves. You do not need a license to drive these. Anyone can do it, and the police do not give them tickets. In fact, it seems the only action that earns drivers tickets are the red light cameras which don't ask any questions. They are on all intersections with a signal Drivers of cars are expected to obey these lights. The scooter drivers, not so much.  They can creep out and make a dash for it if they think they have a gap in traffic, and even sometimes they don't.  The drivers of cars do NOT want to hit one of these scooter drivers because 1) its a hassle to wait for the cop to rule on who's fault it was, 2) cops usually rule in favor of the poor little scooter driver who's bike is now smashed.  
   SO the drivers of cars look out for these scooters and try to avoid the collision. They do not lay on the horn and threaten or intimidate.  In fact, that's one thing I never did see was the potential for road rage.  Traffic was crowded and some drivers did cut in line, make an abrupt lane change, but you don't see the retaliation.  Just rolling with it.  Same with peds on the sidewalk. This culture difference of the USA driver assuming a "right of way" and the China driver assuming no such thing, leads to an entirely different approach when driving. You hear horns in China sometimes, but they are mere warnings to help prevent an accident, not a ridiculous retaliation for a perceived slight by another driver.  This culture difference on the road, in my opinion, actually moves more traffic along because there is no time wasted with a useless quarrel, I did not see the slamming of brakes when I rode in any taxi or company car, it just never happened by any driver on the road, no drivers going slow on purpose to teach another a "lesson" and no blocking or preventing a merge.  Usually there is cooperation, and if they don't cooperate the merging driver merges anyway and the driver is obliged to yield. There is no purposeful accident.  This is because they do not have a "no fault" insurance in China. The police come to the scene immediately, you have to wait, and they make a ruling. They will look at the dash cam footages if any, or hear both sides, and make a ruling.  It can end any way so drivers just want to AVOID the accident. There is NO CHANCE they are going to be able to collect some ridiculous sum of money because they got a whiplash.  No pot of gold.  So there is this CULTURE to avoid the accident by all drivers and if there is an accident its just because of human error.